Shearer ready to strike for ultimate goal

On The Premiership: Creosote suppliers were put on red alert on Saturday. Alan Shearer, the man who celebrated winning the Premiership with Blackburn by painting his fence, finally equalled Jackie Milburn's Newcastle goalscoring record at the weekend and this is a man who knows how to party.

There may have been more glorious ways of passing such an illustrious landmark than a close-range toe-poke against League Two Mansfield in the FA Cup, but this was typical Shearer. He even gave his devoted supporters another glimpse of the most famous outstretched right arm in football as he wheeled away in celebration.

But Shearer's late goal represented far more than just a personal milestone. It also saved the Newcastle manager, Graeme Souness, from the wretched prospect of being made to replay Mansfield at Field Mill, a result which may well have brought his 15-month reign to a grizzly end.

Yet it is entirely in keeping with Souness' current predicament that in the act of yanking his manager back from the precipice, Shearer also pushed him closer to it.

The Scot may have been spared the chorus of boos which were bubbling in Geordie throats, but he can hardly have taken much solace from the Gallowgate bellowing the name of their number nine to the rooftops.

Shearer's status as Newcastle's manager-in-waiting is one of football's worst kept secrets. It is a position he has coveted ever since he first arrived at St James' Park in August 1996 and with every goal he scores and every crisis he averts, he simply enhances his own CV.

Nobody is more aware of this than Shearer himself. The 35-year-old may be ridiculed for the anodyne nature of his interviews but there are few cuter manipulators of the media.

After equalling Milburn's record against Mansfield, Shearer pointedly refused to downplay the scale of his achievement while simultaneously stressing the romance of it all.

"I'm very proud to be sitting up there alongside the great Jackie Milburn," he said afterwards. "It's a great achievement. I was brought here to score goals, and that's what I've been doing. I'm pleased it was here at St James'. If I'd had a choice it would have been in front of the Gallowgate where I used to stand as a kid and watch my heroes."

It is rare for the pugilistic Shearer to become misty-eyed, but his remarks seem to have been carefully designed to strike a cord with Newcastle's disaffected fans, who currently have precious little to smile about other than the feats of their golden boy.

They also emphasised how Souness can never hope to replace Shearer in the affections of the Newcastle public.

When those supporters look at their exquisitely preened and perma-tanned manager and listen to his refined Edinburgh tones, they see and hear an outsider. But in Shearer, whose Geordie accent is as heavy as Newcastle Brown Ale, they can identify with one of their own.

At most clubs, this would hardly matter, but Newcastle is unique.

The city's geographical isolation has given it a fierce sense of independence and civic pride is manifested most strongly in the football club. St James' Park responds to Shearer, the uber-Geordie, not just because of his goal-scoring talents, but because he has a sense of belonging which is alien to Souness.

Public adulation has given Shearer power that no other player can even dream of wielding.

It is no coincidence that Newcastle's last two managers, Ruud Gullit and Bobby Robson, both paid for dropping him with their jobs. Gullit even did it for a Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland, which was the footballing equivalent of Agamemnon squaring up to the Trojans without Achilles.

Shearer's status leaves Souness in an effectively untenable position. The Scot must realise that he is doing little more than keeping the dug-out warm for his captain - it would certainly explain that haunted look which seems to be permanently etched onto his face on match-days - but what can else can he do?

Dropping Shearer is unthinkable, and not just because of the fate that has been endured by Souness' predecessors. Injuries to Michael Owen and Shola Ameobi mean that the manager has no other striking options. But the more Shearer plays, the brighter his aura glows and the nearer he comes to finally taking control of the club he loves.

At the moment, Souness is being kept afloat on economics. He signed a two-year deal in September 2004, but that is due to become a rolling one-year contract at the end of the season. He will be due compensation if he is sacked, and with Newcastle's coffers emptied by the recruitment of Owen, the club may become a hostage to their own profligacy. But finances can only delay the inevitable.

The crown is slipping from Souness' head and his successor has already been named.