Newcastle's Alan Shearer to be honoured with statue

Alan Shearer played for Newcastle for a decade and is the club's leading scorer

Alan Shearer, one of Newcastle United's all-time greats, is to be honoured with a statue.

Shearer joined the club in 1996 for a then-record breaking £15m, and went on to score 206 goals in 10 years, before becoming manager in 2009.

Former Magpies chairman Freddy Shepherd has commissioned a bronze sculpture, to stand in a location yet to be decided.

Northumberland artist Tom Maley will take four months to cast the 9ft 6in (2.89m) structure.

The undisclosed cost will be covered by Mr Shepherd's family business, Shepherd Offshore.

Mr Shepherd said: "We, along with the Halls [former chairman Sir John Hall and family], signed him and he was a great servant to Newcastle, so that's why we are doing it.

"It was important that he was recognised, certainly by his own city, for his years of service.

"The idea was to put it in the Exhibition Park Museum, but we have had so many enquiries from the city about where to put it, so what we are doing is getting it finished first and then we will worry about where it's going to go."

Shearer, who was also England captain and played for Southampton and Blackburn before joining Newcastle, has worked as a BBC football pundit for several years since his retirement.