Alan Shearer

Alan Shearer was born on 13 August 1970 to Anne and Alan Shearer. It was Alan’s father who realised that his son had great potential of being a good footballer, and let his son pursue his dream.

Shearer completed his basic education from Gosforth Central Middle School, and later from Gosforth High School. He very played football throughout this schooling period, and was also the captain of the school team.

Shearer football skills soon got the attention of Jack Hixon, Southampton’s football talent scout. It’s said that it was Hixon who shaped Shearer into the great footballer he eventually went on to become.

After playing for various football clubs such as Manchester City and New Castle United, Shearer signed a contract with the famous ‘Southampton Football Club’ in 1986. This turned to become a great boost for Shearer, who had then just started his career.

His first on-field appearance was as a substitute in a match against Chelsea, this performance went largely unnoticed. Shearer took the football world by storm after he scored 3 goals for his team, in a match against Arsenal. Southampton won the match 4-2, and Alan became the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the top division. He was 17 years, 240 days old at that time.

Shearer was selected for the Under-21 English National Team, in 1991. Shearer went on to score 7 goals in the four matches he played for the team that year. In the next one year Alan scored around 13 goals in the 41 matches he played.

Shearer drew a lot of attention from the football fraternity for his style of playing. He was later acquired by the prestigious ‘Blackburn Rovers’ club in 1992, for a whopping 3.6 million Euros. He scored 16 goals in the 21 matches he played that year.

He intermittently took part in the England's qualifying campaign for the 1994 FIFA World Cup due to injury and the team failed to qualify for the World Cup. .

Newcastle United honoured Alan Shearer by installing a 25 metre high banner of him at their home ground St. James Park. The words ‘Thanks for 10 great years’ are printed on this banner.

Shearer received the ‘Honorary Freedom’ award in 2000, from the governing body of ‘Newcastle upon Tyne’ for his outstanding contribution towards football.

The Vice Chancellor of Northumbria University awarded Alan Shearer in 2006. The award was an honorary doctorate in Civil Law for the immense hard work and dedication he had showed towards football.