Former England skipper and Newcastle United's legendary striker Alan Shearer has retired the game after tearing his medial knee ligament, just three matches before the end of the season. "I'm finished now and I have great memories," Shearer was quoted as saying by Newcastle United official website. "The fact I wont be able to play the last three games is disappointing, but I'm not complaining, how could I?" The 35-year-old forward was set to call it quits in the end of the season after a 10-year spell at St. James Park but the retirement was accelerated by the injury he picked up during his side's victory over Sunderland. "Some people think it was a fantastic way to go out by scoring in our 4-1 win at Sunderland, they might be right," he added. Shearer started his career at Southampton in 1988 where he was the youngest player ever to score a hat-trick in his first start for the club. After scoring 43 goals in 4 seasons for the Saints, He moved to Blackburn Rovers in a 3.6 million pounds record signing helping the club to win their first ever Premier League title after scoring 34 goals in 1995.
He also went on to score 130 goals in 171 games for Rovers. In the summer of 1996, Manchester United were close to land Shearer but the prolific striker opted to make the move to his boyhood dream club, Newcastle. "My dream as a kid was to play for Newcastle United and score goals at St. James' Park," Shearer said. "It doesn't matter that I didn't win a trophy, I had it my way and lived the dream, unless you come from the area you wouldn't understand the mentality, playing for the club is everything." He led Newcastle to two FA Cup finals and UEFA Champions League football as well as becoming their best all time striker with 206 goals for the club. Shearer's international record is no less good than his domestic one. He earned 63 caps with England, scoring 30 goals and captaining his country in the 1996 and 2000 Euro Championship finals as well as the 1998 World Cup in France.
