When the Shearer family first got to Blackburn, the Dalglishes were very good to them and made the young couple feel at home almost straight away showing them all the hot spots and nice places in the city. Lainya had just had Chloe for a week and the couple were in a rented home. Marina (Dalglish) went out of her way to help her settle.

Alan's goal scoring record wasn't particularly good at Southampton and a lot of people doubted Shearer's ability and questioned the amount Rovers paid for his services. On top of that a lot of fans were very disappointed to see David Speedie, who had scored the goals that got Blackburn into the newly created Premierleague, go the other way. There was a lot of pressure on Alan to do well.

But Shearer got off to a great start with his new team mates who were pleased to see he was willing to give 100% all the time. And once the season got under way, the Rovers fans soon had a new hero; Alan scored twice on his full debut, a 3-3 draw at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace.

All the way to the Christmas period, Shearer scored a total of 16 league goals for his new club including 5 braces. Such good form made him into an England regular scoring his second international goal in a 4-0 win over Turkey in a qualifier for the 1994 World Cup.

But things came to a very sudden halt on Boxing Day 1992. Blackburn were playing Leeds at Ewood Park and were leading three goals to one. With ten minutes to go. Alan, who had already scored twice putting the game beyond the opposing side, was chasing a long ball up the pitch. He got caught in between a Leeds defender and their goalkeeper. Once the challenge was over, Shearer was left in a motionless heap just outside the penalty area, something was wrong. He was taken off and it was later revealed he had snapped his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He rested it for the following ten days, tried training, but it went once again.

Shearer missed the remainder of the season for Blackburn and England having to watch World Cup qualifiers from home. 16 goals in the 21 games in which he did feature for the Rovers was an excellent record, the season ended sourly however, as it became clear England would fail to qualify for the World Cup. It was his very first test of character in professional football, but Alan had a great attitude and knew what the injury was, and knew he would be back.

Sure enough, the following summer, Shearer was back in full training. Blackburn went to Ireland for a preseason tour and Kenny Dalglish decided it was right to include him in the squad. Alan was put on the bench and was told not to expect to be playing straight away. But with ten minutes to go in their first game of the tour, Kenny put Alan on, and even though there was only ten minutes left, he managed to score twice.

Once the Premierleague campaign got under way, Shearer was put on the bench and only given 20 minutes as a substitute, Dalglish wanted to slowly break him in. Four games in and the main man was back on the score sheet again against Newcastle of all teams at St James' Park. Sure enough, two games after that Shearer was back in the starting eleven.

Eventually, Shearer settled down at Blackburn and became the most feared goal scorer in the Premiership. He bagged an astounding 31 goals from 40 games in the 1993-4 season as the Rovers finished a close second in the table behind Manchester United. On top of that, Alan won the honour of  Footballer of the Year for that season. He added three more goals to his England tally as well.

The summer that followed, Blackburn signed young striker Chris Sutton for £5 million from Norwich City. Shearer continued from where he had left off the previous campaign, and with Sutton formed a deadly partnership that was known as the SAS. From 42 games, Alan scored a phenomenal 34 goals. In the previous season, Blackburn were always chasing behind Man Utd, but this time round they were top of the league from November onwards. They should probably have sealed the Premierleague title with five or six games to go, but as Blackburn hadn't won anything for a long time, the pressure got to the players. And everything came down to the last day of the season.

After 42 league games, Blackburn Rovers were deservedly crowned Premiership champions but it was after a final day scare, an emotional final day full of drama for the East Lancashire club. Blackburn were away at Anfiled to play Liverpool while Manchester United were to play West Ham at Upton Park. United's nerves had started to show in midweek, when they needed a late Denis Irwin penalty to beat Southampton and ensure that the title race went to the wire. United needed a win on the final day and hope Blackburn didn't.

Alan Shearer provided the first twist in the tale that day, putting Rovers 1-0 up from a Stuart Ripley low cross on 20 minutes. That event was briefly followed at Upton Park, although it was the Hammers who earned a shock lead as Michael Hughes finished to put the Red Devils temporarily out of the title picture to universal acclaim at Anfield, the Liverpudlians applauding at the prospect of their rivals fail to retain their hold on the championship. At the break, Rovers were in full control, but things would quickly change.

Brian McClair squeezed in an early second half equaliser for Man Utd, and on 64 minutes and equaliser came at Anfield too as John Barnes put the home side level. Nerves started to show on Merseyside and in East London as both title contenders missed golden opportunities to take the lead. As time was running out, the news came in that ManUtd, amidst all their efforts had failed to beat the Hammers. Jamie Redknapp even curled in a late winner for Liverpool, but even though Blackburn had lost this battle, they had won the war. Unbelievable scenes followed on Merseyside as players hugged each other as the game continued and Kenny Dalglish was congratulated by Scousers all around.

An emotional Jack Walker was standing proud with a tear in his eye applauding his heroes. The team that Jack built had pulled off a great achievement and were champions of England. To the Premiership crown, Alan added the personal honours of top goal scorer and PFA Player of the Year for the 1994-5 campaign.

The next season, expectations were very high for Rovers to do well and it was hard for Blackburn to live up to them. They simply didn't win enough league or cup games in the first months of the season to be in contention again. Their Champions League campaign was a disappointment too, as they got knocked out in the group stages. The team pulled their socks up and played some great football from December onwards and rose up the table with only two other teams doing better. On a personal level, Alan won the golden boot once again scoring 31 goals in 35 games (including four hat-tricks) making him the first player to score 30 goals + in three consecutive seasons.

For England however, Alan's strike rate had somewhat dried up with no goals in eleven games leading up to the 1996 European Championships. By 27th March 1996 when England played Bulgaria at Wembley, Alan's goal-less run stretched back 18 months. Shearer's hold on the England number nine was under serious threat as Les Ferdinand wore it against the Bulgarians with Teddy Sheringham playing in the usual support role. Alan also suffered a slight injury that would force him out of the last two Premierleague games of the season, nothing serious but if left unattended could keep out of Euro 96 too. A month later England played Croatia, and this time Robbie Fowler was up front with Sheringham, the game ended goal-less. On May 18th, England beat Hungary 3-0 in a friendly. Ferdinand was in the starting line-up, but failed to score before Shearer replaced him. At least Alan was back in action and when Terry Venables announced the squad, Alan's name featured next to his beloved number nine.

Continued > EURO 96