Alan Shearer

Alan is one of the most feared and respected strikers of the modern era and a wonderful ambassador for the game. His debut was an indication of the wealth of his talent he scored a hat-trick for Southampton against Arsenal on 9 April 1988 (sealing a 4-2 victory).

In 1992, at the start of the Premiership, Alan moved to Blackburn Rovers for a British record fee of £3.6 million, forming a lethal partnership with Chris Sutton, which became known as the SAS.

Blackburn won the FA Premier League in the 1994/1995 season, with Alan contributing 34 league goals at the beginning of a sequence in which he became the only player in English football history to score 30 or more goals in three consecutive seasons.

On 6 August 1996, after a successful Euro 96 where he finished the tournament's top goal scorer, Alan joined his beloved Newcastle United for a world-record fee of £15.6 million and fulfilled his childhood dream to play for his local side.

As a Newcastle player, Alan helped secure the side's position as one of the world's premier clubs.

English PFA Player of the Year in 1995 and 1997, he scored 30 goals in 63 games for England, before his retirement from international football after Euro 2000.

On 7 January 2006 Alan equalled Jackie Milburn's 50-year record of 200 goals and finally on 11 May 2006, Alan bade an emotional farewell to Newcastle United in front of 52,000 fans.

Alan Shearer was a goal-scoring machine. In a total of 701 club games he scored 379 goals. He is still the English Premier League's all-time highest goal scorer and was the first player to 100 and 200 goals in the League.

Alan was awarded the OBE in 2001 and is a football pundit with the BBC.