Alan Shearer says farewell to St.James Park

Alan Shearer will be missed. A gutsy forward who played through repeated injuries to his knees and England's ups and downs through two World Cup in '94 and '98. He was Newcastle's record striker scoring 206 goals and also captain of the WC '98 English squad. His retirement came in the wake of another knee injury sustained three weeks ago that sidelined him from future matches.

In his testimonial match against Celtic attended by over 55,000 fans and an old boy squad of Les Ferdinand, Gary Speed, Steve Watson, and Robert Lee; Shearer kicked off the match and came on to score the penalty that gave Newcastle victory over Celtic 3-2.

Alan Shearer factoid: The youngest player in English first dvision soccer to score a hat trick. He was 17 years and 8 months when he scored for Chelsea against Arsenal in 1988.

And what of the future: He is the qunitessential Geordie, so there is speculation that he might take over in a managerial/coaching capacity with Newcastle on a permanent basis. Or an ambassadorial role. For now he wants to bring his six golf handicap down.

Alan Shearer