Former Newcastle United defender Paul Huntington has fond memories of working with Shearer on Tyneside
Alan Shearer during a Newcastle United training session at the Stade Velodrome ahead of the Magpies' UEFA Cup semi-final second-leg against Marseille in May, 2004
Alan Shearer during a Newcastle United training session
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Alan Shearer may be the Premier League's all-time record goalscorer, but that didn't mean he wasn't always ready to help emerging talent at Newcastle United.
The Geordie legend was in the final stages of his career when young defender Paul Huntington broke into the first-team picture in 2005, but the Carlisle-born stopper has never forgotten the time Shearer took to pass on valuable advice and welcome him into the squad.
He had retired by the team Huntington made his Premier League debut for the Magpies, in a 3-1 win at Blackburn in 2006, but that didn't stop him from highlighting his performance on Match of the Day that evening.
Shearer had kept a close eye on Huntington since a training camp in Marbella which opened his eyes on how the former United striker operated in training.
"I trained with Shearer and he was great with the young lads," he told the Undr the Cosh podcast. "He took me after training and he would ask Nobby Solano to deliver some balls in.
"In the sessions, I wasn’t tight enough to him. I was just giving him a free run and him and Nobby would have eye contact. His movement would be away and then across you. I was just a passive 18-year-old, I didn't know. Before you’d blink, Shearer’s headed the ball in the bottom corner.
"So he grabbed me after, like, after a session in Marbella. I just thought that’s class. That’s the sort of thing you remember now.
"And then I got on the bus and all the seats are taken and I'm thinking I’ll just stand up. But Shearer’s said, 'No, no, Hunts, like, come sit here'.
"He’s asking where I'm from, I hear you;re doing well in the youth team, are you enjoying it . . . he’s talking to you and he’s like legend, Premier League all-time top scorer. I just thought that was a sign of the man really."
Paul Huntington of Newcastle United
Former Newcastle defender Paul Huntington in 2007
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Huntington went on to play for Leeds United and Yeovil before spending ten years at Preston North End, but it was Shearer's televised words after his Newcastle debut which stuck with him.
"After my debut, I was in, in a bar with my pals and Shearer’s done like a little two minutes on Match of the Day," he added. 'He said 'I just want to say, a special mention to, to Hunts making his debut today. Great kid, wanted to listen, learn, and this important header when Brad Friedel had come up before they broke away and got the third was brilliant. It was probably a foul ‘cause it was GBH on the back of my head, but that was a welcome to men’s football.
"It's just something you remember. It was class and he was, he was so good with like the young lads. I know it didn’t sort of work as a manager later on, ut like he was great with me. I've only good things to say about Shearer."
Huntington spent two years with Carlisle United before a spell at Bradford City, and announced his retirement in November last year following 552 professional appearances.
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