Despite calling time on his playing career two decades ago, it is still rare for Shearer to find himself with a weekend off.<\/p>\n
Now a regular pundit on Match of the Day, as well as co-commentating on England games and sitting alongside Gary Lineker and Micah Richards on The Rest Is Football podcast, he has become one of the most respected pundits in the game.<\/p>\n
But that was not always going to be the case.<\/p>\n
Unsure of whether he would enter the world of management or media post-retirement, Shearer served as interim Newcastle<\/a> manager in 2009 for the remaining eight games of the season.<\/p>\n It ended badly, with the Magpies relegated and Shearer never returning to the dugout.<\/p>\n “Newcastle<\/a> were were in desperate trouble and I could never say no – we were bottom of the league, fighting for our lives,” he said.<\/p>\n “I should have known that when I signed the contract on April Fool’s Day that it wasn’t going to work out!<\/p>\n “I always felt that I was going to go into it again and I wanted to. I had a couple of interviews and got offered the job at Cardiff. And then things changed … and I thought, ‘what am I doing here?'”<\/p>\n That ended Shearer’s brief brush with management and he returned to punditry, spending his weekends travelling between Newcastle<\/a> and Salford for Match of the Day.<\/p>\n