April 9 – The Messiah: Act One
IF the urban myth is to be believed – and let’s face it, always more fun to take urban myths as gospel – Alan Shearer was placed in goal during his trial at Newcastle United.
At most clubs this would rank as one of the biggest mistakes in their history, but that particular category is somewhat over-subscribed at St James’ Park. Despite this, there were probably a few red faces in the North East today in 1988, when a 17-year-old Shearer bagged a hat-trick on his full league debut for Southampton.
Shearer had made the long move down to the south coast after Southampton’s chief scout Jack Hixon had spotted the then-midfielder turning out for a Wallsend Boys Club, a move that the former England skipper would later claim was “the making of me”.
After signing his first deal in 1986, Shearer rapidly progressed through Saints’ youth squads, emerging as the archetypal old-fashioned, aggressive English centre-forward.
He made his first-team debut as a substitute in a First Division clash with Chelsea in March 1988, but it was his first start that really saw him grab the headlines.
Turning out at The Dell against Arsenal, aged only 17 years and 240 days, Shearer became the youngster ever player to score a top-flight hat-trick in England, breaking dog enthusiast Jimmy Greaves’ 30-year-old record. Not too shabby, when you remember his opposition was George Graham’s uber-stingy Arsenal side.
Over the next few seasons Shearer mixed it at the front-line at The Dell with the likes of Rod Wallace and Matt Le Tissier, earning himself an England under-21 call up in 1990. After a record-breaking 13 goals in 11 games for the young-un’s he made his senior debut against France in March 1992, scoring in a 2-0 win for the Three Lions.
With the big fish circling around Saints, Shearer made an English record £3.3m transfer to the newly-minted Blackburn Rovers in 1992, where he would win his only major honour, the 1995 Premier League.
Next up for Shearer, the son of a Gosforth sheet-metal worker, was a move back home where he would spend ten seasons scoring goals, getting injured, watching managers come and go and winning nothing at Newcastle.
In a move to appease Match of the Day viewers and generally amuse the football world, Big Al his now back at his beloved St James’, tasked with keeping the sinking ship in the Premier League.
“I feel deeply for this football club. I believe I can help it along with the players,” said the Geordie messiah, forgetting to mention the £2m he’ll be pocketing over the next six weeks if he beats the drop.
See the man himself reminiscing about his time on the south coast below and see what else went down today here.
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