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Wallsend Boy's Club - Shearer bigger than Pele? - 09/10/2003

Wallsend Boy's Club - Shearer bigger than Pele?
Two of the many Wallsend 'old boys'
 
Links:
 Players:
   Steve Watson
   Alan Shearer
   Lee Clark
 Managers:
   Brian Laws
   Steve Bruce

I enjoyed a fantastic night at the Wallsend Boys’ Club dinner Wednesday evening. As an ‘old boy’ it was great to meet up with some of the staff and a number of players who’ve passed through the club and have made it to a professional career.

Players such as Alan Shearer, Steve Watson, Alan Thompson, Michael Carrick, Brian Laws (now managing Scunthorpe), Jeff Wrightson, Tony Sealy, Paul Baker were all in attendance.

The evening was organised as both a fundraiser for the club and to honour David Beardall who is retiring after a large number of years service. In total I think we raised around £15 to £16,000. But once again, a certain Alan Shearer grabbed the headlines. The two big attractions for the auction were Al’s shirt worn when he scored his 250th league goal against Southampton last Saturday, and a shirt signed by the legendary Pele. The Pele shirt was extra special as he’s just had an operation on his right arm and as a result wasn’t able to sign any autographs. Peter Beardsley, Al, and the gaffer met Pele at St. James and knowing that Pele was meeting the lads, I’d actually left a shirt with Peter Beardsley for Pele to sign. As it happens it went unsigned – much to the disappointment of my two boys; Ethan and Max. However he did manage to sign a shirt with his left hand, and this unique signed shirt was auctioned last night – a real collectors item. However, it just goes to show how special Alan Shearer is to the people of Newcastle; Pele’s shirt went for an amazing £4,500 whereas Al’s topped that by another £500! Where else in the country would that happen?

It really was a fantastic night, the comedian was cracking and although most of his jokes were a bit too blue or personal for the website, I’ll leave this one to the imagination…”When Ruud Gullit came to Newcastle he promised sexy football, he was right, every time we played we got …………….” Answers on a postcard!

We also had a number of photo’s taken, although for the first five or so, I saw an older bloke who I didn’t recognise taking his place. I presumed he must have been a player who’d come through the club many years ago. As it turned out that he was just some guy from the audience. Anyhow, Ian Horrocks, the club photographer, was doing the honours and I’ll try and get a photo sorted out for the site.

Cheers,

Rob

 

NB/ The below article was printed by the Chronicle last night…

"Shearer hails star makers"

Newcastle skipper Alan Shearer demanded today that a Premiership world awash with millions never forgets its debt to the likes of the little boys club where he was reared.

And Shearer, England's top striker over the last decade, insisted: "Professional football desperately needs the likes of Wallsend Boys Club despite all the money being flashed around and mustn't forget it.

"The Premier League high flyers still need their youth systems and in turn the youth systems need the boys clubs."

"When you consider the players they have developed and how much they have been sold for - millions upon millions of pounds. They have an incredible system.

Most will be at the Village Hotel, Silverlink, tonight to pay homage to a club to which they owe so much. Thompson is due to come down from Glasgow, and Watson from Liverpool, while former QPR star Tony Sealy has actually flown in from Hong Kong to be present.


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