Carroll aims to follow Shearer - not Quinn

Feb 20 2010 The Journal

Andy Carroll used to wear Newcastle’s number nine shirt in the playground, now the former ball boy wants to do it for real. Stuart Rayner speaks to the man who turned down Sunderland to chase his dream at St James’ Park.

YEARS before he left school Andy Carroll was regularly wearing Newcastle United’s number nine shirt, appearing in televised matches at St James’ Park and had a Premier League assist to his name.

So heaven only knows what would have happened if he had taken the chance to join Sunderland.

In truth, there was no way Carroll would pursue his grandmother’s dream of becoming the new Niall Quinn over his own to be the next Alan Shearer.

Gateshead-born Carroll has been with the Magpies since the age of nine – as a player, season ticket holder and even ball boy.

He knows how badly his fellow fans want him to succeed puts added pressure on his broad shoulders, but if recent performances are anything to go by, the 21-year-old thrives on it.

Six goals in his last seven appearances is an impressive haul for a striker told to improve his output last summer. That his purple patch has come against the background of off-field difficulties and the arrival of a striker intent on taking his place, paints a picture of a man not easily distracted from his goals. Top of the list is the obvious one for any youngster of a black-and-white persuasion.

“Everyone wants to be Newcastle’s number nine,” he says of the fabled shirt Chris Hughton has kept vacant as a carrot. “But I just want to play football and win games. We just need to get straight back into the Premier League and that is what everyone is going for.

“Wearing the number nine shirt was what I dreamed of all the time. I think everyone does that. I had probably had my name on the back of a (replica) shirt with the number nine on it.”

His regular stints as a ball boy had their moments – though perhaps not enough to merit the attention in the Carroll household.

“I was a ball boy all the time from 12 to about 14,” he recalls. “I used to love it. And when I became too old to be a ball boy I got a season ticket. The strikers at the time were Alan Shearer, Les Ferdinand and Duncan Ferguson.

“There was one game – I am not quite sure which one – when I went home and told everyone I had set a goal up. I threw it in quickly and they scored.

“My parents used to record the matches and watch them back just to see a few seconds of me!”