Alan Shearer, is a retired professional English footballer who played as a striker for the England national team and Premiership clubs, Southampton, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United and is widely regarded as one of the best centre forwards in FA Premier League and world football history.

During his career he enjoyed successes at both club and international level, becoming one of the most prolific strikers of all time. In total he scored 422 goals for club and country, averaging 25 goals a season for each of his 17 seasons as a player. Shearer currently holds the Premier League goalscoring record with 260 goals.[4] He announced his international retirement following England's exit from Euro 2000 but continued to play for Newcastle United until 2006, when he finally retired from playing.

Since before the 2006 World Cup, Shearer has been active in his role as a regular pundit for the BBC's Match of the Day. After the 2006 World Cup he suggested that Wayne Rooneywould "stick one on" Cristiano Ronaldoafter their much publicised incident during the quarter finals. He also devotes a lot of spare time to his new favourite sport, golf, participating in pro-am tournaments. Shearer also actively promotes the Alan Shearer Centre, a charity set up with the money from his Newcastle testimonial match.

Responding to speculation of an immediate move into coaching, Shearer has stated that he would take some personal time off to "enjoy life" for the next couple of years following his retirement from playing. He has said he would like to move into management eventually, "when the time was right", and pursuant to this, before he had retired from playing he had embarked on the UEFA Pro Licence course, which is required to be able to manage a team in European competition.

Reflecting this desire, in July 2006 he turned down a role with England, citing his BBC commitments and desire to be away from the pressure of a football job, but has since still been repeatedly linked in the media with managerial or coaching posititions at his three former clubs.

Former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd announced that, after Shearer finished the 2005–06 season as Newcastle's caretaker assistant manager, he would become the club's "Sporting Ambassador" for 2006–07. Shearer also performs a similar promotional role for Adidas. On December 4, 2006, Shearer was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law degree by the Northumbria University.