It’s hard to believe that a man who scored so many goals for club and country only picked up one major honour in a career which spanned some 18 years. Even so, Alan Shearer, who made his Three Lions debut in emphatic fashion on February 19,1992, will always be remembered as one of the most prolific marksmen in the game.
Shearer exploded onto the scene playing for Southampton in the late 1980s where he was mentored by youth team coach and fellow Geordie Dave Merrington and we didn’t have to wait long to find out just what a threat he was in front of goal.
He made his full first-team debut as a substitute against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge aged 17 in March 1988 and just two weeks later bagged a hat-trick in a 4-2 win against Arsenal, becoming the youngest player to do so in the English top tier at the time and announcing his arrival in some style.
So it was no surprise when his exploits saw him called up to the England under-21 side in 1990 by then manager Dave Sexton and during his time with the squad he scored 13 times in 11 games; a record which still remains intact to this day.
Needless to say it was only a matter of time before he received his full England cap and was soon promoted to the senior squad by Graham Taylor, making his debut in a friendly game against France at Wembley in what was seen as a preparation game for that summer’s European Championships in Sweden.
As with his club career Shearer wasted no time in getting off the mark as, just before half-time, a Nigel Clough corner was headed-on by Mark Wright and found an unmarked Alan Shearer who spun on the spot to lash home England’s first goal.
And if that wasn’t enough Shearer had a hand in England’s second too as his cross was met by Clough and as France keeper Rousset parried the shot Gary Lineker pounced to head home the rebound at the second attempt.
The game also saw full-back Rob Jones, who only five months earlier had been playing in England’s fourth-tier with Crewe Alexandra and Everton’s Martin Keown make their debuts, but it’s fair to say that it would be Shearer who would go on to have the greater international career of the three.
After such an emphatic start for England Shearer would be disappointed that summer, as he only made one appearance in what was to be a disastrous European Championships for The Three Lions, who failed to win a game and crashed out in the group stages.
Better was to come four years later, however, as Shearer ended Euro ‘96 with the Golden boot having topped the scoring charts with five goals in a campaign which saw England reach the semi-finals, narrowly missing out on penalties to Germany in what was probably the highlight of his England playing days.
After another disappointing European Championships in 2000 Shearer quit international football for good.
The classic number 9, Shearer was everything that a top-flight striker should be. He was quick, had a terrific shot and was deadly in the air; ensuring any defender who was tasked with marking him would have their work cut out.
Shearer’s biggest club success undoubtedly came in 1995 when he helped Blackburn Rovers to win the Premier League as Kenny Dalglish brought the top flight’s biggest prize to Ewood Park for the first time in the club’s history just years after they’d been playing in the lower reaches of English football.
Shearer remains the Premier League’s greatest ever marksman with 260 goals in 441 games with an incredible goals-per-game ratio of a strike every 1.7 games; meaning he will go down in the history books as one of the greatest ever strikers.
Meanwhile, his record for his country is similarly impressive; netting 30 times in 63 games for his country, making him the country’s 7th highest scorer of all time and giving him one of the best international goal ratios of modern times.
