Elliott: "I feel sorry for the person who comes in and wears the number nine shirt. I think they'd be as well retiring it. It would be fully justified and nobody could have any qualms about it.
"It's a big task to follow Alan whatever you say. I don't think football will ever see the like of him again.
"Al was a one-off," he added. "If you talk to all the managers nowadays, even the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson says when he looks at centre-forwards he asks, `Is he like Alan Shearer?'. It just doesn't happen nowadays, they're few and far between.
"It's going to be a long old search to find the next one. Michael's a proven goalscorer and he's lethal, but he's in a completely different mould to Alan.
If we can get a forward to go with Michael and get the best out of him he'll be able to step into the breach."
Michael Owen was expected to don the number nine shirt next season, but for whatever reason, he declined, continuing with the number ten instead.