The Premier League 60: No 2, Alan Shearer (2025)

Running each day until the new season begins,The Premier League 60is designed to reflect and honour the greatest players to have graced and illuminated the English top flight in the modern era, as voted for by our writers.

You might not agree with their choices, you won’t agree with the order (they didn’t), but we hope you’ll enjoy their stories. You can read Oliver Kay’s introduction to the serieshere.

“First is first. That’s the way I was brought up. Second and third are nowhere.” Alan Shearer.

Oh dear. Oh no. Oh bollocks.

There are some conversations you look forward to more than others. There are some you dread. Like the one where you pick up the phone to the best, most complete, most deadly centre-forward of them all and tell him that according to some of your idiotic and frankly deluded colleagues — and this really should be a sacking offence — he is second.

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Fucking second. And therefore, according to the man himself, he is nowhere.

Thankfully, Alan Shearer laughs. Like pretty much everything Shearer does, it is a definitive kind of laugh, a laugh that stays laughed.

There has not been a better or more prolific striker in the history of the Premier League and there cannot ever have been a more certain one. Not in terms of arrogance or self-belief but just in strength and power and solidness and sureness.

As Steve Bruce, his big mate, puts it, “I played against him many times and he’s the same as a bloke: tough”.

Or in the words of Sir Alex Ferguson — utterly perfect — Shearer never simply scored goals, “He hit it as if he meant to kill it”.

So Shearer is laughing and his laughter sounds like the boom of artillery fire. He is laughing as if he means to kill it.

“That’s fine, it’s fine!” he says when the laughter stops, which is a relief. “It’s about opinions, isn’t it? So who’s first?”

I tell him (no spoilers).

“That’s fine, too. Who voted?”

All of us at The Athletic.

“And who put the players in this order?”

Not me, Alan. Not me. I’d have died for this cause. I would have laid down my life for you.

“Ha ha ha ha. I know you would! Ha ha ha ha ha.”

Boom, boom, boom, boom, BOOM.

Alan Shearer was born in Newcastle on August 13, 1970, the son of Anne and Alan, a sheet metal worker. He remembers his reports at Gosforth High School typically reading along the lines of “very boisterous. One of the lads. Tries sometimes but could do a lot better if he concentrated more”. His family called him “Smoky” as a kid because of his love of smoky bacon crisps.

Spotted by Jack Hixon, the famous north east scout, he signed for Southampton after trials with Newcastle United, the club he supported, Manchester City and West Bromwich Albion. He made his full first-team debut against Arsenal at the age of 17, scoring a hat-trick, the youngest player to do so in the top division, beating a mark set by Jimmy Greaves 30 years earlier.

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In the summer of 1992, he moved to Blackburn Rovers for £3.6 million, a domestic transfer record. At Ewood Park, he scored 31, 34 and 31 league goals in three successive seasons. In his first season, he helped a club that had just achieved promotion through the play-offs to finish fourth in the top flight, then second and then top. Shearer, the striker who had everything, was first.

In 1996, there was a world-record £15 million move to Newcastle and Shearer was home. Kevin Keegan’s brilliant, flawed, swashbuckling, adventurous team had finished second to Manchester United when they should have finished first, so Shearer’s story, in terms of winning things, would now be about second. Another runners-up spot in the Premier League. Two losing appearances in the FA Cup final.

By the time he retired, 10 years later, Shearer had overtaken Jackie Milburn as Newcastle’s all-time top goalscorer. He played 63 times for England and scored 30 times. He had played his entire career in what became the Premier League. He is the division’s record goalscorer with 260. He had three bad injuries along the way, so there could have been a whole lot more.

Individually, there were a load of firsts; three Golden Boots in the Premier League, the Golden Boot for Euro 1996, twice the PFA Player of the Year, once the FWA Footballer of the Year. In 1996, he came third in FIFA’s World Player of the Year behind Ronaldo and George Weah: “The organisers were really surprised when I said I wouldn’t go to the after-party. Who’s interested in coming third? Why should I celebrate that?”

So here we are again. A very Newcastle kind of second.

“I couldn’t have worked any harder,” he says. “I couldn’t have tried more. And if you’ve worked hard and given your best, then so be it.”

Is a lack of trophies your biggest regret?

“The only thing I would change would be my injuries but I can’t do much about that, either. I missed about three years.”

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Should you have won more?

“In an ideal world, yeah. But I’m happy with all the decisions I made. Southampton was a great start, a great learning curve. It worked unbelievably well. I went to Blackburn because of Kenny Dalglish (the manager), Ray Harford (Dalglish’s assistant) and Jack Walker (the owner). They said they were going to win the league and they did it within three years, which is a phenomenal achievement.

“To put that in context, it’s like Leeds winning the Championship now and then going on to win the Premier League. And Blackburn aren’t as a big a club as Leeds. It was ridiculous. And it’s all right saying, ‘Well, Jack had all that money’ but try and get the best players to the newly-promoted teams now. It would be virtually impossible. We took the big boys on.

“And then I lived my dream at Newcastle. I wore the No 9 and scored goals for the club I love and got the record and a statue. How could I regret that? When I look at what I’ve got and what I’ve had, there’s no part of me thinking I should have done anything differently. I don’t sit and think, ‘Jesus, I didn’t win anything’. I think: ‘How lucky was I?’”

We were the lucky ones. When you read back through Shearer’s autobiography, the imaginatively-titled “My Story So Far”, which was published in 1998, you remember the options he had in the summer of 1996. Sir Alex Ferguson was desperate to sign him for Manchester United and talks “went so well” that he “immediately went on a house-hunting expedition”.

“All that night,” he wrote, “I thought of playing for United (no, Alan, please: Manchester United). I kept envisaging myself in the red shirt, alongside quality players such as Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane and the rest. It was a mouth-watering prospect.” He was “definitely leaning” towards Old Trafford.

And then there were Everton and Liverpool and a late approach from Roy Evans. “A move to Anfield was an interesting prospect,” Shearer wrote. “I liked the way Liverpool played football, I liked their manager.” Arsenal’s Bruce Rioch had “saved up all of his transfer budget that summer in the hope of signing me”. There was also Juventus, Inter Milan and Barcelona, “three of the biggest clubs in the world and it was very flattering”.

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Oh, and Blackburn offered Shearer the position of player-manager to try and get him to stay. He was 25.

But by then, he had met Kevin Keegan, the pied piper of Tyneside.

The Premier League 60: No 2, Alan Shearer (1)


Shearer greets supporters after his record-breaking move to Newcastle (Photo: Paul Barker – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)

Newcastle were pushing to win things, of course. But if you’d gone to Manchester United, it would have definitely happened.

“Absolutely, yeah. I’d have pretty much been guaranteed to win trophies at Man United. But I wanted to go to Newcastle. For several reasons. One of them was to win. And it wasn’t for the want of trying. We tried, we worked and it didn’t happen. That’s just life.”

Here is a brief history of Shearer and second at St James’ Park.

The Premier League, 1996-97

“It was a big shock and disappointment to everyone when Kevin left in January because I don’t think anyone envisaged him doing that. We were on to something good. We weren’t the perfect team but with one or two little tweaks, we could have been pretty decent. That didn’t help. We finished second but I never felt after Christmas that we were going to win it. Man United were the much better team that season.”

The 1998 FA Cup final: Arsenal 2 Newcastle United 0

“We didn’t play particularly well but that was our big chance to win it. At 1-0 down, Nikos Dabizas hit the crossbar from a free kick, then I hit the post. It could have been so different if my shot had gone in instead of coming back out. I think that was the year.”

The Premier League 60: No 2, Alan Shearer (2)


Shearer strikes the ball against the post…. (Photo: Michael Steele/EMPICS via Getty Images)

The 1999 FA Cup final: Manchester United 2 Newcastle United 0

“We were well beaten. We didn’t turn up. To be honest, Manchester United battered us. Behind the scenes, a lot was going on. I was aware that Ruud Gullit (the manager) wanted me out. He took the gamble of leaving me out against Sunderland at the start of the following season and it’s well-documented that it backfired. If Newcastle had won that night, I’d probably have been on my way…”

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There was a feeling back then that this season would be our time, wasn’t there? That a trophy was the one thing we were waiting for. We could almost touch it, taste it.

“Ah, yeah. We weren’t far away. I always felt that a cup was our best opportunity; the finals in ’98 and ’99, the FA Cup semi-final in 2000.”

Second can’t really be nowhere, can it, when it’s what we have? It’s memories; it’s love and life and history.

“In terms of winning something, it’s nowhere. People remember those cup finals because it was part of Man United’s treble and Arsenal’s double. They probably don’t remember it being Newcastle unless you’re a Newcastle fan.”

We have to celebrate it, though, surely?

“It’s bonkers. I’ve never known anything like it. When we came back from the ‘98 final, there were thousands and thousands of people lining the streets of the city. It was pretty embarrassing but I suppose it also tells you about the thirst for success in our area. It was embarrassing in one way and incredible in another.”

The Premier League 60: No 2, Alan Shearer (3)


…. and is mobbed on his return (Photo: Owen Humphreys – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)

And there was that first place at Blackburn. Shearer and Chris Sutton up front. Tim Flowers in goal. Colin Hendry and Henning Berg at the back, Graeme Le Saux, Stuart Ripley, Tim Sherwood, Jason Wilcox, Mark Atkins and the rest.

The Premier League, 1994-95

“We probably weren’t the most gifted team but in terms of spirit and attitude, and everyone understanding the system and knowing their role, and having a manager that had been there before, when you put all of it together, that’s why we won it. We fell over the line really but nobody can take it away from us. Little old Blackburn came up and took on and beat the big clubs.”

You loved Kenny, didn’t you?

“Yeah, he was brilliant. He is a great guy. Very down to earth, told you how it was. Not only had he been a brilliant player but he’d also already won the league as a manager at Liverpool. Everybody got on great with him, although you knew he was the boss.”

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Why didn’t it work out for him at Newcastle?

Selling Les Ferdinand didn’t help. In our only season together, Les and I scored 49 goals between us in all competitions, then I broke my ankle in pre-season and the club had decided to sell Les to raise some money. That hindered us. We just didn’t have the firepower to take us where we needed to go.”

Was Blackburn you at your absolute peak?

“Erm… I think so. There and my first season at Newcastle. It’s hard to argue against that in terms of goals, because in my last three seasons at Blackburn it was something like 37, 37 and 34 in all competitions. I won the Golden Boot in my first year at Newcastle, but in terms of sheer numbers, I didn’t reach those heights.”

What did it feel like to lift that trophy?

“It was amazing. It was also a huge relief because Man United were chasing us down and coming for us. Another game or two and we probably wouldn’t have got it. We could, and maybe should, have won it the year before. We fell away in the last few games, through lack of experience I think.”

The Premier League 60: No 2, Alan Shearer (4)


Shearer lifts the Premier League trophy with his strike partner, Chris Sutton (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/EMPICS via Getty Images)

When you win something at that age, do you assume you’ll carry on winning?

“We did think that. But Kenny left his post as manager and went upstairs as director of football. And as brilliant as Ray was as a coach, it didn’t work the same as a manager. We didn’t sign anybody. We were linked with Christophe Dugarry and Zinedine Zidane but Ray wanted to give everyone the same opportunity and that was a big mistake. We ended up finishing seventh. When you’re at your peak, you’ve got to strengthen.”

Shearer had the lot. He had pace and technique and timing. He was strong in the air. Not only did he have that extraordinary instinct for knowing where the goal was but he could also find it from anywhere. He was not a poacher. If you watch this video — and it’s only a couple of minutes long — you will witness his prowess from set-pieces; the devastating, unstoppable power he put into his shots.

That last goal, against Everton in December 2002, is the one Shearer believes is his best (we have written about it here) — a first-time volley during Sir Bobby Robson’s renaissance at Newcastle when they would finish third in the Premier League and reach the second group stage of the Champions League. It was a masterpiece of murder. He hit it as if he meant to kill it.

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By then, he was a different kind of player. Those serious knee and ankle ligament injuries were transforming him — after the draining Gullit interlude, Sir Bobby had reminded him to face goal — but he was still Newcastle’s warrior. There was nobody cannier at winning free-kicks, at sticking his backside out near the corner flag, buying his team time. He would often be their best defender, even while playing up front.

And still, the goals came. By the end, there would be 206 of them for Newcastle and he was cherished and feted and adored. He had come home and given all of himself. He was well-rewarded for it but he paid for it too, so much so that he can no longer run, as he explained in this interview with The Athletic earlier this year. This is what it means to put your body on the line.

It’s an awkward kind of question but where do you place yourself in terms of how good you were?

“Yeah, I was good. I had belief in my ability. I don’t think anyone has enjoyed scoring goals more than I did. I’d have that debate with anybody. It was just an incredible feeling seeing the ball hit the back of the net.”

For those of us who don’t know, please try to explain that.

“The feeling, the excitement. It’s just the mad adrenaline rush. Scoring goals isn’t easy. It’s the hardest part of the game. So when you do it once and then do it again and then again and again and again, it becomes a habit and that adrenaline rush is like a drug.”

Would you do it all again over if you could?

Shearer laughs again: boom, boom, boom, boom.

“That’s a very good question but, yeah, of course I would. Maybe not the pressurebut that feeling, scoring goals… yeah. I would.”

This has not been an easy summer for Newcastle. For all the rights, wrongs, missteps, briefings, controversies and all the rest of it, they came close to a takeover that promised to be transformative. They came close to waving goodbye to Mike Ashley. But then, coming close is so much a part of the club’s modern history and its history in the Premier League, which is what this series is all about.

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Football is so subjective and so lacking in empathy. Supporters of other clubs look to the north east and see a middling kind of club that enjoyed a brief spurt of near-success two decades and more ago, and think they’re God’s gift, with an unreasonable level of demand. We see the shell that Newcastle has become and know that, for a little while, a club that has won no domestic trophy since 1955 tried its heart out, sang its heart out and came close.

We came second.

And now Shearer, our best, is second. Cheers for that. Just another little kick in the nuts.

But, to go a bit Keegan on you, I’ll tell you something now. Those memories, those moments, that buzz in the city, the Champions League nights, that feeling we were on the verge of something, will always be there. When Shearer came home, the world noticed. He chose Newcastle ahead of Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Juventus and Barcelona. When it mattered, he leaned towards us and we leant on him.

The Premier League 60: No 2, Alan Shearer (5)


Shearer, with his children behind him, takes his final bow after his testimonial match in 2006 (Photo: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty images)

For 10 years, he scored goals. He won us games. He saved us points. He became the best of Newcastle and the best of us. I love him. I love him as a footballer and I love him as a man.

And so if this is second, then second is not nowhere. Second is everything. Second is ours. Second is best.

Third? Irrelevant.

First? You can shove it.

(Main image created for The Athletic by Tom Slator)

The Premier League 60: No 2, Alan Shearer (2025)

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