IF Newcastle United do survive, we should not be too quick to hail Alan Shearer as a managerial genius. But he has already got one decision right in the past 12 months – turning down Blackburn Rovers.

Shearer appears to be a reluctant knight in shining armour at St James’ Park.

Last night he gave an indication that, for once, he had allowed heart to rule head when he said: “I desperately don’t want this club to go down. I’ll do everything I can to prevent that.”

In the past, despite his insistence that he wanted to become a manager, advances for his signature seemed to meet with caution.

He was too busy washing his hair, studying for a blood test or looking after his sick ant.

It remains to be seen whether his devotion to the Newcastle cause has now put his very managerial career at risk.

But Shearer must have looked at the sacking of Paul Ince at Rovers and thought, ‘That could have been me'.

Shearer, it was reported at the time, showed initial interest in the Ewood job before eventually opting not to join Ince, Sam Allardyce and Steve McClaren on the shortlist to replace Mark Hughes in the summer.

“I got a call from John Williams at Blackburn,” he confirmed. “He asked me if I would like to be included on a shortlist for the manager’s job, which I politely declined because of the commitments that I have.”

Despite spearheading Rovers’ title success some 14 years ago, Shearer probably knew the risk of following Hughes was too great - something Ince unfortunately learned when it was too late.

After years of achieving more than the club’s finances could really sustain, Rovers were vulnerable to a leaner season ahead.

It was not a time for inexperience, which is why Williams eventually swapped Ince for Allardyce when things started to unravel.

Had Shearer been the man in the Ewood hotseat, his reputation as a manager would have been put in even greater jeopardy than that of Ince, who can at least still point to previous successes on his CV.

Indeed, at least to some degree, Shearer’s reputation as a Rovers legend would also have been at risk.

Shearer has taken over at Newcastle at a moment when he has much less to lose because, although he would be remembered as the man who took them down, he would not be blamed for it.

Like Trevor Brooking at West Ham United, it is likely that even after relegation he would be given the chance to carry on if he so wished.

Shearer alone will not keep Newcastle up.

The euphoria around Kevin Keegan’s appointment lasted throughout an FA Cup match against Championship Stoke, for which he was not in charge, and about five minutes of the next league game.

Then the Tyne roar disappeared for another year and the pale shadow of a once great club returned.

But despite all that, Newcastle will not go down. They would not have done without Shearer, either.

A team including the likes of Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins and Damien Duff would have scraped enough points together, particularly after the boost of Joe Kinnear’s return. Now, Shearer will get that credit.

“If he keeps us up not only will he be God, he’ll be Super God,” was how one over-excited Newcastle fan put it, as only over-excited Newcastle fans can.

And, in fact, Shearer will deserve all the credit he gets.

But that will be as much a tribute to his sense of timing as anything else.

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