Alan Shearer was born on August 13 1970 in Gosforth, Newcastle. When he was a boy, Alan was known as 'Smoky' as he had a fondness for smoky bacon crisps! His family had long supported Newcastle United for generations and the young Alan once queued for hours just to catch a glimpse of his boyhood hero, Kevin Keegan. As a youngster he played for the famous Wallsend Boys Club.

However, Newcastle United passed him by (he did have trials for them, but he played in goal!) and he started his career playing for Southampton in 1987 at the tender age of 16.

He made his debut as a substitute against Chelsea in 1988, before prompting national headlines with his full debut a month later, when he scored a hat-trick against Arsenal. At the age of 17 years and eight months, he broke the record for the youngest hat-trick scorer in top-flight football which had been held for more than 30 years by Jimmy Greaves. Whilst at Southampton he met his future wife Lainya, whom he met on a blind date, and they got married in 1991 when Alan was just 20 years old. They now have two daughters (Chloe and Hollie) and a son.

He never became truly prolific for Southampton until 1992, when he hit 13 goals from 41 appearances. Having become a regular for the England team at under-21 level the previous year, scoring 13 goals in just 11 matches, this potent spell by Alan was noticed by Graham Taylor, coach of the senior team, and he made his debut against France in February 1992.

Like his full debut at club level, his full debut in international football was memorable. Alan scored a poacher's goal in the first half as England won 2-0, with the other goal coming from Gary Lineker, who was retiring in the summer after Euro 92 in Sweden, leaving Taylor with the job of finding a worthy successor.

Alan soon came to the notice of big spending Blackburn Rovers and they offered Southampton an irresistible £3.6 million for their prized asset, and he made his move. He was also offered terms by Manchester United, but turned them down.

Alan became an England regular the following season, scoring his second goal in a 4-0 win over Turkey in a qualifier for the 1994 World Cup. His first season with Blackburn was mixed - he missed half of it through injury (and more World Cup qualifiers) but scored an excellent 16 goals in the 21 games in which he did feature. The season ended sourly, however, as England failed to qualify for the World Cup.

At Blackburn, he rattled in a huge 31 goals from 40 games in the 1994 season as Blackburn finished a close second in the table behind Manchester United and also won the honour of the Footballer of the Year for that season. He added three more goals to his England tally before embarking on his most successful domestic season as a player.

From 42 games, he scored a phenomenal 34 goals as Blackburn took the Premiership title on the last day of the season. This remains the only honour as part of a team which Shearer has won in his career, though he quickly followed it up with a personal award, winning the PFA Players' Player of the Year prize for the 1995 campaign. He famously "celebrated" the title by going home and applying creosote to his garden fence! Just what Roy of the Rovers would have done!

He put away 31 goals the next season from 35 games, though his England strike rate completely dried up, with no goals in eleven games leading up to Euro 96. Alan had a successful Euro 96 scoring in the opening 20 minutes of the inaugural group game of Euro 96 against Switzerland at Wembley, and with his strike partner Teddy Sheringham had arguably their greatest game as a partnership as England turned on the style against the Dutch, winning 4-1 with a performance described as "total football" by pundits. As everyone knows England lost out on penalties against the 'old enemy', but Alan had made his mark.

Straight after the tournament, Alan became the world's most expensive footballer when his home town club Newcastle United, managed by his boyhood hero Kevin Keegan, paid £15m to secure his services. Despite the enormous price tag and the pressure of being the local boy coming home, Alan  just carried on scoring goals. He put away 25 from 31 games in his first season at the club, while also scoring five goals in England's steady start to their qualification campaign for the 1998 World Cup. At the end of his first season at Newcastle, he picked up his second PFA Player Of The Year award.

Glenn Hoddle was now England coach, and he had controversially awarded Alan the captaincy of his country, even though Tony Adams, captain during the 1996 European Championships was still in the squad and was seen as the more natural leader, not least because he was the long-time captain of his club, whereas Alan had never been a captain at any of his clubs.

In the summer of 1997, Alan suffered a cruciate ligament injury which greatly restricted his number of appearances, but he still helped Newcastle United (now managed by his old boss Dalglish) to the FA Cup final. However, Arsenal conclusively won the game 2-0, though Alan hit the post during the match when it was still tightly balanced. That summer he was named as skipper as England went to France for the World Cup, but had an unsuccessful campaign.

Glen Hoddle later departed the England job and Shearer's former Newcastle boss Keegan took over, maintaining Alan's role as captain as England set about their qualifying campaign for Euro 2000, which had not started well under Hoddle. Newcastle, meanwhile, made the FA Cup final again - this time Ruud Gullit was the manager - and again they were outplayed, this time by Manchester United.

England qualified for the European Championships thanks to a play-off victory over two legs against Scotland. By now, Alan was approaching his 30th birthday and he announced before the tournament that he intended to retire from international football as soon as England's involvement in the competition was over. Losing to Rumania 3-2, in the final qualifying game, England's tournament, and Alan's international career, was over. From his 63 caps, he scored 30 goals, level with Nat Lofthouse and Tom Finney. He remains joint fifth in the England scorers all-time list.

At Newcastle, Alan continued to score regularly, but the club did not won a trophy during his time at the club. He was appointed an OBE for services to Association Football in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in June 2001, an honour to go with the Freedom of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne that was bestowed upon him in March. He was also awarded the Barclaycard Merit Award on in 2002 for reaching the landmark of scoring 200 Premiership goals.

Alan announced that he would retire at the end of the 2004/2005 season, however he later relented on this decision and decided to continue playing for another season in a player-coach role. During this time, he equalled Jackie Milburn's 49-year-old record of 200 goals for Newcastle United in the FA Cup game against Mansfield Town on 7 January 2006.

He is currently working on his UEFA coaching qualifications, which are required to manage a team in European competitions. Since his international retirement, he resisted calls from both the England coaching staff and the media for his return to the side, largely because his presence as a strong centre forward with goalscoring capability has yet to be found in any of his successors. He has now retired from his playing duties and works for Sky as a footballing pundit. That said, he is also regularly touted as a future manager of Newcastle United.

Quietly spoken Alan has rejected much of the 'showbusiness' side of footballing fame, preferring to spend time with his family. He is a credit to the modern game and a great example of a modern day 'Roy of the Rovers'. A worthy addition to the Roy of the Rovers Hall of Fame.