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Alan Shearer has revealed to Gary Lineker why he does not regret turning down two offers to join Manchester United.
Sir Alex Ferguson had attempted to sign the former striker on two separate occasions, once when he was at Southampton and again when he was at Blackburn.
The 53-year-old Match of the Day pundit began his professional career with Saints before moving to Rovers in 1992. Three years later, he’d go on to record a whopping 34 goal haul to help Blackburn clinch the 1994-95 Premier League title – the only major honour the former England international clinched in his career.
Shearer would go on to leave Blackburn in 1996 in a then world-record £15m deal before playing for 10 seasons at Newcastle.
It was here that he established himself as one of English football’s greatest goal scorers, netting 206 goals in 405 appearances across all competitions for the Magpies.
Speaking ahead of Newcastle’s fifth round FA Cup clash against Blackburn on Tuesday, Shearer was adamant that he would make the same decision to snub Man United again and insisted he had no regrets on turning down Ferguson.
‘People often say “why didn’t you go to Manchester United, you would have won loads of stuff there?”‘ Gary Lineker said on BBC Match of the Day.
But the Newcastle legend replied, shaking his head: ‘I don’t really care about whether people believe it or not.’
‘I’m telling you how it is, if I had the same decision to make again now, I’d exactly the same again.
‘I had 10 unbelievable years there, it’s my club, my hero was Kevin Keegan, I used to go and watch him.
‘So to go and score goals at St James’ Park was my dream, so to have the record, the statue there, and to have everything I’ve got in Newcastle, I wouldn’t swap that for the world.’
It’s not the first time the iconic Premier League striker has spoken out on his decision to snub Man United.
After being inducted into the Premier League’s Hall of Fame in 2021, Shearer admitted that despite realising he would have won more trophies at United, he insisted that it was perhaps the best decision he made in his career.
‘I left home in 1985 to go to Southampton to start my career,’ Shearer said after being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
‘It had been 10 or 11 years and I thought ‘you know what, I’m going to go back home’.
‘It meant that much to me and I wanted to have some great years at Newcastle where I could still play and not go back in my thirties and not see the best of me.
‘It was the best decision I ever made, I know I would have won more trophies at United but the ten years I had there were unbelievably special, it was everything I hoped and wanted and more.’
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
