Alan Shearer: Coral’s new football ambassador in profile

Coral have announced Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer as their first-ever football ambassador and news site guest blogger, so here we profile the ex-England captain’s career to date.

Geordie native and Gosforth-born Alan Shearer is the Premier League’s all-time top scorer with 260 goals in 441 outings, and played for the famous Wallsend Boys Club as a lad on Tyneside before being snapped up by Southampton’s academy.

Breaking into the Saints’ first-team in 1988, Shearer’s goals helped fired the south coast club to a Full Members Cup final appearance in 1992 and such form saw him called up by England for the Euros that summer.

Such exploits alerted Blackburn Rovers and ambitious owner Jack Walker, who wanted to assemble a team that could challenge for the Premier League title. Pairing Shearer with Chris Sutton, this new-look Ewood Park strikeforce became known as ‘the SAS’ and delivered a top-flight trophy in 1994/95.

Breaking the 30-goal barrier in three successive seasons with Blackburn established Shearer as England’s hottest prospect, and he replicated that club form for his country when the Three Lions were host nation at Euro ’96. Sensational Shearer followed up being Premier League Golden Boot winner with the same accolade at the European Championship.

Now indispensable to England, he was made national team captain and sealed a world-record £25m transfer to hometown team Newcastle United followed, with Shearer famously rejecting the advances of Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United. Check out his top six goals: