Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer, CBE, DL is a retired English footballer. He played as a striker in the top level of English league football for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United and for the England national team. He is Newcastle's and the Premier League's record goalscorer. He was named Football Writers' Association Player of the Year in 1994 and won the PFA Player of the Year award in 1995. In 1996, he was third in the FIFA World Player of the Year awards...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionSoccer Player
Date of Birth13 August 1970
CityGosforth, England
Football's not just about scoring goals - it's about winning.
I spend time with my family. I have got two daughters who are too young to know their Dad's a footballer. They just want to play with their Dad. I like to play golf, too, but apart from that, that's me, I'm afraid.
People say he doesn't score a lot of goals with his head, but does he really have to with the ability he has in his feet? He makes spectacular goals look easy. His technique is fantastic. (on Thierry Henry)
Yes, I do like to be in control. I do like everything to be laid out, to know what I'm doing. I'm very impatient. I like things done yesterday, which is probably a fault of mine. I like things to be neat and tidy and organised. I say what I want and show what I want and I keep things private.
Any change of my style, the way I've played for 10 years, will not be a drastic one. Yes, I've always given as good as I've got; as a forward you have to do that because, if you don't look after yourself, you might find yourself being thrown in a hole and buried.
There is another side to me which people don't often see, but it's very hard for me to show that. When I do interviews, I'm talking to people I don't know and when you speak to a stranger you don't open up, do you? In my position, people are always looking for something to say about me. And anything I do say, given half-a-chance they'll turn it round into something spectacular so I've got to be very careful. That's why it's only my friends and family who know the real me. Now my wife, Lainya, she could tell you a few stories.
If you want to have a great party at Wembley, don't invite the Germans.
People are very proud of Newcastle, very proud to come from here. This is a working class City and they just want to enjoy themselves and live life to the full. They work all week, pick their wages up at the end of the week and they spend it over a weekend by having a good time and watching the football. That's our life.
When I was a young boy I wanted to play for Newcastle United, I wanted to wear the number nine shirt and I wanted to score goals at St James' Park. I've lived my dream and I realise how lucky I've been to have done that.
I don't know what I'd have become if I hadn't been a footballer; I wrote down 'dustbin man' on a careers questionnaire at school till my dad made me change it to 'joiner'.
My motto in life is 'if you give 100 per cent then no one can ask any more'.
I've never wanted to leave. I'm here for the rest of my life, and hopefully after that as well.
I have always said that the best feeling in the world is scoring a goal. Don't tell my missus that, but it is. When that ball hits the back of the net, it is fantastic.