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Alan Shearer
| Category: | Male Player |
| Year Inducted: | 2004 |
Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United and England
Alan Shearer was born to be a goalscorer. From the time he made his Southampton debut, as a 17 year old trainee, when he became the youngest-ever scorer of a top-flight hat-trick, against Arsenal, to his self-appointed final season, 2004-2005, he was a record-breaker.
Alan`s scoring exploits at the Dell, 23 goals in 118 league appearances, earned a £3.6 million British record move to Blackburn in 1992, after he made his international debut, scoring of course, against France in February that year. Before he retired from international football, after Euro 2000, Alan had notched 30 goals in his 63 England appearances to sit fourth in the list of all-time England scorers, along with Nat Lofthouse and Tom Finney.
Alan suffered a career-threatening cruciate-ligament injury, just four months after arriving at Ewood Park , but he bounced back as Rovers pushed Manchester United all the way before having to settle for second place in the title race. But the following season his record equalling haul of 34 Premiership goals, in 35 matches, helped fire Rovers to the title in 1995. Until Chelsea in 2005, Blackburn were the only club, other than Manchester United and Arsenal, to claim that honour. That year the PFA Player of the Year award joined the Footballer of the Year award, for 1994, on the Shearer mantelpiece.
In 1996, after becoming the first post-war player to score 30 or more league goals in three consecutive seasons, Alan became the world`s first £15 million player when Kevin Keegan took him to his home-town club, Newcastle United.
Although Alan`s Newcastle career was hindered by injury, as his early Blackburn career had, it didn`t stop him climbing the list of the Magpies` all-time record goalscorers. By the time Alan kicked-off his 18 th season as a professional only the legendary Jackie Milburn stood ahead of him with 200 goals to his 173.
Alan Shearer was the first player to score 100 Premier League goals, and the fastest, when he netted in Blackburn`s 2-1 win over Spurs on December 30 th 1995. It took him just 124 games. His 200 th Premiership goal came against Charlton on 20 th April 2001 and his 300 th club goal was scored for Newcastle , against Blackburn , on 19 th October 2002 . He is the only player to have netted 100 Premiership goals for two different clubs, Blackburn and Newcastle .
At the start of the 2004-2005 season Alan Shearer`s name sat proudly on top of the list of Premiership goalscorers, with 243 goals, at least two season`s worth ahead of nearest challenger Andy Cole. With Graeme Souness newly installed as manager of Newcastle United Geordie fans were optimistic that the Scot would persuade their talisman to extend his career by at least one season to complete a decade of unparalleled goalscoring records.
Alan Shearer`s single-minded dedication to putting a ball in the back of a net was mirrored in his determination to bounce back after several serious injuries. Without those injuries who knows what the scoring stats would read like for the archetypal English centre forward.