www.Shearer9.com Keegan's £15m coup brings Newcastle more than a player By Michael Parkinson Anyone doubting the sense of paying £15 million for Alan Shearer should ask the 30-odd thousand fans who will pack the ground for his debut what they think. Another 30-odd thousand who cannot get a ticket will tell them the same thing. The signing of Shearer is Kevin Keegan's greatest coup. Not only has he bought a marvellous player but a grown-up, mature professional who will be an inspiration both on and off the field. There is nothing flash about Alan Shearer. In a game where spivs flourish and disreputable men become heroes he attests the old-fashioned virtues. Off the field he is as modest and agreeable as he is tough and unflinching on it. I saw Blackburn's Colin Hendry after Scotland played England at Wembley and he looked battered both physically and mentally. If this is what Shearer does to a team-mate then heaven help the enemy. He will fit in at Newcastle not just because he is going home but because he and Keegan are peas from the same pod. The two men adorned the game and were a credit to it. The last time I saw Kevin Keegan was in the company of his old Southampton boss Lawrie McMenemy. Lawrie was bemoaning the ever-widening gap between Southampton and the likes of Newcastle. He made the point that every home game Newcastle locked out more than double Southampton's average attendance. "It's worse than that," said Kevin. "I worked out that last year we made more money selling replica shirts than you took at the gate." It was the first time I had ever seen the Big Man at a complete loss for words. Had he waited a couple of months Kevin Keegan could have boasted he had two strikers who were worth more than the entire Southampton team with Matt Le Tissier and the grandstand thrown in. He could have added that one was so valuable he had to fly on a separate flight to his colleagues because his value put the team over their travel insurance limit. Welcome home Bonny Lad. Source: The Daily Telegraph Monday August 5 1996 |