Though Alan Shearer has said that he has never had any regrets about choosing Newcastle (and turning Manchester United down a number of times in his career) you have to suspect that he occasionally wonders at what could have been. Freddy Shepherd revealed recently how close Shearer came to signing for Man Utd, saying both he and Man Utd chief Martin Edwards had a gentleman's agreement that they wouldn't go over his valuation of £10m. Euro '96 changed Shepherd's mind, however, and though Edwards told him of his intention to sign Shearer, Shepherd had already found out and beat him to the punch:
We met Shearer at David Platts mother-in-laws house in Crewe. Martin rang me and said, Were going to go over the 10. I said, Oh aye but I already knew that it had leaked out that Shearer had met (Alex) Ferguson. We went in to see Shearer and Kevin had to leave to head off to the Far East for the pre-season tour. Me and Douglas (Hall) were left to do the deal and we did the deal with Alan.
Shepherd also revealed that Jack Walker had told him it would have cost Man Utd £25m to sign Shearer, who had made his mind up to come home, despite meeting Man Utd's boss.
