Alan Shearer admits he was stunned and upset when Newcastle sold striker for £6m

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Alan Shearer has was left absolutely shocked at what Newcastle United had done after the 1996/97 season in which they almost won the Premier League.

Newcastle had a very exciting team in the mid-90s with an attack led by the incredible duo of Shearer and Les Ferdinand, a formidable pair who would terrify any defender from any period of football.

Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Shearer opened up on Newcastle’s decision to sell Ferdinand to Tottenham after that season and why he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Shearer still frustrated by Newcastle’s decision

It’s been almost 30 years now since the entertainers team almost went down in Premier League history as one of the most exciting and attacking teams to ever win the competition.

Instead, they will always be remembered for Kevin Keegan’s historic interview and going on to bottle a 12-point lead to Manchester United, and almost three decades later they’ve not even come close to reaching the top of the division.

Shearer reflected back on that season and what followed afterwards on the podcast where he claimed that he couldn’t understand the decision to sell one of the best strikers in the division.

Shearer was top scorer that season with 25 while Ferdinand had a very impressive 17, yet he would be sold to Tottenham for £6m that following summer and Newcastle would struggle to find his replacement.

On the podcast, Shearer said: “Les. I was at Newcastle and we scored 49 goals between us the first season we were there, 96-97 and then in the summer they sold him. It was like why? He went to Spurs actually. I think it was for £6 million. It was like oh no, I couldn’t believe it.”

Newcastle have learned from previous mistakes

Newcastle as a club are a completely different entity under this still relatively new ownership who are desperate to become one of the biggest clubs in the world in the next five to 10 years.

They do not want to be a team that is forced to sell to bigger teams and are very keen to keep their star players like Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak even despite the issues they’re having financially.

Newcastle certainly won’t want to have a repeat of the past where they lose a key player and never really replace them – we saw that again when they lost Yohan Cabaye to PSG in 2014.