Alan Shearer’s International retirement

 

 

 

Last week 29 year old Newcastle United and England captain Alan Shearer announced he will be retiring from international football after Euro 2000 this summer.  This has come as a shock announcement to all in involved in football and has led to some discussion as to why and who will replace him as captain and how will the England team survive without a striker widely regarded as one of the worlds best.  With 52 international caps and some 27 goals for his country Shearer has had an excellent international career which started when he scored on his England debut against France in 1992.  He explained his decision to retire as wanting to concentrate on gaining silverware for his club side Newcastle, and wanting to spend more time with his family, as his wife is expecting their child. 

 

The two main debates which have arisen are who will replace him as the captain of England, and who will take the much coveted number 9 shirt.  First choice for the captaincy would be Tony Adams, he has already done the job 10 times and is highly experienced at 34 years old.  Although in my opinion he is too old and England should pick someone young and up coming to be captain for many years to come.  My personal choice would be Sol Cambell of Tottenham Hotspur ( an English Premier League team), who is already considered a world class player valued at around 15 million pounds and he has many years of international football ahead of him. 

 

The final debate is over the successor to the all important number 9 shirt.  This is more complicated with their being many pretenders to Shearer’s crown.  Emile Heskey, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and Manchester United’s Andy Cole are all in the line up to replace Shearer but in my opinion he is still the best man to front England’s attack and it is a great shame he has decided to retire this year.

 

By Jon Howard

Bishop Heber High School