North American Newcastle United Supporters Club

A wonderfully festive affair at the end of the season at St James’ Park for Alan Shearer’s testimonial match against Scottish champions, Celtic. And at the end it was a carnival atmosphere of the sort that must have existed 150 years ago at the Blaydon Races as Les Ferdinand nudged in the equalizer via a Celtic defender, and Shearer fittingly scored the winning goal from the penalty spot in injury time..

The festivities started with Shearer and his family being photographed with the two teams, and the crowd doing a Super Bowl halftime extravaganza when each side of the stadium spelled out Shearer and #9 with placards. His wife and teenage daughters beamed at the fans, although his little lad was a bit overwhelmed by the crowd’s reception. The crowd made as much noise throughout the game as they did the previous weekend in the win over Premiership champions Chelsea. Every so often there would be thunderous roars as 52,000 Geordies waved the black and white scarves that everyone had obviously been given. There was a special Alan Shearer Testimonial shirt that the players wore (will it be sold in the stadium Shop?) and many of the fans wore T-shirts saying “Not just a sheet-metal worker’s son.”

The match was a fairly easy workout: the ending was obviously a put-up job – but who cared? Newcastle’s new-broom manager, Glenn Roeder, rang the changes through their whole squad. Steve Harper had a couple of excellent saves in the second half, although his kicking was a bit scary. Boumsong was just outplayed by the head of Hartson who scored Celtic’s second goal. Luque scored with a cracking volley from a superb cross from Ramage on the right (or was it Taylor – the Newcastle players were all over the field – Carr ended the game on the right wing). Pattison scampered around like Emre and was unfortunate not to score with a chip that the goalkeeper just managed to parry. It was good to see some of the ex-Magpies. Steve Watson started, then Gary Speed (why was he ever transferred?), Rob Lee (a few more gray hairs), and finally Les Ferdinand. As always Les got a great reception from the crowd. We did see Paul Gascoigne – Gazza - kitted up in England togs for some kind of penalty competition at half time, but this wasn’t shown on TV.

Well there it is. We are privileged to have been a contemporary of the lad. And proud to have seen him play for our club. Arguably few other players in English football have generated the esteem from their fans that Big Al has. Where loyalty, commitment, passion, and integrity are hard to come by nowadays, Shearer always gave his full measure and was a welcome antidote to the “give me the headlines and the notoriety” creed. And that applies to managers too. He has the respect of everyone – even Manchester United’s Roy Keane. He has come and gone and we will not see the likes of him again in English football. But be glad that we were there to experience his talent and his mark on the game.

	Shearer – Cheers lad! June 2006 A wonderfully festive affair at the end of the season at St James’ Park for Alan Shearer’s testimonial match against Scottish champions, Celtic. And at the end it was a carnival atmosphere of the sort that must have existed 150 years ago at the Blaydon Races as Les Ferdinand nudged in the equalizer via a Celtic defender, and Shearer fittingly scored the winning goal from the penalty spot in injury time.. The festivities started with Shearer and his family being photographed with the two teams, and the crowd doing a Super Bowl halftime extravaganza when each side of the stadium spelled out Shearer and #9 with placards. His wife and teenage daughters beamed at the fans, although his little lad was a bit overwhelmed by the crowd’s reception. The crowd made as much noise throughout the game as they did the previous weekend in the win over Premiership champions Chelsea. Every so often there would be thunderous roars as 52,000 Geordies waved the black and white scarves that everyone had obviously been given. There was a special Alan Shearer Testimonial shirt that the players wore (will it be sold in the stadium Shop?) and many of the fans wore T-shirts saying “Not just a sheet-metal worker’s son.” The match was a fairly easy workout: the ending was obviously a put-up job – but who cared? Newcastle’s new-broom manager, Glenn Roeder, rang the changes through their whole squad. Steve Harper had a couple of excellent saves in the second half, although his kicking was a bit scary. Boumsong was just outplayed by the head of Hartson who scored Celtic’s second goal. Luque scored with a cracking volley from a superb cross from Ramage on the right (or was it Taylor – the Newcastle players were all over the field – Carr ended the game on the right wing). Pattison scampered around like Emre and was unfortunate not to score with a chip that the goalkeeper just managed to parry. It was good to see some of the ex-Magpies. Steve Watson started, then Gary Speed (why was he ever transferred?), Rob Lee (a few more gray hairs), and finally Les Ferdinand. As always Les got a great reception from the crowd. We did see Paul Gascoigne – Gazza - kitted up in England togs for some kind of penalty competition at half time, but this wasn’t shown on TV. Well there it is. We are privileged to have been a contemporary of the lad. And proud to have seen him play for our club. Arguably few other players in English football have generated the esteem from their fans that Big Al has. Where loyalty, commitment, passion, and integrity are hard to come by nowadays, Shearer always gave his full measure and was a welcome antidote to the “give me the headlines and the notoriety” creed. And that applies to managers too. He has the respect of everyone – even Manchester United’s Roy Keane. He has come and gone and we will not see the likes of him again in English football. But be glad that we were there to experience his talent and his mark on the game.

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