Alan Shearer is known as being the record goal scorer in Premier League history. Having played football for so long, did Shearer ever get red-carded?
Has Alan Shearer ever had a red card? Alan Shearer received two red cards in his career. Both of these came in the Premier League. Both of these red cards also came when he was with Newcastle. The first was a second yellow against Aston Villa in September 1999 and the second was a later rescinded straight red against Charlton in December 2001.
Alan Shearer’s First Career Red Card
In his early years in the Premier League and the First Division, Shearer had a brilliant disciplinary record. There were very few times when he even got yellow cards. Being the forward for the team, he never really put himself in the position to be sent off. Shearer went many years without being sent off.
This changed in the 1999-2000 season. In fact, it was actually in Shearer’s 100th appearance for Newcastle and the first game of the season. Shearer’s 100th appearance for Newcastle certainly did not go how he had hoped, with his sending-off coming in controversial circumstances.
He was booked in the first half of the game against Aston Villa after his elbow had caught Villa’s Colin Calderwood. He had actually done something very similar to Gareth Southgate just before being sent off but went unpunished for this. The second yellow came for an innocuous challenge, again on Calderwood.
He was shown a red card and sent off for the very first time in his career. Not exactly how Shearer wanted his 100th appearance to go.
If you think that looks like a load of something over nothing, wait until you hear about his only ever straight red card. Just two seasons later Shearer would receive the only straight red in his career.
Alan Shearer’s Only Straight Red Card
The single straight red came in a game against Charlton. During the second half, referee Andy D’Urso had sent Shearer off for allegedly elbowing Charlton’s Jon Fortune. It was an incredibly controversial decision at the time, one that Shearer protested immediately, as did Bobby Robson who was Newcastle’s manager at the time.
You can see the challenge in the Youtube Video below.
Scroll to 10 mins 15 seconds for Alan Shearer Red Card incident
You can see the incident is remarkably similar to the soft second yellow card Shearer received for his first ever sending off 2 years earlier.
Shearer’s protests were heard after the game when the red card was rescinded. The referee studied the video evidence after the game and decided that there had been no foul play on Shearer’s part. He was able to avoid the three-game ban that usually comes with a straight red card as well.
The red card was rescinded because the referees made a mistake. At the time of the incident, some people said that it was cheating by Fortune to get Shearer sent off. The referees clearly felt there was not enough contact to cause Fortune’s reaction and that is what got the red card rescinded.
So despite the red card being rescinded, this is still the only straight red card of Alan Shearer’s career. In his entire career, Shearer received just two red cards despite playing over 700 games for club and country. It is a pretty impressive disciplinary record, especially when you consider that one of those red cards was rescinded.
Shearer vs Roy Keane
Perhaps the most famous sending off incident Shearer was involved in was when Manchester United midfield general Roy Keane got into a spat with him.
On 15th September 2001 at St James Park, the time was dwindling away as Newcastle led 4-3 in the closing moments against Manchester United. ManchesterUnited had been 3-1 behind before goals from Ryan Giggs and Juan Sebastian Veron hauled them back into it. Alan Shearer grabbed a late goal to make the score 4-3 to Newcastle.
As time expired Shearer battled hard with Keane and Neville and a throw-in was awarded. Keane petulantly lobbed the ball at Shearer’s head. Within moments the referee had shown Keane the 10th red card of his career. Keane, not willing to accept the defeat and the red card graciously, did Roy Keane things and chaos ensued.
Alan Shearer record goals in a season
Alan Shearer is the greatest goal-scorer in Premier League history. He was a clinical striker who scored a lot of goals throughout his career. It means that his record goals in a single season is pretty high.
Alan Shearer’s record goals in a season is 37. He reached this mark two seasons in a row, with both of them coming for Blackburn. The first was the 1994-95 season, in which Shearer was boosted by the arrival of Chris Sutton. In a brilliant season where his side Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League, Shearer scored 34 goals in the league.
That was by far the most in his career so far as well as the most in the Premier League that season. Shearer added two goals in the League cup as well as one in Europe to take his final tally to 37. This was three more than he had scored in the prior season and was his record goal-scoring season.
Shearer won Premier League Player of the Year as well as winning the Golden Boot for scoring the most goals in the Division. He was PFA Players’ Player of the Year and took Blackburn to their only Premier League title. It was an incredible season from Shearer.
What is even more impressive is that he did the exact same a season later. Shearer could not take Blackburn to their second Premier League title in a row, with the team finishing in seventh. But that was not because Shearer’s performance dropped.
He scored 31 goals in 35 Premier League games. He added five goals in just four League Cup games as well as adding one more goal in the Champions League. This took Shearer’s total tally to 37, the same as the previous season. You could argue this season is more impressive as it came in a worse team and Shearer played one fewer game this season.
Despite being best known for his time with Newcastle, Shearer was never able to break his goal record with the side despite some brilliant seasons. He did manage to get 30 goals in a season with Newcastle, but could not get close to the 37-goal mark that he reached twice with Blackburn Rovers.
How old was Alan Shearer when he retired?
Alan Shearer had a long and successful football career. When he chose to hang up his boots he was the Premier League all-time leading scorer, a record which still holds today. This is partly because Shearer played at a high level for such a long time.
Alan Shearer was 36 when he retired from professional football. Shearer retired at the end of the 2005-06 season. He had struggled with injuries throughout a lot of the 2000s and it was clear he was not the same player he had once been. Shearer did still add 14 goals for Newcastle in his final season.
Shearer was only 29 years old when he retired from international football. Shearer surprised a lot of people when he chose to retire after Euro 2000. There were thoughts he would come out of retirement for the 2002 World Cup or Euro 2004, but Shearer remained retired from international football.