On This Day – 11th August
Alan Shearer made his competitive debut for his hometown club Newcastle United in the Charity Shield on this day back in 1996.
Sadly for Shearer and the Toon Army, Double winners Manchster United won comprehensively 4-0 in front of 73,214 fans at Wembley in the annual curtain raiser for the new season.
In the weeks after Euro ’96, Alan Shearer had been one of the most sought after players in Europe. Fellow Geordie Bobby Robson wanted to take him over to Barcelona and Alex Ferguson tried and failed to lure him to Old Trafford. In the end, Shearer followed his heart and returned home to Newcastle for a British transfer record of £15 million.
There was only going to be one winner in the Charity Shield and that was Manchester United. They had won the League and FA Cup Double the previous season and Newcastle were chosen as their opponents for the Charity Shield as they finished runners up in the league.
Eric Cantona slid home the opener on 24 minutes and Nicky Butt added a second on the half hour mark. United fans had to wait until the 85th minute to celebrate another goal as David Beckham beat the Newcastle offside trap to lob Pavel Srnicek from 30 yards. Roy Keane then fired in a fourth with three minutes to compound the misery for the Newcastle United fans.
Alan Shearer scored an impressive 25 goals in 31 Premier League games in his first season at St James’s Park and stayed at the club until he retired from the game in 2006. He scored 206 goals in 405 appearances at the club.
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