Enjoying the comfort Zone: Shearer being interviewed on Match of the Day.
So Shearer is the saviour, is he? He certainly likes to think he's the saviour. He's always given the impression he could do the job better than anyone else without actually doing anything at all. Shearer has made a career of taking the easy option and achieving very little. He may have won the title with Blackburn Rovers but that has been his only achievement. Even then I suspect the only reason he moved to Blackburn in the first place was because of the amount of money being offered to him. That and the fact that Blackburn represented a move free from the stresses of playing for a big club, a real club, a club where you are expected to challenge. No matter how money Jack Walker threw at the clubs Premier League challenge, anything better than mere survival would always count as a bonus at Ewood Park.
It wouldn't have been such a bad move for Shearer if he had built on his success there but instead he went to another perennial struggler or back home to Newcastle as he might say himself. Manchester United wanted to sign him at that time but Shearer chose Newcastle. Maybe he honestly thought he could win the championship for his hometown for the first time since 1927 or maybe he was once again dazzled by all the zero's at the end of his pay cheque and attracted by the comfort zone.
A real player would have moved to the biggest club and been as successful as possible. Damian Duff has since imitated Shearer's lack of ambition by also moving to Newcastle, this time from Chelsea at a time when he also had the option to move to Liverpool. He played at left back against Portsmouth last night by the way.
Shearer always seemed to have influence where it counted. At Euro '96 he made the team despite not scoring in his previous 12 appearances for England, maybe the pressure was too much for him. He redeemed himself at the tournament finishing up top scorer with 5 goals as England crashed out on penalties in the semi-finals to Germany.
Much is made of Shearer's success at this tournament, yet every game for England was a home game at Wembley. He scored against the Swiss, Scotland, a Dutch side in absolute disarray and ok, the eventual champions Germany. He couldn't replicate this success at future tournaments and quietly slipped out of the England set up at the age of 29 so he could retire to taking all the penalties and free kicks at St. James Park for the remainder of his career. He did end up the Premier League's all time top scorer but he never won anything else.
Shearer always struck me as a guy who didn't like to have his authority challenged in any way. He liked to be the biggest star and couldn't quite hack the competition or scrutiny playing at a big club would have brought. Shearer revelled in being seen as the one man band who was single handedly running the show. He always had to be the centre of attention. The adoration was more important to him than success.
This hero-worship status he acquired for himself gave him great clout such as getting him off with the kicking of Neil Lennon because he threatened to pull out of the World Cup '98 squad. There was also an incident where he elbowed a Grimsby centre-half in the face breaking his nose but again the FA turned a blind eye. Shearer was untouchable and beyond criticism, just the way he liked it.
He was so much beyond criticism that Newcastle fans were delirious when he took over at Newcastle thinking that he could save them from the drop. Only Alan Shearer could approach such a challenge without taking up a challenge at all. By taking the job with 8 games to go and Newcastle already being in dire straits, he has already insulated himself from any blame. It won't be his fault if they go down. He insists he will only stay for the 8 games so he can walk away at the end of the season because Shearer wouldn't dare be put in a position where he could be sacked.
He has always played on his own terms. Facing challenges only in so far as he can control the outcome. He has cast a shadow over every Newcastle manager since he arrived at the club always hinting that he would do the job better but failing to stand up to the plate himself until now, when it is probably too late. When he was dropped by Gullit, instead of fighting for his place back, he sulked before getting his manager sacked.
His Match of the Day punditry suited him because it provided a massive platform for his ego and the chance to say what he would have done without doing anything at all. He has arrived back at Newcastle as the messiah but the bare facts suggest that Shearer will not save them. He began his tenure as if only he could do the job. He played three at the back against Spurs (where they lost). He played Damien Duff at full back against Portsmouth, two unfit strikers and Martins, no creativity in midfield and no one to supply the front three.
Shearer should have known he would make mistakes as a manager and would need time to learn the ropes but he too believes that only he can save Newcastle having carried them as a player for so long. Shearer will probably walk out of St. James Park in the summer with his reputation in tact but for some of us that reputation was already built on false foundations to begin with.
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