The shadow of Shearer... he'll take the Newcastle job one day, but when?

By COLIN YOUNG

Last updated at 23:31 10 January 2008


Alan Shearer has spent 18 months as a pundit on Match of the Day watching hapless Newcastle slide from one crisis to the next.

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For the first time in his life,

the former Newcastle captain

has been able to say what he

likes. Unguarded and honest,

Shearer has even been accused

by Newcastle supporters of

being a closet Sunderland fan.

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shearer

Why would Shearer want to

give up the comfort and

warmth of the BBC studios to

manage his troubled club?

Alan Shearer will be manager

of Newcastle United one day.

Just not yet. He's not ready

and neither is the club.

If owner Mike Ashley is

looking to deliver a manager who

can genuinely excite Newcastle

supporters again and raise the

euphoria levels, he need look

no further than the talismanic

club record goalscorer.

If one figure cost Sam

Allardyce his job, it was not the

£27million which appears to

have been squandered in the

transfer market. It was the

49,948 attendance for

Birmingham's visit before Christmas.

St James' Park is supposed to

be full every Saturday, but

home fans were voting with

their feet and finding

alternative entertainment. No one

told Ashley that would happen.

The appointment of Shearer

would probably fill St James'

for Press conference day and

guarantee sell-out crowds for

years. It would also raise the

spirits of one or two lost souls

in the dressing room,

particularly among those who played

alongside him.

But while Ashley is not an

experienced football man, he is

not daft. He would not hand

control of one of his sports

firms to an undergraduate

who would not get past the

interview stage on The

Apprentice. And he will not do the

same with his football club.

He knows, once the euphoria

has died down, Shearer would

face the same monumental

problems which have proved

insurmountable for eight

managers in 12 years.

Problems which look a lot

easier to fix from a TV studio.

If eight men with varying

levels of experience and appeal

could not cope with Geordie

expectations over the last

decade or so, what chance a

manager in his first post?

Shearer knows all this. He

played under all of those

managers, with the exception of

Allardyce, and he enjoyed,

endured, nurtured and gave up

on personal relationships with

them for the sake of his club.

And he scored goals for them

along the way.

The Toon Army adored him

for it and they bought the No 9

shirt in their thousands to

prove it. But Shearer has not

gained his full coaching

qualifications for top flight

management yet and he wants

those before he is ready to step

up to the front line.

He also knows his

relationship with his adoring Tyneside

public changes the moment

he plants his behind on the

manager's chair.

He only has to ask old friend

Gareth Southgate how quickly

the North East public can turn

once a game or two has been

lost and a few passes have gone

astray. There is no sympathy

even if you have worn the

captain's armband with pride

and distinction for their club.

Shearer's entire working life

has been methodical and

considered, even down to the

lucrative Beeb contract and

the testimonial game in front

of a sell-out crowd.

The opponents, the kick-off

with his knee in a brace, the

winning penalty, the farewell

with his family and the

post-match interviews with

Ant and Dec, all

choreographed and perfect. These are

memories he will not want to

tarnish.

Ashley has rightly decided he

needs a manager with years

of Barclays Premier League

experience, who is hungry to

take on a big club, who can

move them forward in his own

style and with his own players,

ignoring the ghost of Kevin

Keegan and the shadow of

Alan Shearer.

He has actually just sacked

such a man, but then he did

not appoint Allardyce in the

first place and, consequently,

unless he had won matches

and won them with style,

Allardyce was always

under pressure and facing the

exit.

The sad fact is, he could not

do either.

This is the first major

decision facing Ashley and

chairman Chris Mort since

their shock arrival in the

summer. The Newcastle public

expects. They just shouldn't

expect Ashley and Mort to

deliver Shearer. Not yet.