Bellamy was brilliant for me – Shearer

NEWCASTLE United legend Alan Shearer has lauded the impact his former strike partner Craig Bellamy had on the club and his career.

Shearer remains Newcastle’s record goalscorer after scoring 206 goals across 10 seasons on Tyneside.

For three-and-a-half of those seasons, Shearer combined with the Welshman to form one of Newcastle’s most potent Premier League partnerships.

Bellamy’s pace and direct running complemented Shearer’s natural instinct for a goal, even though he was heading towards the latter years of his career.

Their partnership helped Newcastle finish fourth, third and fifth in the Premier League between 2001 and 2004, as well as playing Champions League football and reaching the UEFA Cup semifinals under the management of Sir Bobby Robson.

“Towards the end of my career it was a little bit different,” Shearer said during the latest episode of BBC’s Match of the Day: Top 10 podcast. “I wouldn’t say I couldn’t run but I had lost a yard or two of pace. Craig Bellamy was brilliant for me in terms of his pace.

“He was a bit of a nuisance and defenders hated playing against him because he was loud, he was rude at times, but in terms of what he did for the team and for me, he helped me get another year or two out of my career.”

The feeling was mutual as Bellamy has previously lauded his working relationship with Big Al.

While appearing on Jamie Carragher’s ‘The Greatest Game’ podcast in 2019, Bellamy explained why it was evident why Robson was so keen to partner him with the former England captain.

“He was a brilliant player,” Bellamy said of Shearer.

When I first got there, I sort of understood why I was there.

“Alan’s mobility was sort of gone, it happens, especially with the injuries he had, but if you get Alan in the box he was going to score goals. Bobby Robson wanted someone who could run in behind and stretch the game.

“If teams went high against someone like Alan then I had space in behind.

“If you have a problem with someone going in behind, they would drop deeper and that suited Alan.

“That is when we would get crosses in and when you get him the supply he is going to score goals.

“So I understood Sir Bobby Robson’s thinking in bringing me in.”