Alan Shearer column: I thrived on the pressure of crazy transfer fee – there is no reason why Paul Pogba can’t either
I HAD just finished Euro 96 as the tournament’s top goalscorer.
England lost to Germany in the semi-final and Blackburn granted me an extra couple of weeks off.
I went on holiday with the family and it wasn’t until after I got back that I started thinking about my future.
Newcastle are the only team to break world transfer record when they paid Blackburn £15million to sign Alan Shearer back in 1996
World Record Fee
FRENCH midfielder Paul Pogba is on the brink of a world record £92million move from Juventus to Manchester United.
But on this day 20 years ago, England’s own Alan Shearer attracted the biggest transfer fee on the planet.
His £15m switch from Blackburn Rovers to his boyhood club Newcastle toppled the previous record which had been set just a few weeks earlier by Brazilian Ronaldo, who joined Barcelona from PSV for £13.2m.
And here, SunSport columnist Shearer recalls what it was like to be the world's most expensive footballer...
I knew that Manchester United and Newcastle were both interested in me.
I had face-to-face meetings with both managers, Alex Ferguson and Kevin Keegan, and I was to-ing and fro-ing over which club to join.
But then I thought ‘you know what, I’m going to go home’.
Kevin rang me up and had another chat with me and that was it, my mind was made up.
It was always what I wanted to do and it wasn’t as if Newcastle weren't going for things or had no hope.
They had finished second to United the season before, when they blew that 12-point lead.
So I said ‘I’m going home - I want to do it and I’m going to do it’. I had my medical in Manchester, of all places, and signed my contract in a hotel there.
Newcastle were away on a pre- season tour in the Far East and they wanted me to join them as quickly as I could.
So after my medical, I got a bag packed for me at home and sent to me in a taxi, which met me at Manchester Airport.
And I then got on the next flight out to Singapore.
I never went back to my house in Formby because I flew back into Newcastle with the team after the trip.
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I then had my unveiling back at St James’ Park exactly a week after I had signed. It was pandemonium that day. Incredible.
It was pouring with rain yet there were nearly 20,000 fans in the Leazes End car park. I don’t know how people had got the time off work!
Newcastle built a stage in the stadium for my press conference and a stage outside so that I could be paraded in front of the fans.
But I could never have imagined that turnout.
I knew it was big news but never did I think there would be nearly 20,000 fans. It was madness.
I thought then that it was great to be back home. And without a doubt, I knew I had made the right decision.
I might have won trophies if I had gone elsewhere but equally I might have snapped my leg and never played again.
Who knows what would have happened? If I had the same decision to make again, I would have done exactly the same thing.
It was everything I hoped it would be and a lot more.
It was always my dream, it was my team.
People always get criticised for not being loyal in today’s football.
Well, I went back home and stayed there for ten years. And I had the time of my life.
I played for my club, the club I supported — and that is every boy’s dream.
And I loved being the world’s most expensive footballer. I thought it was a great title. I thrived on that.
I remember everyone saying to me ‘no pressure on you then’ as a joke, to try and turn it around to say there was loads of pressure on me.
But I loved it. Never, ever did I feel under pressure.
Yes, I always felt it was a crazy fee — £15m was a stupid amount for a player back then.
But I just thought, ‘Wow, someone’s prepared to pay that stupid amount for me’.
It gave me great confidence to go out and play — and I think I gave them value for money.
It is mad to think that now, 20 years on from my move to Newcastle, the world record transfer fee is about to be broken again — and for more than £90m.
Never did I think it would become as big as it has done today.
But that’s the way football has gone. That’s the effect of the TV money.
And if Paul Pogba feels half as good as I did with that title, then he should be OK.