Newcastle United hero Alan Shearer has revealed the thinking behind his decision to take early retirement from international football in 2000 to put his full focus and effort into delivering for his boyhood club.
The decision came four years after returning to his hometown in 1996 following a successful four-year spell at Blackburn Rovers where he lifted the Premier League victory.
Now, with the 2022 Qatar World Cup in full swing, in which Shearer is a pundit, the discussion surrounding the Premier League record goal-scorer’s international career has resurfaced.
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Shearer addressed the issue in his recent column with The Athletic, explaining: "I took it into my own hands and announced before Euro 2000 that I would be retiring from international football at the end of the tournament.
“It turned out to be a great decision, the right decision, because it got me six more years playing at the highest level with Newcastle United, without the extra travelling and training and the extra games and all the other stuff that happens on the periphery of representing England.
“If it was just about playing games, I might have been able to get through it, but it wasn’t. During those breaks, I had to rest up and get my body right.”
The decision, at the time, was met with confusion and disappointment from the general public, who were witness to an Alan Shearer who was not only still in his prime, but also performing for his country, scoring at an impressive rate of roughly a goal every other game.
Shearer revealed the reaction he received to his decision at the time as well as the invite from former England head coach Sven-Göran Eriksson who oversaw the country’s Golden Generation between 2001-2006, to re-join the national team set-up.
“As it happened, I was asked to come back under Sven-Göran Eriksson, but that only emphasised I’d made the right call. I was playing well and scoring goals for my club, but both would have been diluted if I’d spread myself more thinly.
“I was always of the opinion ‘get off the stage while people are shouting for more’. I did that with England and I’d like to think I did it with Newcastle, too, albeit I was on my last legs towards the end."
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