More ex NUFC players react to Alan Shearer sensation

Apr 1 2009 By Matt McKenzie

Former Newcastle favourite, midfielder Mick Martin, said: ``The sun is out and it's the nicest, warmest day in the north-east this year. Everything happens for Alan Shearer - he's a lucky lad like that.

``I’m delighted; it’s a good move. We’re struggling to say the least, and getting Alan involved is a huge boost for the team and the area.

``Dressing rooms need a presence, and Newcastle lost one with Shay Given going - but they’ve got the biggest one they can have with Alan Shearer.

``His appointment would not guarantee survival. But it guarantees effort, and the players will go out and give their best because they see Alan.

``It’s been a desperate season, and they’ve got to make up the time to finish fourth from bottom. They’ll be more than happy with that.

``Alan would have taken the job on his terms. He’ll have said ’this is what I want to do and need for the club to be successful, but my aim is long term’."

Fifty-seven-year-old Martin, who played nearly 150 times for the Magpies from 1978-84, accepts relegation with Shearer in charge is still a possibility.

He continued on Setanta Sports News: ``It’s not impossible that we could go down, even with Alan Shearer at the helm.

``But if we did I’d assume he would be very much involved in coming back up from the Championship - which I’m sure they would, given enough money to do so.

``They’ve got Middlesbrough, Portsmouth and Fulham at home. When you have to get the points they become far more difficult.

``Against Manchester United and Arsenal, there was no pressure at all. They played well against United and were as good as Arsenal for an hour, but it’s different against teams around you because the pressure is on you to win."

Martin believes the end is nigh for Newcastle’s executive director (football) Dennis Wise, adding: ``I’m assuming there won’t be a position for him - someone told me this morning he had left already.

``With Alan Shearer in charge, he’ll want to bring in his own people to run the club as he sees fit.

``He can turn it around by attracting good players and quality coaches to do the job, and all he’s got to do is oversee it."

Former club captain Bobby Moncur said Alan Shearer was the man to save Newcastle United - and Michael Owen's career.

He said the famouos number 9 would bring effort, dedication, and passion back to the team.

Speaking from outside St James’ Park, where members of the press almost outnumbered the fans, he said: ``I am absolutely delighted, am buoyant, at the news.

``At first I thought it was an April Fools joke but it is definitely true.

``It has been tough times for the club and Mike Ashley and (managing director) Derek Llambias have been taking a lot of aggravation in the last few months - some justified - but I think they deserve to be congratulated for convincing Alan Shearer to come back to save the club.

``He never said he did not want to be the manager.

``We were playing golf a few years ago and I asked whether he would ever want to be the manager.

``He said he would always like to have a go but that the time would have to be right.

``I said you cannot pick a time. It will happen one day and you will have to make a decision.

``I think that time is here and he has made that decision, albeit a difficult one because Alan wants to be successful and he has a difficult job ahead of him.

``But he is the man.

``He is the people’s choice.

``It is almost like he has no choice in the matter. He is the one everybody wants.

``This is the second time he has chosen Newcastle. The first time was years ago when he could have gone to Manchester United and won loads of trophies but he decided to come back to his home town.

``It could be the second time he has come to save the club.

``People talk a lot of baloney about having to have management experience.

``Kevin Keegan came and did a good job for us and he had no management experience.

``All of his career Alan has been a skipper. He knows how to deal with the press, he knows what he wants.

``He is a determined character. He will walk in that dressing room and give everybody a lift. He has given me a lift and I’m not even playing.

``The fans will get a lift and he will also lift the players - and in particular Michael Owen.

``Michael Owen is key to the problems at Newcastle because to win games you have to score goals - and who is the best goalscorer at the club, after Shearer? Michael Owen.

``They have a great respect for each other.

``And I think the rest of the boys who don’t know Alan Shearer will soon get to know that he will demand effort, dedication, and passion.

``Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias should know that if the team starts winning, the fans will back off.

``If Alan Shearer has done a deal with them, he will have laid down the rules and said this is what I want, otherwise he would not have done the deal.

``He is already looking for an assistant and it is rumoured to be Iain Dowie, who has management experience and who he knows from when he played with him at Southampton.

``Joe Kinnear has just had major heart surgery and the recommendation is that following that you have six months off your job.

``Not only would he be coming back into one of the most pressurised jobs in the world, he would be trying to save the club from relegation.

``I’d say to him: do yourself a favour.

``Today, I’m happy. There’s more chance of the club surviving relegation than there was 24 hours ago, that’s for sure."

Moncur guided the club to victory in the 1969 Fairs Cup Final against Hungarian team Ujpest Dosza and was described by then manager Joe Harvey as ``the supreme sweeper and most valuable asset to Newcastle and Scotland".

In that final he scored three goals over two legs to deliver silverware to Tyneside and made a total of 358 appearances for United.

His last was in the 1974 FA Cup Final against Liverpool before he signed for Sunderland and skippered them to promotion in 1976.