Signing Shearer - was it really a mistake?

[Guest Knightrider]

I've read a few comments now claiming Shearer's signing was a mistake and while I agree in hindsight it seems like one today, for both club and player (neither won anything in those 10 years), I'm not so sure signing a world-class striker was a mistake though and really, to claim it was is being more than a tad critical.

 

If you look at it from a financial persepective, that £15m guaranteed us a 20 goal a season man for 10 or so years and has saved the club fortunes, you only have to look at what others have spent trying to find their own Shearer, Liverpool spent £8.5m on Collymore and then £11m on Heskey, not to mention £10m on Kuyt recently for example and Man Utd, well they tried a whole host of forwards at great expense, spending over £70m by my reckoning.

 

You also have to remember that Ferdinand was nearing his 30s and was at the time picking up those niggly injuries that players of that age so oftend do, we just have to look at the number of games he played for Spurs after leaving Newcastle to realise the problems we would have had with him so again, we had to buy a younger top-class centre-forward as his eventual replacement. Ferdinand was always a short-term signing in my opinion anyway, someone to take us to the next level in a short time frame which he nearly did, under KK we were always going to spend big again on a forward though regardless of having Sir Les already at the club, remember we had tried to buy the likes of Baggio, Bergkamp, Signori and Weah during KK's time here and he was very much a strengthen when on top manager.

 

Yes that 15m could have been spent on others areas which would have no doubt made the squad stronger, but in football they say you can't turn down golden opportunities when presented with one, and in Shearer that's exactly what we were faced with. Furthermore, had we allowed Man Utd to sign him, we could have forgotten about competing that year. As it was they won the League without Shearer anyway, so with him, well, they'd have walked it and god knows what would have happened to us in the intervening years.

 

The only mistake Newcastle ever did was parading him like they did which put a few faces in the dressing room out of joint and the manner in which they took Sir Les' shirt off him and Beardsley's pens - the book of Toon Heroes alludes to rumblings in the dressing room as a result of that and I'm in no doubt that changed the dynamic of the dressing room and lost KK some respect.

 

Another mistake was not building a team around Shearer, a genuine world-class player who deserved to play in an equally great team, in those 10 years only half hearted efforts to build a great team have been made and overall he saved our hides and become our saviour during those years to the point where without him, we'd have been well and truly screwed.

 

His signing wasn't a mistake, he was a great signing and repaid that fee 10 times over.

[NE5]

his goals kept us up in a number of seasons.

 

And got us to 2 FA Cup Finals.

 

And qualified us for europe.

 

Never a mistake.

 

The mistake was not surrounding him with players of the quality he deserved to have around him. But that was the mistake of the managers concerned and their judgements, they all made good buys but they all made too many bad and expensive ones.

 

Gullit in particular, addressed the defensive problems by bringing in Dumas, Marcelino, Domi and Goma. But they were all wrong for different reasons and he and he alone must carry the can for that.

 

 

[Baggio]

The mistake was keeping him on too long.

[junkhead]

it's a mistake to even discuss this topic

[Crumpy Gunt]

The mistake was keeping him on too long.

 

Gullit and Robson wanted him out. Souness saw keeping him onside as a way of keeping his job.

Without a doubt Shearers career effectively ended the day Bellamy stopped doing the running for him. In my opinion he should have gone two seasons before he did - definitely shouldn't have played out his final season.

[Dave]

The mistake was keeping him on too long.

 

Gullit and Robson wanted him out. Souness saw keeping him onside as a way of keeping his job.

Without a doubt Shearers career effectively ended the day Bellamy stopped doing the running for him. In my opinion he should have gone two seasons before he did - definitely shouldn't have played out his final season.

 

That was the only problem. He stayed on too long, no doubt influenced by the Chairman's 'Geordie hero, no club without Shearer, fans will all rejoice if he stays' bollocks.

 

Same with Robson leaving really. Right decision, wrong timing.

[Mick]

This isn't an easy one to answer, if shelling £15 million for Shearer was the reason for splitting up the team that Keegan built then yes it was a mistake. 

 

However, the reason for splitting up the team might have had more to do with floating the club, we'll never know.

[NE5]

The mistake was keeping him on too long.

 

Gullit and Robson wanted him out. Souness saw keeping him onside as a way of keeping his job.

Without a doubt Shearers career effectively ended the day Bellamy stopped doing the running for him. In my opinion he should have gone two seasons before he did - definitely shouldn't have played out his final season.

 

That was the only problem. He stayed on too long, no doubt influenced by the Chairman's 'Geordie hero, no club without Shearer, fans will all rejoice if he stays' bollocks.

 

Same with Robson leaving really. Right decision, wrong timing.

 

All fair points to agree or disagree with, but the question was "was it a mistake to sign him" not keeping him on. The day Bellamy went is the day he kissed goodbye to lifting a trophy as Newcastle Captain, in my opinion, but signing him was never a mistake, the mistake was not buying more players of the calibre and desire of Craig Bellamy

 

 

[stozo]

Best player to ever pull on the Black & White shirt. Definetly not a mistake.

[Guest Immsy7]

Was signing Shearer a mistake?

 

NO!

 

Needed better players around him, needed more Solano's. A consistent Laurent Robert and we really would have got somewhere.

[nufcjmc]

every player gets to the point where they arent worth holding onto, but i think the boards hands were tied as who the hell would dare sell him on or force him to retire early i think the fans would be in uproar and i dont think he is the type of man to be forced into anything.

 

I'm very proud he followed his heart and came to us I remember when he was still in his late 20's and we were being quoted a reported 25/27 million for him by some spanish sides but if he went would he be such an icon like he is now to us I think he would potentially be seen as the sell out who followed where the money is instead of where he would like to play his football.

 

Many players say things like "ill end my carear at the club i love it so much" i remember owen being quoted saying that as well as beckham and they all moved on.

 

Alan is a hard act to follow and I think he was worth every penny.

[Dave]

The mistake was keeping him on too long.

 

Gullit and Robson wanted him out. Souness saw keeping him onside as a way of keeping his job.

Without a doubt Shearers career effectively ended the day Bellamy stopped doing the running for him. In my opinion he should have gone two seasons before he did - definitely shouldn't have played out his final season.

 

That was the only problem. He stayed on too long, no doubt influenced by the Chairman's 'Geordie hero, no club without Shearer, fans will all rejoice if he stays' bollocks.

 

Same with Robson leaving really. Right decision, wrong timing.

 

All fair points to agree or disagree with, but the question was "was it a mistake to sign him" not keeping him on. The day Bellamy went is the day he kissed goodbye to lifting a trophy as Newcastle Captain, in my opinion, but signing him was never a mistake, the mistake was not buying more players of the calibre and desire of Craig Bellamy

 

 

 

Touché. Agree on his signing too.

[Dokko]

The mistakes were made on £7m Cort, £6m Marcelino, £8.5m Hugo Viana, £5m Bramble, £8m Boumsong, £9.5m Luque, add to the list Bassedas, Gavilan and many others.

 

Shearer was never a mistake, the best £15m spent by the club.

 

Was floating the club a mistake?

 

Was the PLC allowing FS to return as chairman a mistake?

 

Was selling Ferdinand a mistake?

 

Was letting Dalgliesh buy cheap crap and bring in his friends a mistake?

 

Was appointing Gullit a mistake?

 

Was appointing Souness a mistake?

 

Was keeping SBR on a season too long a mistake?

 

All these questions for me need answering before asking was buying Alan Shearer a mistake. The only mistake made was made by him for saying yes, he let his heart rule his decision instead of his head.

[Mick]

The mistakes were made on £7m Cort, £6m Marcelino, £8.5m Hugo Viana, £5m Bramble, £8m Boumsong, £9.5m Luque, add to the list Bassedas, Gavilan and many others.

 

Shearer was never a mistake, the best £15m spent by the club.

 

Was floating the club a mistake?

 

Was the PLC allowing FS to return as chairman a mistake?

 

Was selling Ferdinand a mistake?

 

Was letting Dalgliesh buy cheap crap and bring in his friends a mistake?

 

Was appointing Gullit a mistake?

 

Was appointing Souness a mistake?

 

Was keeping SBR on a season too long a mistake?

 

All these questions for me need answering before asking was buying Alan Shearer a mistake. The only mistake made was made by him for saying yes, he let his heart rule his decision instead of his head.

 

I agree with most of that.

[nazza06]

The mistakes were made on £7m Cort, £6m Marcelino, £8.5m Hugo Viana, £5m Bramble, £8m Boumsong, £9.5m Luque, add to the list Bassedas, Gavilan and many others.

 

Shearer was never a mistake, the best £15m spent by the club.

 

Was floating the club a mistake?

 

Was the PLC allowing FS to return as chairman a mistake?

 

Was selling Ferdinand a mistake?

 

Was letting Dalgliesh buy cheap crap and bring in his friends a mistake?

 

Was appointing Gullit a mistake?

 

Was appointing Souness a mistake?

 

Was keeping SBR on a season too long a mistake?

 

All these questions for me need answering before asking was buying Alan Shearer a mistake. The only mistake made was made by him for saying yes, he let his heart rule his decision instead of his head.

 

not sure about that. Agree with the rest though.

[tmonkey]

As stated in another thread, of course it was a mistake in terms of us building on the team of 95/96 and looking to win titles.

 

Think about it. Why buy a world class striker? Just to have one? Just so you can say "look, weve got him, hes one of the best, na na you havent got one"? No. Top teams want world class strikers because they win you titles, pure and simple.

 

Did we need that to win a title, a world class striker? Definately not. We had the firepower up front, and the firepower on the bench. We were scoring goals left, right and centre. The midfield was slick, it had as much width as it had ability, and it was firing on all cylinders. All we needed was a defence capable of defending well. And a right winger as a secondary priority, since Gillespie's injury had unblanaced the side.

 

We were definately unlucky in that the 97 injury robbed us of the real Shearer. Since then, despite the goals hes scored, hes been a shadow of what he was, nowhere near as good. But regardless, it was a signing that wasnt necessary to us achieving our goals, whether short term or long term, and in fact counter productive because we had to accomodate him in team that was supremely successful because it was built around one target man, not two.

 

We should have planned to win titles by first building on the squad we already had, then later on we could look at changing things round and building around new signings once the need for it actually arose. Had we strengthened in defence (including keeper, lets not forget that Hislop and Srnicek were shiite compared to the top keepers) and the right wing, wed have won titles with Keegan's side, im certain of that. Keegan is naturally blamed for us blowing the 9-12 point lead, but we had a defence capable of blowing that sort of lead during the entire time. Put a world class defender in there, or a world class keeper (Schmeical won ManU that title - we didnt have a Schmeical, we had a bog standard keeper with at best average defenders) and it becomes alot harder to drop points so easily. Weve seen ourselves what a defender of Woodgate's playing level can do for an entire average defence - we were in the position to sign a centreback of that calibre back then, we had the money, but we used it wrongly.

[Guest BooBoo]

His big injuries were the killer. Without them he could have got the record earlier. Tbh, Shearer beating Jackies record became more important to the club than progressing. It was a remarkable achievment for Shearer, but personal glories are pretty irrelevant. Tis a team game after all. We become Alan Shearer FC more than Newcastle United FC. Not helped by a sycophantic Shepherd who after the Poppins carry on, bowed down to Shearer at any chance.

[Benwell Lad]

No. At the time we signed Shearer we were still trying market the NUFC brand globally and no doubt spending a world record £15M on the world's best centre forward helped achieve that. To have the club name headlining on every TV staion and publication on the planet would have taken a £15 outlay alone. We also signed England's best player and at the time thought it would take us to the next level i.e. the championship.

 

That said the best team I ever saw in decades of following NUFC was the one immediately prior to Shearer, so effectively he never improved us.

The real sadness was watching him stay on too long and the part he played in Robson's departure and therefore Souness's arrival, and thereafter Bellamy's departure in order to preserve his own position.

Unfortunately he was allowed to become bigger than the club and no truly big club would allow that to happen.

[Haz]

Stopped us for at least two seasons, from being relegated.  If he hadnt retired, in the current injury situation, he'd still be getting games.

 

We were so proud to watch him and when the video goes all grainy you can tell the grandbairns you watched him playing. You would never have enjoyed that if he had signed for manure.

 

Worth every penny and no mistake about it.

[tmonkey]

Still think we signed him to stop ManU getting him, rather than actually wanting him, despite what Keegan or SJH or others may say publicly.

 

Shearer wouldve been the final piece in ManU's puzzle, everyone knows it.

 

But at the same time, we only needed a Woody calibre player in our backline and a good enough keeper to finish ours - fear of what ManU might become with Shearer is what caused us to overlook that and make the wrong decisions.

 

Yes, Shearer kept us up to an extent by scoring goals, but the fact that we were down the other end of the table within a few years of his arrival speaks volumes. Not his fault directly at all, but it needs to be remembered that the summer after he was signed, the squad was ripped apart because Dalglish had no money to spend, and had to work with a "sell before you buy" policy. So that 15mill spent the summer before no doubt strangled our finances - most likely that was 2 summers' worth of excess money spent on one player, hence why the squad was ripped apart when Dalglish wanted to sign his own players the following summer.

 

I think it was a bad, bad decision looking back at it. I wasnt happy at the time because I was wanking over the rumours of Maldini and Torrecelli and whatever other top defenders we were linked to at the time, thats all we needed to seriously challenge, so its not being said in hindsight.

[Cronky]

Ah, my favourite subject. I see it as a gamble that didn't pay off. When you put so much of your transfer kitty into one player, there's a risk that he'll get injured, and that's what happened. He did really well to get back to some sort of fitness (although he'd lost some pace), and we had two great seasons with him and Bellamy up front, but that's about it. Then I think age and the accumulative effect of a number of injuries caught up with him. Unfortunately, by then he'd become bigger than the club and that led to the disastrous policy of keeping him as a first team regular right up to his retirement. A great manager and three seasons went down the drain.

 

It boils down to whether the £15 million would have been better spent in another way and with hindsight you'd have to say yes. I'd agree that the defence and the right wing were the priorities.

[Alberto2005]

 

Re: Signing Shearer - was it really a mistake?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CoachHTT? leave him to me.

[Jaehyun]

You've gotta...be...kidding me.

[LooneyToonArmy]

the squad was ripped apart because Dalglish had no money to spend, and had to work with a "sell before you buy" policy.

 

All Dalglish needed to do was to buy a decent centre back or two, not fall out with Ginola, sell Ferdinand, Beardsley (yes he was 34 but for 500k there was no point), Lee Clark and Elliot (who believe it or not was one of our better players in that season) and replace them with $hite and bring back jobs for the boys like Rush and Barnes ffs....,Dogliesh seemed to want his own team, not 'Keegans team' which is fair enough but a radical overhaul was not necessary

 

Still gets to me, all that team needed was the addition of a decent defender!!

[Tooj]

Barnes wasn't too bad from what I remember that season, chipped in with a fair amount of goals. Pearce also done a good job, Rush was shite though.