Shearer says yes to Newcastle SOS

Newcastle United FC's record goalscorer Alan Shearer has eight games to save his home-town club from relegation after agreeing to take charge at St James' Park for the rest of the English Premier League season.

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Shearer, who will be assisted by Iain Dowie, will take over from caretaker Chris Hughton, who has been standing in for manager Joe Kinnear. The 62-year-old Kinnear came in after Kevin Keegan's resignation in September but has been recovering from triple heart bypass surgery since February. The 38-year-old Shearer has been working as a television pundit since 2006 after ending a career which brought him 206 goals in 404 appearances for Newcastle, where he served in his final two campaigns as player-coach.

Chelsea up first
As a player, Shearer scored 30 goals in 63 appearances for England before retiring from international football after UEFA EURO 2000™. He hit a hat-trick on his full league debut for Southampton FC in April 1988 and won an English championship medal with Blackburn Rovers FC in 1995 before moving to Newcastle for a then-world record fee of £15m (€23.3m) the following year. Newcastle, third from bottom in the Premier League and facing relegation for the first time since they were promoted back to the top tier in 1993, welcome third-placed Chelsea FC to St James' Park on Saturday. Meanwhile Dennis Wise has stepped down as executive director.