Alan Shearer came close to managing a Championship club shortly after his stint in the dugout at Newcastle United.

Alan Shearer has revealed he came within a whisker of managing Cardiff City before focusing on punditry.

As a captain for club and country during his playing days, Shearer appeared destined for the dugout. However, a brief eight-game stint as Newcastle United caretaker boss in 2009 remains his only foray into management.

Shearer made it clear that he wanted to stay on at St James’ Park following relegation. The call from Mike Ashley never came - and the Toon icon returned to his fledgling career in punditry.

Newcastle United stint

Now the longest-serving pundit at the BBC, Shearer has opened up about the pressures of managing Newcastle and how he almost returned to management. He said: “That's (managing, not playing) different, that is pressure. I got offered the job. Newcastle were in desperate trouble and I could never say no because we (near the) were bottom of the league, we were fighting for our lives.

“We had eight games left. I should have known that when I signed the contract on April Fool's Day, that it wasn't going to work out! Despite what happened, and despite us being relegated, I really, really enjoyed everything that went with it.”

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Alan Shearer reveals Cardiff City offer

“I always felt that I was going to go into it again. I wanted to, but then I had a couple of interviews, went for one interview, went for another interview at the same club, went for a third interview, got offered the job. It was Cardiff.

“Things changed in different interviews and then the last one it (changed) again. I thought, ‘What am I doing here? If things are changing throughout the interview process, then what's it going to be like when I'm in?’ I didn't get any more after that. I just thought, ‘You know what, I've got to get my head down and stick to the punditry’.”

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