THE NUMBER 9 SHIRT
The number 9 shirt has been made famous through the years by those who've worn them in the famous black and white stripes and with that comes a lot of history. A proud tradition for Newcastle United as more often than not, the number 9 shirt and it's wearer have represented what the club is all about. The number 9 is the striker, our main forward and goal scorer, symbolising our love of attacking football, the way the Beautiful game should be played.

The current number 9 is of course Alan Shearer, quite possibly the greatest striker to ever play for Newcastle United and one of (if not the) the best strikers ever produced by England. Alan joined the club in 1996 for a then world record transfer fee of 15 million pounds and hasn't looked back since. Despite not winning any trophies in his time at United, yet (though come very close a few times), Alan has always been knocking in the goals. Is the only player to score more than 200 Premier League goals and has struck over 300 goals in his career so far. Truly one of the greatest goal scoring records with the majority of his goals coming in the number 9 shirt for Newcastle United.

In years gone by we've had some gifted strikers wearing the number 9, strikers like Les Ferdinand, Andy Cole, Malcolm MacDonald, Jackie Milburn, Hughie Gallagher and so on. I'm sure that in years to come we're definitely going to see more great strikers wearing the number 9 and doing the club proud.

Recently though some fans have suggested retiring the number 9 for Alan Shearer when he retires, I for one am strongly against this idea. Did we retire it when Supermac retired? Did we retire it when Milburn retired? No we didn't, the number 9 shrt is a great symbol of Newcastle United and it's an honour to wear that shirt and I believe Alan would definitely love to pass on the legacy of the number 9 shirt to someone else when he's done. There have been greats who've worn that shirt before him, and there'll be greats who'll wear that shirt after him. Shearer's quite possibly the pick of the bunch to date, but lets not let the legacy die with him.

GREAT GAMES
Down the years there's been some remarkable games played involving our club. Games not only at St James' Park, but other Premiership club grounds, games in Europe and games at Wembley. Here's a few lists of great games in recent history.

This season:
* Leeds United 0-3 Newcastle United (Elland Road)

* Liverpool 2-2 Newcastle United (Anfield)
2-0 down, ten minutes to go at Anfield, a game which we just had not got into at all as Liverpool, one of the favourites for the Premiership title, had just dominated from the word go. Then in the last ten minutes, on the back of two players brought on as substitutes (Bellamy and Robert) we turned the game around with a goal from Speed and then one from Shearer in the last minute to grab an unlikely point.

* Newcastle 2-0 Sunderland (St James' Park)

* Newcastle 1-0 Juventus (St James' Park)

* Bayer Leverkusen 1-3 Newcastle United (the BayArena)

* Feyenoord 2-3 Newcastle United (De Kuip Stadium)
One of the most memorable nights in our history, in fact it was a night where we created history! Never had a team lost their first 3 games of the CL and still made it past the first stage but that's exactly what we did. After losing 3 games and winning the next 2 we needed to win this game to create the history. With no time left on the clock, deap into stoppage time at the end of the game with the score at 2-2 we hit the ball long, a flick on finds Kieron Dyer who steps past one defender and shoots. His shot is saved but up pop's Craig Bellamy, from an accute angle, to put the ball in the back of the net and send the Newcastle fans behind the goal, and all the fans back home watching on TV crazy.

Since Sir Bobby came:
* Newcastle 6-2 Everton (St James' Park) 01/02

* Newcastle 3-0 Man Utd (St James' Park) 99/00
Man Utd had only lost once all season when they travelled up to St James' Park full of confidence. But they were about to be slammed back down to earth. Mid way through the first half Rob Lee gathered posesion and chipped it up towards the 18 yard box. Shearer rose to nod the ball across to Ferguson. The ball went just behind Ferguson who swung himself around and let fly a volley that flew into the top corner from about 20 yards out leaving Mark Bosnitch (United's keeper) for dead. Mid way through the second half Roy keane was sent off and we took full advantage as Alan Shearer scored 2 goals in the last 15 minutes to record a wonderful win.

* Newcastle 5-0 Southampton (St James' Park) 99/00

* Newcastle 4-3 Man Utd (St James' Park) 01/02

* Newcastle 3-0 Aston Villa (St James' Park) 01/02

* Leeds United 1-3 Newcastle United (Elland Road) 00/01

* Leeds United 3-4 Newcastle United (Elland Road) 01/02

* Arsenal 1-3 Newcastle United (Highbury) 01/02

* Newcastle 8-0 Sheffield Wednesday (St James' Park) 99/00
Sir Bobby's first game in charge at St James' Park. We were equal last with Wednesday and yet this was to be the stage for one of the most unbelievable wins in recent years and the foundation for a remarkable season to finish mid table after the horror start to the season. Alan Shearer grabbed all the headlines on this day as he scored 5 of our 8 goals, equalling the record for the most goals in a single Premiership game.

* Chelsea 2-1 Newcastle United (Wembley Stadium)

Other classic's:
* Liverpool 4-3 Newcastle United (Anfield) 95/96

* Newcastle 5-0 Man Utd (St James' Park) 96/97
Probably the greatest win for Kevin Keegan as Newcastle manager. Man Utd had defeated us before the season started at Wembley 4-0 in a Charity Shield match so we needed to exact revenge. Shearer had turned down Man Utd for us in the summer before this game and with Man Utd being the favourites for the title (us 2nd) we needed to prove ourselves and also get revenge for their 1-0 win at St James' Park the season before which ended our title dream. Peacock scored a hotly disputed goal as Man Utd claimed the ball hadn't crossed the line, soon after it was 2-0 through a spectacular Ginola goal. In the second half Ferdinand scored and shortly after Shearer scored, both times the two rubbed it in the Man Utd fans faces and then Albert completed the rout with an amazing chip from about 35 yards out over Schmeichel's head.

* Newcastle 7-1 Tottenham (St James' Park) 96/97

* Liverpool 4-3 Newcastle United (St James' Park) 96/97

* Newcastle 4-3 Leicester City (St James' Park) 96/97

SILVERWEAR

1904/05 - League Champions
1906/07 - League Champions
1908/09 - Charity Shield Winners
1908/09 - League Champions
1909/10 - FA Cup Champions
1923/24 - FA Cup Champions
1926/27 - League Champions
1931/32 - FA Cup Champions
1950/51 - FA Cup Champions
1951/52 - FA Cup Champions
1954/55 - FA Cup Champions
1968/69 - Fairs (UEFA) Cup Champions