Shearer brings down curtain on career

Former England captain Alan Shearer has played his last professional game for Newcastle after announcing he will miss the rest of the season.

"I'm finished now and I have great memories. The fact I won't be able to play the last three games is disappointing but I'm not complaining. How could I?" he said yesterday.

The 35-year-old centre forward was due to retire at the end of the season but a scan on Friday revealed that he tore his medial knee ligament in Monday's 4-1 league win over Sunderland.

"There's a tear in the medial ligament which, although it does not require an operation, means I will be in a knee brace for a few weeks. It's disappointing but I've had a great career.

"I had focused on the last game of the season against Chelsea and then my testimonial," he said.

Shearer is hoping his testimonial against Celtic at St James's Park on May 11 will raise more than one million pounds, all of which will be donated to charity.

His career began at Southampton where he became the youngest player to grab a top-flight hat-trick and in February 1992 he scored on his England debut in a 2-0 win over France.

The top clubs came calling but he joined Blackburn, being bankrolled by Jack Walker, for a then-British record fee of £3.6 million.

Shearer was voted English Footballer of the Year after notching 34 goals in 1993-94 and the following season won his only major trophy, the Premier League title.

After netting 130 goals in 171 games for the Ewood Park club he joined his hometown team for a record fee of £15 million and got a hero's welcome from the Toon Army.

Shearer says he has no regrets about turning down Manchester United.

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