Alan Shearer’s playing and punditry career have both been huge successes.
The retired striker, who won the title with Blackburn Rovers in 1995, holds the prestigious record of being the Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Shearer finished his career with 260 league goals, a tally that will prove very tough for any player to beat.
Today, the 47-year-old is viewed as one of the best pundits on television. He isn’t afraid to say what’s on his mind on Match of the Day and that’s something fans appreciate.
But in the middle of those careers is a failed job as Newcastle United’s manager.
Shearer took over the club on April 1, 2009. They were staring relegation in the face but there was a hope that the club legend could inspire his players to avoid the drop.
However, Shearer could only lead the Magpies to one win in his eight games in charge and he would leave the club at the end of the campaign.
And a journalist has reminded Shearer of that miserable spell this morning on Twitter.
Gary Stonehouse wrote: “Shearer took em down and bottled challenge of bringing them up.”
The former England international spotted the tweet and duly responded.
“Are you a freelance journalist because no-one will hire you? I shook on a deal to stay on and I never reneged on that. Get your facts right,” he wrote.
Stonehouse should have been aware that Newcastle decided not to make Shearer the permanent manager after the club was relegated.
Shearer submitted a proposal to owner Mike Ashley and expected to be offered the position, but he never received a response.
“Even after 2009, I was still thinking I was going to be a manager and I wanted to do it,” Shearer told The Sun last year, per the Chronicle.
“Despite how things went at Newcastle, I loved what I was involved in there.”
Now with a comfy position as a pundit, Shearer doesn’t expect to return to the touchline.
“I’d be amazed if I ever went back into it,” he added. “The longer you are out of it, the more difficult it is to get back in.
“You have got to have a real desire to do it, which I don’t.
“But the main reason I won’t go back is because I love what I am doing now.”
It was revealed this year that Shearer earns £450,000-per-year from the BBC.
But that is peanuts compared to what Rafa picks up at St James' Park.
The Newcastle saga hurt Shearer, to the point he tried it ... but it wasn't for him because he wasn't that good at it.
One win in eight games makes poor reading, and although eight games isn't a true test of anyone's ability as manager, he KNOWS it was a job he wished he had never taken.