Shearer to become Newcastle boss
Shearer spent a decade at Newcastle before retiring in 2006
Alan Shearer is set to be appointed as Newcastle manager until the end of the season, BBC Sport understands. And former QPR boss Iain Dowie will be part of his coaching staff.
Ex-Magpies striker Shearer, 38, has often been linked with a return to St James' Park but has been critical of the club's management structure.
He would be owner Mike Ashley's fourth manager this season following the exit of Kevin Keegan, as the club fights a grim battle against relegation.
Keegan exited under a cloud in September following a row with the board over summer transfers. His replacement, the veteran Joe Kinnear, required triple heart bypass surgery in February leaving Chris Hughton to pick up the baton on a temporary basis.
Archive - Shearer joins Newcastle in 1996
But Newcastle have slipped to third from bottom of the Premier League - and plans to have Kinnear back for the final part of the season have been shelved.
BBC Radio 5 Live's senior football reporter Ian Dennis said Shearer would be given full control of team affairs, and will want his own men in his backroom staff.
Former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd was among a clutch of figures to welcome Shearer's appointment.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: "It's great news. Newcastle are in a fight now, they're in the trenches, and I think Alan is the guy to carry on that fight."
Former Newcastle midfielder Paul Gascoigne believes Shearer's standing in football will have a positive effect on the players at St James' Park.
"Alan's blood is black and white and he'll be telling the players that," he said.
"He's got eight games to keep them up and I don't think it'll be too difficult a task.
"All they've got to know is that they're playing for Alan Shearer, Newcastle United and the fans."
BBC football pundit Mark Lawrenson told Breakfast he was "hugely surprised".
Fans delight at Shearer appointment
He added: "If anyone can lift Newcastle out of the doldrums it's Alan. He's got no experience of management but people like Jurgen Klinsmann and Franz Beckenbauer at Germany came in with no experience as well. He is regarded as a god up there in Newcastle."
Shearer, a born and raised Geordie, scored 206 goals in 404 appearances during a 10-year playing stint at Newcastle to earn legendary status on Tyneside after joining for a record £15m fee from Blackburn.
The former England striker, who retired from playing in 2006, has made no secret of his desire to become a manager one day.
However, he was thought to have strong reservations about Ashley's regime - describing it as "strange" following Keegan's shock exit.
The same month, Shearer, a pundit on the BBC's Match of the Day, rejected an offer to join the club's coaching staff.
Archive: Alan Shearer - Euro 96
Both on and off the pitch, Newcastle have lurched from one crisis to the next this season following the departure of Keegan early in the campaign.
Following a fans' backlash over Keegan's exit, Ashley raised the possibility of selling the club, before deciding to stay on.
Key striker Michael Owen has been involved in just four games this year because of an ankle injury, while Charles N'Zogbia moved to Wigan in the January transfer window after a high-profile bust-up with Kinnear.
Newcastle, who have 29 points from 30 matches, host third-placed Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday with eight games of the season left.
And one of Shearer's old Newcastle team-mates, Steve Watson, thinks the new manager will have an immediate impact.
606: DEBATE
Will Shearer save Newcastle from the drop?
Saj C - BBC Sport
"He speaks sense, he's very single-minded and knows exactly what he wants to do," Watson told BBC Radio Newcastle.
"He will have that immediate effect on the squad and the fans that only someone like Kevin Keegan could have. Every single player will have the utmost respect for him and listen to what he says. It won't matter how they play, they just need to get points on the board.
"He won't put up with people saying 'I won't play here' and I think he will have an immediate effect - and let's face it he's got to."
The supporters have also been galvanised by the decision, with hordes crowding St James' Park to celebrate the news.
Archive interview: Alan Shearer
Former Newcastle chairman Sir John Hall, who brought the boyhood Magpies fan to St James' Park as a player, called the move "desperate measures for desperate times" and said he would have preferred Shearer to be a long-term appointment.
He added: "I've always felt Alan was the only man at this moment in time who could manage Newcastle. He's a bit like Keegan, when we took him back 20 years ago. Keegan always had the magic touch and I think Alan's the same."
Former Magpies chief executive Freddie Fletcher oversaw the transformation at St James' Park when Kevin Keegan arrived and he can see parallels between the two appointments.
"It's very similar to what I did when I came in 1991 when we had to sadly dismiss Ossie Ardiles and drop in Kevin Keegan short-term to keep us in the then First Division," he said.
"This is a similar move, it's a sensible move and it's the best chance we've got of staying in the Premier League."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...ed/7975700.stm
Shearer spent a decade at Newcastle before retiring in 2006
Alan Shearer is set to be appointed as Newcastle manager until the end of the season, BBC Sport understands. And former QPR boss Iain Dowie will be part of his coaching staff.
Ex-Magpies striker Shearer, 38, has often been linked with a return to St James' Park but has been critical of the club's management structure.
He would be owner Mike Ashley's fourth manager this season following the exit of Kevin Keegan, as the club fights a grim battle against relegation.
Keegan exited under a cloud in September following a row with the board over summer transfers. His replacement, the veteran Joe Kinnear, required triple heart bypass surgery in February leaving Chris Hughton to pick up the baton on a temporary basis.
Archive - Shearer joins Newcastle in 1996
But Newcastle have slipped to third from bottom of the Premier League - and plans to have Kinnear back for the final part of the season have been shelved.
BBC Radio 5 Live's senior football reporter Ian Dennis said Shearer would be given full control of team affairs, and will want his own men in his backroom staff.
Former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd was among a clutch of figures to welcome Shearer's appointment.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: "It's great news. Newcastle are in a fight now, they're in the trenches, and I think Alan is the guy to carry on that fight."
Former Newcastle midfielder Paul Gascoigne believes Shearer's standing in football will have a positive effect on the players at St James' Park.
"Alan's blood is black and white and he'll be telling the players that," he said.
"He's got eight games to keep them up and I don't think it'll be too difficult a task.
"All they've got to know is that they're playing for Alan Shearer, Newcastle United and the fans."
BBC football pundit Mark Lawrenson told Breakfast he was "hugely surprised".
Fans delight at Shearer appointment
He added: "If anyone can lift Newcastle out of the doldrums it's Alan. He's got no experience of management but people like Jurgen Klinsmann and Franz Beckenbauer at Germany came in with no experience as well. He is regarded as a god up there in Newcastle."
Shearer, a born and raised Geordie, scored 206 goals in 404 appearances during a 10-year playing stint at Newcastle to earn legendary status on Tyneside after joining for a record £15m fee from Blackburn.
The former England striker, who retired from playing in 2006, has made no secret of his desire to become a manager one day.
However, he was thought to have strong reservations about Ashley's regime - describing it as "strange" following Keegan's shock exit.
The same month, Shearer, a pundit on the BBC's Match of the Day, rejected an offer to join the club's coaching staff.
Archive: Alan Shearer - Euro 96
Both on and off the pitch, Newcastle have lurched from one crisis to the next this season following the departure of Keegan early in the campaign.
Following a fans' backlash over Keegan's exit, Ashley raised the possibility of selling the club, before deciding to stay on.
Key striker Michael Owen has been involved in just four games this year because of an ankle injury, while Charles N'Zogbia moved to Wigan in the January transfer window after a high-profile bust-up with Kinnear.
Newcastle, who have 29 points from 30 matches, host third-placed Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday with eight games of the season left.
And one of Shearer's old Newcastle team-mates, Steve Watson, thinks the new manager will have an immediate impact.
606: DEBATE
Will Shearer save Newcastle from the drop?
Saj C - BBC Sport
"He speaks sense, he's very single-minded and knows exactly what he wants to do," Watson told BBC Radio Newcastle.
"He will have that immediate effect on the squad and the fans that only someone like Kevin Keegan could have. Every single player will have the utmost respect for him and listen to what he says. It won't matter how they play, they just need to get points on the board.
"He won't put up with people saying 'I won't play here' and I think he will have an immediate effect - and let's face it he's got to."
The supporters have also been galvanised by the decision, with hordes crowding St James' Park to celebrate the news.
Archive interview: Alan Shearer
Former Newcastle chairman Sir John Hall, who brought the boyhood Magpies fan to St James' Park as a player, called the move "desperate measures for desperate times" and said he would have preferred Shearer to be a long-term appointment.
He added: "I've always felt Alan was the only man at this moment in time who could manage Newcastle. He's a bit like Keegan, when we took him back 20 years ago. Keegan always had the magic touch and I think Alan's the same."
Former Magpies chief executive Freddie Fletcher oversaw the transformation at St James' Park when Kevin Keegan arrived and he can see parallels between the two appointments.
"It's very similar to what I did when I came in 1991 when we had to sadly dismiss Ossie Ardiles and drop in Kevin Keegan short-term to keep us in the then First Division," he said.
"This is a similar move, it's a sensible move and it's the best chance we've got of staying in the Premier League."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...ed/7975700.stm
Comment