Editing Alan Shearer (section)

==Early life==
Alan Shearer was born on 13 August 1970 in the [[Gosforth]] area of [[Newcastle upon Tyne]],<ref name="PFA 556">{{cite book|last = Hugman|first = Barry J.|title= The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005|publisher = Queen Anne Press|year = 2005| page = 556| isbn = 1-85291-665-6 }}</ref> the son of Anne and sheet-metal worker Alan Shearer. His parents were [[working class]]. His father encouraged him to play football in his youth, and Shearer continued with the sport as he progressed through school. He was educated at Gosforth Central Middle School and [[Gosforth High School]]. Growing up, he played on the streets of his hometown and was originally a [[midfield]]er because "it meant [he] could get more involved in the games".<ref name=MIC>{{cite book |title=My Illustrated Career |last=Shearer |first=Alan |year=2007 |publisher=Cassell Illustrated |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/alanshearermyill0000shea/page/18 18–50] |isbn=978-1-84403-586-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/alanshearermyill0000shea/page/18 }}</ref> Shearer captained his school team and helped a Newcastle City Schools team win a seven-a-side tournament at [[St James' Park]], before joining the amateur [[Wallsend Boys Club]] as a teenager. It was while playing for the Wallsend club that he was spotted by [[Southampton F.C.|Southampton]]'s scout [[Jack Hixon]], which resulted in him spending his summers training with the club's youth team, a time he would later refer to as "the making of me".<ref name=MIC/> Shearer had successful trials for [[Football League First Division|First Division]] clubs [[West Bromwich Albion F.C.|West Bromwich Albion]], [[Manchester City F.C.|Manchester City]] and [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]], before being offered a youth contract with Southampton in April 1986.<ref name="MIC"/>