Alex Shearer lived Newcastle 'dream' despite missing out on 'a lot of trophies' after rejecting Manchester United
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2024/12/13/image-5a252a03-4dbd-47d0-92a0-8fd4a8d70019-68-310-310.jpeg)
Updated 12/03/2025 at 09:09 GMT
Alan Shearer's legendary status in English football is undeniable, and despite the opportunity to sign for Manchester United at one stage, the ex-Newcastle United man and all-time Premier League top scorer told TNT Sports that he made the correct decision joining his boyhood club, rather than linking up with Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.
'I lived my dream' - Shearer recalls Newcastle homecoming and '10 unbelievable years'
Video credit: TNT Sports
Alan Shearer has revealed how close he came to signing for Manchester United ahead of Newcastle United, before he had a last-minute change of heart in order to live his ‘dream’.
The Premier League’s record goalscorer joined his beloved Magpies for a then-world record £15 million in 1996 from Blackburn Rovers, spending nearly a decade at ‘home’ before retiring in 2005.
Once it became clear he would be leaving Rovers, Man Utd and manager Sir Alex Ferguson naturally wanted to take him to Old Trafford.
Despite being keen on the move, and even going as far as house-hunting in Manchester, Shearer instead opted for Newcastle.
"I got the call from Manchester United," he told Ally McCoist exclusively for TNT Sports.
"It was really strange because I was meeting Kevin Keegan and Sir Alex on the same day in the same house, and I met Kevin in the morning and Sir Alex in the afternoon.
"It was actually David Platt's mother-in-law's house. We'd sort of taken over the house because we wanted it all done in secret.
"I remember Sir Alex coming in the afternoon after the talks going really well in the morning with Kevin, and his first words to me were, ‘Am I seeing you first or have you seen Kevin this morning?’
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/03/10/4107675-83291153-2560-1440.jpg)
'That’s me f***** then!' – Shearer recalls Sir Alex meeting and voicemail before joining Newcastle
Video credit: TNT Sports
"And I went, ‘I spoke to Kevin this morning’, and he goes, excuse my language, he went, ‘That's me F*****!’ Those were his first words to me.
"But anyway, talks went really, really well, and I thought at one stage I was going to go, and I even went house hunting around Manchester for a day."
Manchester United were Premier League champions at the time, having incidentally just pipped Newcastle to the title the previous season, but Shearer admits the lure of a return to the North East proved too much following another conversation with his boyhood hero Keegan.
"I got another call off Kevin a few days later saying, ‘Can I have another half an hour with you?’ And I had half an hour with him, and I just thought, ‘What am I waiting for? I've gotta go back home.’ And that was it."
"I rang the missus up because the meeting again with Kevin was in Manchester and I said ‘There's going to be a taxi come in half an hour, and you've got to pack me a bag and put it in the taxi and send it to Manchester Airport’. I went and I signed for Newcastle."
- Freedom, instinct and togetherness - England given recipe for World Cup success under Tuchel
- Pickford shines light on FaceTime chats with Tuchel
- Man City 'need' Champions League football for summer rebuild
Born in Newcastle, Shearer began his career at the famed Wallsend Boys Club on Tyneside before being scouted by Southampton at 16.
After moving south, Shearer made the breakthrough to the Saints’ first team, and eventually caught the eye of Blackburn in 1992, who set out to build a team capable of winning the Premier League.
Shearer would lift the title with the club in 1995, winning the Golden Boot in the process, but his four years at Ewood Park would come to an end a year later, with Man Utd and Newcastle circling.
Given his background, Shearer could not pass up the opportunity to play at St. James’ Prak in the famous black and white.
"Obviously, I'd supported Newcastle," he said. "I'd stood on the Gallowgate end as a kid, my dad's hero was Jackie Milburn. I'd watched him for years, my hero was Kevin Keegan. I'd watched him in the 80s when he signed as a player.
"I just, I couldn't turn down the opportunity, you know. I wanted to have great years, my best years as a player playing for Newcastle rather than coming back when I was in my mid-30s or whatever it may be, and being on my last legs.
"I wanted to play for them while I still had something to offer, and it was just everything that I wanted and hoped for.
"To play at my club and score goals at the Gallowgate End where I stood as a kid, I mean, it was a dream come true, it's every boy's dream.
"I was the world's most expensive player and I had the No. 9 shirt on, which I always wanted to do. It was 10 unbelievable years.
"If I had this decision to make again, I would make exactly the same decision."
Shearer would go on to score 206 goals in total for the club - beating the previous record of 200 set by Milburn, become the Premier League’s all-time top scorer with 260 goals in the process, picking up two more Golden Boot awards, in 1996 and 1997.
However, with the team, he was unable to add to his Premier League medal won with Blackburn, finishing second with Newcastle in 1997, and was twice on the losing side in FA Cup finals, in 1998 and 1999.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/03/12/image-44c7b07a-0ca5-494c-90e2-0fcc719d7a52-85-2560-1440.jpeg)
Shearer scoring his record-beating 201st goal for Newcastle
Image credit: Getty Images
The latter defeat came at the hands of Man Utd, who also won the league and UEFA Champions League that season as part of their historic treble.
Despite this, Shearer insists he never once regretted the decision to pick Newcastle over The Red Devils.
"I know that I've missed out on a lot of trophies with Man Utd," he accepts. "I'd have won so many more trophies.
"I know that. But I wouldn't have… I'm not sure I would have had that feeling that I get playing for Newcastle for 10 years.
"I was lucky enough to break my dad's hero's record, Jackie Milburn's. To have 10 years, to have a testimonial, to have a statue, to have the goal scoring record.
"And to live my dream, I lived my dream."
Stream the 2024/25 Premier League and Champions League live on TNT Sports and discovery+
Related Topics
Advertisement
Advertisement