It may have taken Alan Shearer some years to become a Newcastle United great but he was always destined to do so.
Wednesday marks the 29th anniversary of when Alan Shearer finally signed for Newcastle United, making the £15m switch from Blackburn Rovers.
The big-money move broke the world transfer record at the time and it proved to be money well spent, given he went on to score 206 goals and remains the Premier League’s leading scorer to this day.
Shearer left Newcastle fans stunned immediately, though he was never able to deliver an elusive trophy to his boyhood club before hanging up his boots in 2006.
It took eight years of Shearer’s goal-grabbing and Premier League title-winning career for him to finally arrive at St. James’ Park, but it was a destination he was clearly always going to go to, especially when he was the ball boy for Kevin Keegan’s final ever game.
Alan Shearer crossed paths with Kevin Keegan when he was just a child
Shearer is a local lad, born in Gosforth, just two and a half miles from the Cathedral on the Hill, and obviously grew up supporting the Magpies.
Keegan was a player he ‘idolised’ as a youngster, as a news report from the time describes, so getting the chance to play under him was an opporuntity Shearer couldn’t turn down.
Especially as Keegan’s Entertainers had won the hearts of the nation the previous season in their valiant, thrilling title battle with Manchester United.
Keegan’s final game as a footballer came in 1984 in a friendly between the two biggest clubs of his career, Newcastle and Liverpool. The testimonial will always be remembered for the fact Keegan left the pitch in a helicopter while still in his kit.
Shearer, aged just 13, was a ball boy for the match in a coincidence that can only suggest he was destined to become a legend just like Keegan.
Alan Shearer’s Keegan meeting is very similar to Lionel Messi
It feels like these strange coincidences – passing of the torch moments that no one could realise in the moment – happen fairly often in football.
The biggest example at present is an old photoshoot Lionel Messi took part in in 2007, which saw him washing and holding a baby boy.
As it turns out, that baby was none other than Barcelona star Lamine Yamal, who is now aiming to surpass Messi at Barcelona and has taken his famous No.10 shirt this summer.
Even given how young and talented Yamal is, it appears unlikely he will match Messi’s greatness. Yet, Shearer has certainly proved that legends are there to be beaten.
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