12 Newcastle Players Who Returned For A Second Spell On Tyneside

5. Alan Shearer

First Spell (As A Player, 1996-2006): League Appearances: 303 League Goals: 148 Second Spell (As Manager, 2009): Games Managed: 8 Wins: 1 Born and raised in Gosforth, Newcastle's greatest son played for Wallsend Boys Club but he was forced to move down to Southampton in order to make his breakthrough. After winning the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers, his boyhood club came calling, as did Manchester United, but Newcastle paid a then-world-record fee of £15 million in order to bring Shearer back home. Capped 63 times by England, Shearer netted a Newcastle-record 206 goals during 405 appearances for the club - including 148 in 303 Premier League games. "Wor Al" captained Newcastle during Sir Bobby Robson's tenure and also played for Kevin Keegan. A uniquely-talented finisher, Shearer is arguably the greatest player ever to represent Newcastle United Football Club - and, to make things even better, he's a Geordie. Unfortunately for Big Al, he could not turn down Mike Ashley when the Sports Direct magnate called for a saviour to try and resurrect Newcastle's doomed 2008-09 season - but, with just eight games remaining, Shearer couldn't turn around the horrendous slide. Kevin Keegan had resigned just days into the season and then Joe Kinnear's terrible tenure ended when he became ill, and the job of saving the Magpies proved too much for their greatest-ever goalscorer. From eight games in charge, Shearer won just once as Newcastle were relegated to the Championship - giving him a win ratio of just 12.50%. Far from tarnishing Shearer's reputation on Tyneside, however, this merely blotted his copybook slightly.