More
Tripe From The Beeb
Hot on the heels of their god awful, patronising crap that was
55 Degrees North comes yet more unbelievable nonsense from the
state funded BBC.
Shearer - England's best striker?
By Ian Hughes
Alan Shearer is the finest English striker there has been, according
to Newcastle boss Graeme Souness and Manchester City manager
Kevin Keegan.
That was the pair's verdict after the 34-year-old notched his
250th Premiership goal in the 1-1 draw between the teams on
Wednesday.
But is he really the best?
For all his league goals - and no-one can argue that his achievement
is not remarkable - there is not much silverware on the Shearer
mantlepiece.
Maybe, once the boots have been hung up and all that is left
of Shearer's career are videos of his goals, the Geordie legend
may regret that the shelves are not stacked with medals instead.
Shearer won the Premiership with Blackburn in 1995 but that
remains his only honour.
Twice he snubbed the overtures of Manchester United - first
in 1992 when he joined Blackburn from Southampton for £3.3m
and then in 1996 when he signed for Newcastle for a then world
record £15m fee.
And while Shearer never arrived at Old Trafford, eight Premiership
titles, the Champions League and four FA Cups did.
Maybe, after he has finished kicking the ball around St James'
Park, Shearer will spend his retirement kicking himself.
He will have plenty of time to 'guesstimate' how many more goals
he could have scored had he been the target for David Beckham's
pin-point crosses.
With his fantastic ability in the air and tenacity and predatory
instinct in the box, Shearer would have thrived on the service.
Shearer shone at Euro 96 but England lost in the semi-finals
It was a combination that worked well at international level.
For England, Shearer led from the front - captaining his country
34 times and scoring 34 goals in 63 appearances.
He was inspirational in England's march to the semi-finals of
Euro 96, where he won the golden boot after top-scoring in the
tournament with five goals.
But England's exit at the hands of Germany in a penalty shoot-out
seems to typify Shearer's career - with it possibly being the
sort that never quite fulfilled its promise.
Shearer was the first striker to reach the landmarks of 100
and 200 Premiership goals and he remains the league's all-time
top scorer.
But it is likely he would have swapped that in an instant to
match Geoff Hurst's hat-trick in England's World Cup final success
in 1966.
Okay, so who wouldn't?
But Souness insists Shearer "is the greatest centre-forward
England has ever had - he is a phenomenon".
And aren't players judged on their successes?
Of course, Shearer will be remembered as a top-class finisher
but how does he rate alongside England greats Nat Lofthouse,
Jimmy Greaves and Gary Lineker?
Of the three, Lofthouse scored as many and Greaves and Lineker
scored more international goals than Shearer - and each of them
had a more impressive goals-to-games ratio.
Undoubtedly, Shearer occupies a space among the very elite of
English strikers.
But you can not help wondering what might have been had he joined
United and regularly tested himself against
the very best in Europe.
He did join United, Newcastle United you idiot. 30 goals in
63 games for England and 22 in 39 appearances for the Toon in
Europe suggests he has more than tested himself against the
best of what the world has to offer, and succeeded.
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Bowyer
Gets 1 Match Ban/FA Cup 5th Rnd Date
Lee Bowyer picked up his 5th League
booking in last night's 1-1 draw away to Manchester City meaning
he will now sit out our game against Chelsea in the 5th Round
of the FA Cup. Based on last night's performance from the Londoner,
that could well be a blessing in disguise and to our actual
benefit...
Coincidently our FA Cup match will be screened live by Sky on
Sunday the 20th of February with a 4.00pm KO.
Toon
Trip To Dubai
Taken from Thursday's Chronicle (www.icnewcastle.co.uk)
Graeme Souness is looking to take advantage of a gap in Newcastle
United's fixture calendar to take his team on a winter break
to Dubai.
With the Magpies' game at Fulham a week on Saturday having been
postponed, Souness and his squad have a break between this weekend's
home game against Charlton Athletic and the UEFA Cup tie in
Heerenveen on February 17.
Souness believes his players, following recent upheavals, could
do with some warm weather training.
It would also allow his new recruits Jean Alain Boumsong, Celestine
Babayaro and Amdy Faye time get to know their new team-mates.
United are planning to use the facilities of the Dubai Police
Academy next week, and could leave as early as Sunday.
"We are looking at the possibility of getting away for a few
days," said Souness. "We would be out there for four or five
days, but I can assure supporters it's not a jolly-up. "We'd
be out there training every day. It would also be a bit of bonding,
but a lot of hard work in a different environment."
Sir Bobby Robson and his team came under fire after jetting
off to a training camp in La Manga on the back of a defeat to
Charlton Athletic several seasons ago, and Souness is hoping
United leave on a high note following a win over the Addicks.
Hopefully we'll avoid any trouble that is often associated with
these trips abroad, but I'm sure Souness will have them on their
best behaivour. Whether the players deserve this trip is another
matter. Poor results and a poor league position suggest that
it isn't the best idea, but the facilities in Dubai are said
to be top-class so hopefully it will bring our players to full
fitness, which should bring an end to our regular 2nd half demise.
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Bellamy
Saga Just Won't Die Out
Graeme Souness might just want to stem
the flow of non-football stories from Newcastle, but he seems
to be doing nothing to address the problem.
When they should have been concentrating on the match against
Manchester City, new coaching staff member Terry McDermott was
busy slating Craig Bellamy.
Terry McDermott said:
"I've never come across so much hatred and unrest over one
person - what I've learned about him has astonished me.
"I have no axe to grind with Craig Bellamy, but in the six days
I've been here what I've heard means I don't want to meet the
guy.
"You cannot have one player thinking he can run a football club.
"Some of the things said by Craig, not just last week, but throughout
his whole period at this club have been disgraceful.
"I know from personal experience of a voicemail message he sent
a senior player at this club because I was playing golf with
him when he received it.
"That message alone should mean that Craig Bellamy never plays
here again.
"If the fans knew the content they would not take a blind bit
of notice of what he has said."
Though Terry McDermott does not name him, it's most likely that
the senior player in question is his good mate Alan Shearer.
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Result:
Man City 1 Newcastle Utd 1
A poor game all round at the City of
Manchester Stadium last night. Alan Shearer set us up in brilliant
fashion in the 9th minute, unfortunately it was the first and
last time we were to threaten the goal. Man City came back with
a 49th minute penalty from Robbie Fowler after Wright-Phillips
was fouled in the box.
The only brightspot of the game was Shearer's 250th Premiership
goal, there really is no stopping the man at times. He's now
only 14 goals away from Milburn's record, Souness reckons he'll
achieve it but I can't see it happening to be honest.
We are now in 12th position, on 30 points and looking over our
shoulders - Fulham are in 15th and are only 1 point behind us.
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