Shearer is a legend - he must retire

News has emerged today, as it will until the end of the season, that Alan Shearer will stay on another year at St.James Park.

It is the Chelsea assistant manager Steve Clarke who has today cited that Big Al may well be persuaded to continue if he is still scoring goals and playing well.

It is my opinion that Shearer will not stay on. We have seen before with England how he will not go back on his word. Despite this stubbornness, the main reason that Shearer will retire at the end of the season is that he will not let himself carry on playing in the same vein that fellow Geordie greats Peter Beardsley and Paul Gascoigne have.

If Shearer is still playing well and scoring goals then that is EXACTLY when he will retire. He doesn’t want to retire when he is no longer playing well and is struggling to score goals – that is Shearer’s argument and the reason he is retiring at the end of the season.

Let us allow our Magnificent Number Nine to retire at the top, have a few years with Lineker and Hansen at the BBC before returning to manage the Toon and guide us to the title that he will unfortunately fail to achieve in his Newcastle playing career.

Big Al is a legend and will remain so, forget Milburn’s record, what Shearer has achieved will never be forgotten and should not be tarnished with memories of a prolonged playing career.

Please Alan, score 25 goals this season, lift the FA Cup and then retire at the top – which is where you have been ever since your headline grabbing debut as a seventeen year old.


E-mail Craig Hope with your views about Shearer and see them on the website nufctalk@hotmail.com