Happy Birthday Alan Shearer.. but you weren’t great

August 13, 2024Ligue 1

August 13 is a special day in Alan Shearer’s household, and today marks the former England international’s 54th birthday.

Often seen as one of the greatest ever players to grace the English top-flight, it doesn’t really say much about the English game does it?

Yes, he is the record goalscorer in the Premier League era, and that rightly earns him some plaudits, but if, as we’re always led to believe, that the greatness of a player is judged on how many trophies he’s won throughout his career, then a single Premier League title doesn’t lend itself to ‘greatness.’

There was nothing special about Alan Shearer

That’s only one more title than trophy-less Harry Kane has managed throughout his career to date, and one suspects that he’ll surpass Shearer before he leaves Bayern Munich.

How can a man who was a goalscorer – and only a goalscorer – and a failure as a manager, now be qualified to judge the nuance of the England team too out of interest?

What qualities did Shearer possess as a player other that putting the ball in the back of the net – which, let’s not forget, was precisely what he was paid handsomely to do in any event.

Alan Shearer is the Premier League’s all-time leading scorer

By any metric, his career was an abject failure.

Even in Shearer’s title-winning season, one can make a case for Blackburn’s captain, Tim Sherwood, being a more important influence.

It says much about how English football revels in being second best when we are still comparing Shearer to the genuine greats of the game.