Mark Lawrenson said at the time: "What has he got to lose? Nothing!
"If the club goes down the fans won't blame him - if they stay up he will be a hero."
Well, it wasn't as black and white as that, as the GOALden Boy found out.
He won only one of the eight games he was in the hot seat; Newcastle went down; but worst of all it shattered Shearer's confidence so much he dare not return to management.
That was three years ago, and Shearer is happy to put his feet up in the MOTD studio, knowing the job isn't as easy as it is on the computer.
And to add salt to the wounds, he is OFFICIALLY the 14th WORST manager in Premiership history.
Wolves' relegation from the Premier League has capped off a miserable spell as manager for Terry Connor.
Since his appointment as Mick McCarthy's successor in February, Connor has picked up just two points from 10 games in charge and is still searching for his first win with three matches remaining.
However, his points per game rate of 0.20 is not the worst in Premier League history.
That dubious honour goes to Jimmy Gabriel, who lost six and drew one of his seven games in caretaker charge of Everton in 1993/94.
Connor's 0.20 points per game place him just ahead of Paul Jewell, whose Derby side went winless in 24 Premier League games under his charge in 2007/08.
So bad was their form, Jewell remarked: "The fans were singing 'you're not fit to wear the shirt', and they were right."
Next comes McCarthy's ill-fated spell in the top flight with Sunderland, who also crack the bottom 20 with Kevin Ball and Howard Wilkinson.
4 Mick McCarthy (Sunderland)
7 Kevin Ball (Sunderland)
8 Howard Wilkinson (Sunderland)
14 Alan Shearer (Newcastle Utd)