That Jackie Record To Fall?

Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd hopes captain Alan Shearer can lift the gloom hanging over St James' Park by launching the club's final bid for silverware this season with a record-breaking salvo.

All eyes have been on St James' Park this week with doubts about the future of manager Graeme Souness, and Shepherd wants the focus to go back to football.

The former England captain needs just one goal to equal Jackie Milburn's club record of 200 and is just three behind his total of 23 in the FA Cup, a competition the club won three times in five years during the legend's heyday in the 1950s.

Shepherd: 'The FA Cup has always been a special competition for our fans, and that will never change. Wor Jackie's name will always be fondly remembered whenever people talk about the great achievements of our 1950s teams when we lifted the cup three times, and Alan has also scored some great goals in the cup for Newcastle in recent years, twice helping us get to Wembley.

'Alan only needs two more goals to set a new record and that is going to happen sooner rather than later. It would be great if he could get them on Saturday in the FA Cup because no-one has scored more goals for us in the competition than those two great number nines.'

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Go on, get vitalled!