Alan Shearer quotes:

I've turned down Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus and Manchester United to play here. I hope everyone already knows how much it means to me to play for Newcastle United.

Basically, a manager is a father figure to 20 or 25 blokes. It's about trying to get the best out of them and creating team spirit.

When I was a young boy I wanted to play for Newcastle United, I wanted to wear the number nine shirt and I wanted to score goals at St James' Park. I've lived my dream and I realise how lucky I've been to have done that.

If you ask footballers to pick out the player they most admire, so many of them will pick Paul Scholes.

Football's not just about scoring goals - it's about winning.

I would play in any number shirt for Newcastle United, but the No 9 at Newcastle is something very special and I've always wanted to wear it. I mentioned it to the manager, he mentioned it to Les and Les has been very kind and given it to me.

I'd like to play for Newcastle United before I retire. The club is in my blood.

If people are going to write bad things about me because it makes news, I can brush it aside because I've had this for 10 years. I'm big enough and strong enough to cope with it. It's what comes with being Alan Shearer.

Whenever I have any spare time I have a game of golf.

You should always give 100%. If you do that then no-one can ask any more of you. Someone once said to me when I was a kid: 'If you're asked to do ten sprints, by all means do 11 but never do nine because you're only cheating yourself'.

If you want to have a great party at Wembley, don't invite the Germans.

When I go home every night, I can look in the mirror and say I have given 110 per cent for Newcastle United. If people aren't happy with that, I can't give any more.

I've got a great life that I really enjoy. But there is something chewing at me inside: that adrenaline rush from football, I miss that.

Management interests me at some stage in my life, I have always said that. When that will be I really couldn't tell you.

If you take the money away, a lot of the footballers would still be playing football. So, the money has nothing to do with it.

It doesn't matter that I didn't win a trophy because I did it my way and I lived the dream.

The managers are getting paid very well by their respective clubs to do a job for their clubs not the country they are working in.

I have had interviews and got close to taking a managerial job. I would consider going back into football.

I didn't watch cartoons, I was too busy playing football.

One accusation you can't throw at me is that I've always done my best.

I don't know what I'd have become if I hadn't been a footballer; I wrote down 'dustbin man' on a careers questionnaire at school till my dad made me change it to 'joiner'.

Newcastle fans never cease to amaze me. If there was a trophy for best supporters this lot would win it hands down every year.

You never get fed up scoring goals

As a kid I always wanted to be a centre-forward. I wanted the buzz and thrill of scoring goals from an early age.

I hope I never have to face that feeling of missing and sending my country or team out of a competition.

Any change of my style, the way I've played for 10 years, will not be a drastic one. Yes, I've always given as good as I've got; as a forward you have to do that because, if you don't look after yourself, you might find yourself being thrown in a hole and buried.

We go there with confidence, but we know there is a very fine line between success and failure in this game.

People are very proud of Newcastle, very proud to come from here. This is a working class City and they just want to enjoy themselves and live life to the full. They work all week, pick their wages up at the end of the week and they spend it over a weekend by having a good time and watching the football. That's our life.

I miss walking out of the tunnel, the 90 minutes and the adrenalin rush that I'll never, ever replace.

The fans have what they want. They want entertainment, they want passion and they want commitment.

Somewhere along the line you've got to do your apprenticeship. But I'd want half a chance of being successful at it.

Sometimes going in for a hard tackle generates a louder cheer than a great pass.

I don't know what I believe in. I try not to think about it. I don't want to think about it.

There are not many times when I get nervous, but I do a little bit with penalties.

Some players are criticised for having no loyalty. Well, I wanted to go back home and play for the club I supported. I don't think that's a crime.

My motto in life is 'if you give 100 per cent then no one can ask any more'.

Defeat is not worth thinking about.

I have always said that the best feeling in the world is scoring a goal. Don't tell my missus that, but it is. When that ball hits the back of the net, it is fantastic.

I've never wanted to leave. I'm here for the rest of my life, and hopefully after that as well.

There is another side to me which people don't often see, but it's very hard for me to show that. When I do interviews, I'm talking to people I don't know and when you speak to a stranger you don't open up, do you? In my position, people are always looking for something to say about me. And anything I do say, given half-a-chance they'll turn it round into something spectacular so I've got to be very careful. That's why it's only my friends and family who know the real me. Now my wife, Lainya, she could tell you a few stories.

Yes, I do like to be in control. I do like everything to be laid out, to know what I'm doing. I'm very impatient. I like things done yesterday, which is probably a fault of mine. I like things to be neat and tidy and organised. I say what I want and show what I want and I keep things private.

People say he doesn't score a lot of goals with his head, but does he really have to with the ability he has in his feet? He makes spectacular goals look easy. His technique is fantastic. (on Thierry Henry)

I spend time with my family. I have got two daughters who are too young to know their Dad's a footballer. They just want to play with their Dad. I like to play golf, too, but apart from that, that's me, I'm afraid.

There was a big possibility that I would have had to leave Newcastle had Ruud Gullit stayed as manager.

I want to be around when Newcastle win a trophy because I want to see this place lift off. It will be one hell of a party for a long time.

I always practise penalties, but what people don't understand is that you can never recreate that pressure situation that you're under.

I still get butterflies when England are playing.

I always dreamed about scoring at St. James' Park. I fancied my chances and the ball flew into the net. I was ecstatic.

Lampard picks his head up and knocks it out to the wing.

First is first. That's the way I was brought up. Second or third are nowhere.

No money in the world can buy a white England shirt.

I've got two girls. I like to play golf. Apart from that there's not a lot goes on in my life. So I am boring, aren't I?

I like the tag of being the world's most expensive player. It's an honour and a privilege.

I have never wanted to go abroad before but you can never say never in football.

Nothing's black or white in our country - you're either brilliant or you're hopeless

There's no way the future's over for Martin Keown, Tony Adams or David Seaman.

Andy Carroll will cause anyone problems and I don't see a problem in that

At times they don't like you to kick them and they feel you're not allowed to kick them.

For me, Paul Scholes has been the best midfield player in the Premier League. By a mile. He has the lot. He scores and creates goals, he can pass the ball, he can head it, and rounds all this off with a competitive streak.

You only get one chance of an England debut.

This is the better one. It's identical.

I made no secret of the fact I'd love to stay in football and to do that, you need badges. I'm starting them and that's the next step for me - to continue this next season.

I'm lucky and I appreciate that. I love every minute of every day.

The FA Cup means a lot. There is a real passion here for the competition which you don't get elsewhere. It's a love affair. It's part and parcel of living up here. People might think I'm daft, but I'm not wrong; I'd rather win the Cup than the League.

It does not bother me that some say I'm dull and boring because the people that do know me will tell you a different story. It is very difficult to be open with people you don't know. There is nothing I can do about the fact that the real me does not get across and it is probably difficult to know the real me.

If people don't like my style, then I can't do anything about that. I have been like that since I first entered into the game and it hasn't done me bad in the past, so I am not going to change now.

I don't watch a lot of TV, to be honest. With three kids I have my hands full.

You have to go out onto the pitch feeling good about yourself. That can give you that extra 30 per cent.

One of the biggest fears of players in a shootout is letting your teammates down.