Gallery: Alan Shearer

When Alan Shearer scored his 5^th goal at Euro 1996, I was an undergraduate student. The Manchester United era was still to come, and I dreamt of Blackburn Rovers fighting for many years against the future Sir Alex. In the end, I supposed, the battle was at its very beginning, three Premier Leagues for Manchester United vs one for Rovers.

At that time I was not so prepared about football, English football and dreams (indeed, today it is the same story); but an unrevealed force was pulling me towards English football, leading me to discover one of my first football idols. In short, I was fascinated by Shearer: understatement, tons of goals, jubilant after scoring simply with an arm raised towards his supporters. A simple man, a working-class hero, who brought the Rovers to win its third Premier League, eighty years after the previous one.

All heroes have a dream, and are idealistic to a certain extent. Martin Luther King is the easiest to remember.  Alan’s dream was inspired by his father, who influenced his choice to regret the Manchester United and join the Newcastle United: “It doesn't matter that I didn't win a trophy because I did it my way and I lived the dream”.

Although statistics do not describe Shearer’s greatness, it is worth mentioning only one number: he scored approximatively 100 goals more than Rooney, yes Wayne Rooney.

[Despite my bad English, this post is written in English, as Mr. Shearer could read it by chance]