Alan Shearer reveals his top five favourite football venues

From Anfield to the Velodrome

With Wayne Rooney making his final appearance for England at Wembley this week, we asked former England captain Alan Shearer where the national stadium stood in his list of all-time favourite footballing venues, and which other stadia did he most enjoy playing at. 

In no particular order, here is Al’s top five:

St James’ Park, Newcastle

It was always my dream to play and score at St James’ Park after standing on the terraces for so many years supporting Newcastle. 

I wanted to be the one scoring the goals that got the supporters cheering. 

I watched it grow from a capacity of 36,000 to 52,500, and to score my record-breaking goal in front of the Gallowgate End was a fairytale ending to my career that even I never dreamed of or could have imagined.

Wembley, London

The old Wembley – for England not Newcastle! – held some fantastic memories for me. 

Again, as a kid I watched it on TV and dreamed of one day playing under the famous Wembley arches.

To captain my country there was the ultimate honour, and the greatest atmosphere I ever played in front of was in Euro ‘96, during the unforgettable 4-1 win over Holland.

San Siro, Milan

In 2003, 14,000 Newcastle fans travelled to Milan to watch us play Inter in the Champions League. 

The atmosphere in the San Siro that night was simply electric.  We twice took the lead – I scored both – and although we were eventually pegged back to 2-2, it was a night that the fans who were there will never forget.