Alan Shearer made one of the best decisions of his life, on this day in 1992, as he signed for Rovers from Southampton for a then British record fee of £3.6m.

The move helped mould one of the best strikers of his generation, a deal which proved to be worth every penny as Shearer went on to score 131 goals in 150 appearances including back-to-back 37-goal seasons, the first of which came during the 1994/95 campaign when he helped fire Rovers to a first league title since 1914.

Incredibly, during a distinguished career, it would be the only piece of silverware that Shearer won.

He left Ewood Park for hometown club Newcastle in the summer of 1996, this time commanding a world-record fee of £15m, going to become the Magpies’ all-time leading scorer, netting 206 times in 404 games.

 

 

Shearer remains the Premier League's all-time top scorer with 260 goals. He scored 30 goals in 63 appearances for England.

His Rovers debut was a sign of things to come, scoring twice against Crystal Palace, and he was averaging more than a goal of the game in his first 11 matches.

Injury cut short his debut season, but his 16 goals in 21 appearances, was just the start.

And remembering his move to Rovers, Shearer told the Lancashire Telegraph in 2015: “I came up for talks with my wife, who was seven months pregnant at the time, and we met Kenny and Ray Harford at the Thistle Hotel in Haydock.

“I promised I’d give Kenny an answer in three days so I went back to Southampton and I got a call from Manchester United.

“They said they’d love to speak to me and sign me. I told them I’d been in talks with Blackburn and that I’d promised to give them an answer within three days. So I told them (United) if they’d like to sign me, then I’d like to speak to them.

“But I never heard anything back from Manchester United and I kept my promise to Kenny and told him I’d love to sign for him.

“I’d worked with Ray Harford in the Toulon Tournament with England so I knew what a fantastic coach he was. So, with his expertise in coaching, with Kenny’s experience in winning the league, and with Jack Walker’s know-how and finance, I knew that was a pretty formidable threesome to take on the big boys.

“And, of course, it worked out. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”