This feature on Alan Shearer first appeared in the February 2021 issue of FourFourTwo as part of our rundown of the 100 greatest Premier League players ever. Subscribe now!
Eras do not always begin and end when they are supposed to. The ’60s arguably only came to life in 1962, when The Beatles released their debut single Love Me Do and Mary Quant unleashed the mini skirt on an unsuspecting establishment.
Liverpool are remembered for dominating the 1970s and 1980s, but their 18th league title actually came in the 1990s. The dawn of the Premier League, however, marked a clean break with the past; Manchester United, 26 years without a title, were champions in 13 of the first 21 seasons.
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On the opening day of a new age, Blackburn drew 3-3 at Crystal Palace. Their 22-year-old debutant, the costliest ever signing made by a British club, netted twice. Viewed with 2020 hindsight, it’s obvious Alan Shearer scored. Back then, though, it wasn’t so inevitable that he would define a division. Shearer had made 118 First Division outings for Southampton, scoring 23 times. His return of 13 in 41 games of 1991/92 was perfectly respectable, but far from remarkable.
A rebranded league got a reinvented player – productivity replaced the promise. Shearer was a Premier League phenomenon. He was injured on Boxing Day after netting 16 goals for Rovers; without a cruciate ligament injury, he probably would have bagged the division’s inaugural Golden Boot.
Instead, he became its record scorer in its second campaign. More than a quarter of
a century later, he has never relinquished that status. Harry Kane could threaten it, but he’s still almost 100 behind Shearer’s tally of 260. If Kane doesn’t pass Shearer, then it’s almost certain that no one will in the 2020s.
Shearer’s relentlessness and ruthlessness brought him accolades. He’s still by far the fastest to a Premier League century (in 124 games, 17 fewer than anyone else); still the only Englishman to scoop the Golden Boot three years in a row; still alone in scoring 30 in three consecutive campaigns; still alone in hitting 20 in seven Premier League seasons. He plundered 31 for a Blackburn team that came seventh and 23 for a Newcastle outfit that finished in the bottom half of the table. He smashed five goals in a fixture when the Magpies started the day in 19th place. No one else with a ton of Premier League goals for one team comes close to his ratio of 0.81 per game for Blackburn.
Throw in his 64 assists, and no one else has been involved in 324 Premier League goals. Two factors make the bare statistics even more remarkable. Two cruciate ligament injuries forced him to evolve from an eager channel-runner who liked playing alongside a targetman, to the physical focal point who, aided by Sir Bobby Robson’s advice, remained potent. Second: he turned down Manchester United in 1996 for the siren call of his native Tyneside. With the Red Devils’ supply line, his 260 efforts might have surpassed 300.
Instead, after leading Blackburn to a first top-flight title in 81 years, he endured five lower-half finishes with his hometown club. Yet, as Kenny Dalglish – his manager at both Blackburn and Newcastle – informed Shearer inelegantly last year, “It didn’t matter who you played for, you always battered them in.”
Brute force was often allied with finesse. Shearer’s favourite goal, his cannonball volley against Everton in 2002, is a case in point. He was a wonderfully clean striker of the ball, but was also brilliant in the air: only Peter Crouch has notched more Premier League headers, and he has a seven-inch height advantage. Only Jimmy Greaves, Steve Bloomer, Dixie Dean and Gordon Hodgson have struck more goals in England’s top flight.
Shearer retired with 283 league goals – and one celebration.
Read our full list of the 100 greatest Premier League players ever
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