Alan Shearer did not score a goal. Alan Shearer did not have a shot. Alan Shearer did not knock a centre-half into row Z of the Gallowgate. What Alan Shearer did was rise from the bench and jog down the touchline. Yet St James' Park erupted. It did so in a manner that has become less and less frequent even at such an atmospheric venue.

There and then, perhaps more than at any other time in Shearer's five years and five months at his home-town club, it was possible to gauge what he truly means to those who follow Newcastle United.

That Sunderland were the visitors on that Sunday in late August helped. That it was Shearer's first appearance of the season did, too. But this man, alleged to possess iron cladding rather than skin, was moved to his core.

"I don't know if I'd say it brought it all home to me," Shearer says as he reflects on the moment, "because I was well aware of it, if only because I'd been missing for so long. But I didn't want to go and sit back down in the dugout. You tend to overlook things like that when you're in there week in, week out. Probably the only other time that would compare was when I signed here with 15,000 or 20,000 outside the ground."

The idea of Newcastle smashing the world transfer record seems almost to belong to fantasy now. But it did happen. Shearer, then 25, did sign for £15 million and he did turn down Manchester United to do so. Today Newcastle host the club Shearer left, Blackburn Rovers.

Despite the ferment then, the biggest decision in Shearer's career, in hindsight, looks a bad one. While Old Trafford has accumulated trophies hand over fist since 1996, Newcastle have won nothing. Three managers, Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and Ruud Gullit, have gone. Shearer has sustained two major injuries and taken his career operations tally to 14. He's turned 31 and has to stay behind after training for extra running. Got to get back "that extra half-yard".

Regret is not a word Shearer would ever use in connection with Newcastle. He is too loyal a man for that, though the pride is not overbearing in the way it is sometimes portrayed. Then again, Shearer is not the man many think he is. For a start, he rings you back. Given that footballers who return telephone calls come along about as often as a Newcastle championship - last seen, 1927 - that means Shearer is considerate. It is not an adjective thrown at him often. His only condition, and he asked politely, was that we did not discuss him managing Newcastle, not because he was being evasive but because he was fed up being asked about it. It can still happen.

The contrary public image also disregards the fact that when Shearer came to make his 1996 decision, he let his heart rule his head. "Without doubt," he says, "if I was this hard, single-minded individual then I would have chosen to go to Man U because they were the ones winning everything at the time. So you can look at it and say there is a bit of sentiment in me. And there was - there was the pull of Kevin, there was the pull of Newcastle, the whole thing: the number nine shirt, St James' Park, the Gallowgate; Newcastle United has always been the dream.

"Also there was the pull of going on to win things. Newcastle had blown the title the season before and I was well aware they could kick on and be a major force. I'd say that the only thing that is missing, and it's a big "only thing", is the silverware. But I wouldn't change anything. If someone had said to me then, 'There's your situation, would you do it again?', I most definitely would.

"Playing for Newcastle has been everything I hoped for and more. You can't imagine how proud I feel when I put the black-and-white shirt on and run out here as captain, not only in front of 50-odd thousand but in front of my family. I wouldn't change that for the world, I really wouldn't. You have to live up here to understand the warmth of the people toward the football club. When you have that, and though I moved away at 15, it never leaves you. You never forget.

"The hard thing to take is their (the supporters) disappointment. They had their heads in their hands again the other night. They're warm, passionate, knowledgable, and so long as you give them 100 per cent, that they can see you trying and caring for their football club, then you'll have a relationship with them. But the first sight of you not giving 100 per cent, then you may as well pack your bags. They demand that, and rightly so."

A cynic might say there is a large dollop of self-vindication in Shearer's words, but that argument falls every time he returns to Newcastle's underachievement. "Because we haven't won anything," he says, "your desire, your hunger, that keeps you focus ed and keeps you determined."

Victory over Blackburn today offers the chance, however briefly, of second place in the Premiership for Newcastle. The occasion offers Blackburn fans the chance to shout obscenities at their former hero. Shearer is slightly bemused by this. "I left," he says simply. "I would understand it if I'd gone to their rivals Man United. I always get a good reception when I go back to Southampton but at Blackburn it's different. It's disappointing, especially after what we achieved as a team, as a little club, which is what it was when I went there.

"And I left to come to the club I love. They knew my feelings for Newcastle at Blackburn. But they've made a good start and I'm really pleased for them."

Magnanimous now, a changing man. Shearer does not regret either quitting the England team. "I'm a lot more relaxed now than when I played for England. It's not that I don't care any more, I do care. But I don't miss the pressures of playing for England, the build-up. When you've had that pressure, it's nice to get it off your back. I really look forward to England games now, watching them. I've had a great life. I'm happy. Which is very important to Geordies." Shearer should know.