Shearer rises in the nation's affections as 300 club beckons

A goal at his old club Blackburn today will see the Newcastle favourite and former England captain strike another landmark

It was an otherwise unremarkable schoolboy match, played at Newcastle's Benfield Park, in the eastern suburbs of the city and it was 20 years ago but Jack Hixon can still remember every detail of one performance. "He was dropped off wide right and he battled 100 per cent for the ball," said Hixon, who at the age of 81 still scouts for Newcastle United, although then he was employed by Southampton. "He was competent in brain as well as brawn. I thought this boy has got to have a chance because his attitude was so outstanding. Do you want to know what makes Alan Shearer tick? It's attitude, professionalism and loyalty."

And goals. Shearer says the only way to judge a striker is on how many times he puts the ball into the net, an argument that would make Diego Forlan tremble. Since April 1988, when he scored the first of what would prove to be a hat-trick for Southampton against Arsenal, his hand has been raised in celebration 299 times in club football and the fact that the 300th could be scored at Blackburn, where he won his only trophy, the 1995 championship, makes the anticipation all the more intense.

"I don't want to sound disrespectful or boastful but people throw a record at me every other week, so I am not too concerned about it," he said. "I have some videos of the goals but if I'm honest I don't even know where they are. They have probably been recorded over by The Tweenies."

This is a different Shearer to the one who won Blackburn the title and who was known jokingly around Ewood Park as "God". A snapped Achilles tendon, a career-threatening knee injury which between them cost him an entire season at Newcastle, and 10 other operations have seen to that. "I have had to adjust because of what's happened to me with injuries. I was probably running into corners when I was 21 and 23. I don't do that any more and I've had no choice but to adapt. Whether I'm a better player now, I don't know, but at 32 I know I feel strong."

Had he still been playing for England, Shearer might not seem so fresh. Sir Bobby Robson freely admits Newcastle have reaped a huge dividend from his decision to retire from international football after the disappointments of Euro 2000. As good a judge as Joe Royle came away from last month's Tyne-Wear derby, in which Shearer had imposed himself in the opening seconds by knocking Gavin McCann off the ball and setting up Craig Bellamy for the opening goal before scoring himself, remarking that he was still the best striker this country could boast. Still, as his fans on the Gallowgate chant, "England's No 1".

"I do miss internationals but the only time I really miss them is when I see them running out in the tunnel and when I hear the anthems. There is still a side of me that thinks and knows I could do a job for my country. But I don't miss the build-up to the games, being away, preparation, things like that. No."

Tony Benn, who might have liked to have been born a sheet metalworker's son from Gosforth, commented wryly that it was fascinating how nicely he was now treated by a media which used to demonise his brand of socialism. The same might be said of Shearer. As England captain, he was often derided. Now when he talks of the value of the FA Cup, the importance of tradition and attitude – which sometimes puts him at odds with the new wave of young players at St James' Park centred on Kieron Dyer – and, above all, to see him play, Shearer seems the essence of the English professional footballer.

His observation that "I don't think I've been given a raw deal at any time by the media" strikes you as surprising, given some of the things that have been written, notably before Euro 96. "Sometimes throughout your career you get a little bit of stick but that's never been a problem; I've never found that insulting. You have to learn to live with that, more so now than ever.

"You have to learn that lesson when you become an international footballer, especially in this country when after you have won one game, you are told you are capable of winning the World Cup. If you lose a match, you are the worst team in the world. It's the way it's always been in this country and it's not going to change."

Not with the Daily Mirror advertising David Seaman's "little used" gloves for sale and The Sun putting the England goalkeeper's face on a Heinz baked beans tin with the headline "Has Been". Perhaps he is better to devote himself to Newcastle.

Tyneside is certainly devoted to Shearer. It is hard for someone outside the region to comprehend just how he is idolised. In part, it is because he is one of them, someone who walked the three miles from his home to St James' on New Year's Day 1985 to see Peter Beardsley score a hat-trick against Sunderland. In part, it is because he turned down Manchester United. In part, it is because in a region where every major personality from Sting to Bryan Ferry and Paul Gascoigne left for London as soon as they could, he came back. In part, it is because he is the last of a line of great Newcastle strikers that stretches from Hughie Gallagher to Albert Stubbins, Jackie Milburn and Malcolm Macdonald.

Robson saw all bar Gallagher, the only one whose goals have taken Newcastle to the championship, and that in 1927. "I rate him as highly as anyone we've had here," he said going through the list. "He's as good as any of them. It was a wonderful thing for this club to bring Alan back. And although I don't want to delay his 300th goal, it might be better if he could score it here, at Newcastle."

"He hasn't forgotten his roots," said Hixon, who did see Gallagher play, albeit at the fag end of a career that would sadly end in alcoholism and suicide. "I'm proof of that. He phones me most days, from Kiev, from Turin, from wherever he is and he made a special journey back from the European Championship to see me when I was ill. In his style, Alan is closer to Nat Lofthouse, although I think he's a better player, and very different to Milburn, who used his pace to go through defences."

Shearer has never possessed much speed, although with Craig Bellamy alongside him, he hardly needs it. Neither Shearer nor Robson was much looking forward to meeting up with the notoriously talkative striker whose goal in his home city of Cardiff had sealed an astonishing Welsh victory over Italy this week. "How good does he think he is?," Shearer pondered the question on Bellamy. "He thinks he's top-drawer. There's nothing wrong with confidence or a touch of arrogance. You say what you want about him, he works his socks off in training and on the pitch and when that happens you can't knock him. Sometimes we are not the same team without him; that's clear to see. He has made big, big improvements for himself and us. He surprised me with what he did. If he's honest, he'll say the same."

His friend and former team-mate, Rob Lee, unhesitatingly picks Les Ferdinand as Shearer's best strike partner, although they played together for only one season, 1996-67, the year of Kevin Keegan's resignation when Newcastle again finished second behind Manchester United.

"Me and Les must have scored, what, 49 or 50 goals between us in that season but in a totally different style," Shearer said. "Craig's not going to leap nine feet in the air and flick one on for me. Les and I worked very well together but there were others" And he lists Sheringham, Owen, Sutton and Newell but the strangest thing of all was that Shearer was right about his and Ferdinand's combined tally six years ago. In all competitions, 49 goals. However much they deny it, strikers always know how many.