Duncan Shearer
Encyclopedia
Duncan Nichol Shearer is a former Scottish
footballer and the brother of fellow former player Dave Shearer
. He played shinty
as well as football as a youth.
at Highland League
club Clachnacuddin
. From there, he moved to Chelsea
in 1983, before going on to play for a number of English
clubs including Huddersfield
, Swindon Town
and Blackburn Rovers
.
He left Chelsea at the end of the 1985–86 season after only appearing in two League games for the London club (scoring one goal) and signed to Second Division
Huddersfield, scoring a hat-trick
in his first full game for the club (A 3–1 win against Barnsley) and was top goalscorer for 1986–87
and 1987–1988
whilst also being named the teams Player of the Year for 1987 and being including in the publication Huddersfield Town F.C. - The Fans' Favourites on the club's centenary in 2008.
However, he was unable to prevent Huddersfield's relegation to the Third Division at the end of the 1987-88 season. Just weeks before, unrelated English
striker Alan Shearer
(aged 17) had scored a hat-trick in the First Division for Southampton
against Arsenal
, whose captain Tony Adams
missed the game through injury. In his autobiography 11 years later, Adams revealed that he had followed the progress of the game on Ceefax
and mistakingly believed that the Shearer who scored a hat-trick against Arsenal was Duncan Shearer.
He was approached by Lou Macari
and offered a club record fee of £250,000 to join Swindon in 1988 to fill the striker position left following Dave Bamber
and Jimmy Quinn
exiting the Wiltshire club. In his first season he was sidelined due to an injured foot and later a groin strain but managed to score 14 goals in the 45 League games he took part in and was the clubs top scorer for that season. In the 1989–90 season he scored 21 League goals for Swindon as well as the winner in the playoff semi-final against Blackburn Rovers and was part of the team that won promotion at Wembley only to be demoted due to financial irregularities at the club. In all he was top scorer for Swindon in every season he was at the club and was named in the PFA Team of the Year for Division One before being bought by Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish
in 1992 for £800,000. He only played six games for Blackburn before returning to Scotland at the end of the season.
In 1992 the powerfully-built forward signed for Aberdeen
at a price of £500,000 where he made the biggest impression and was nicknamed "Deadly Dunc" for his strike-rate. He formed partnerships with other strikers such as Eoin Jess
, Scott Booth
and Billy Dodds
during his time at Pittodrie
, and made 116 full league appearances, scoring fifty-three goals. In 1995 he won the Scottish League Cup
with Aberdeen. He also appeared in the Scottish Cup
final in 1993, when the Dons were beaten 2-1 by Rangers
.
At the age of 35 he joined Inverness Caledonian Thistle
in 1997, where he played for two and a half seasons, notching up forty-eight appearances and nineteen goals. In season 1999-00
he began to concentrate more on coaching than playing, and was in the dugout when Caley Thistle famously beat Celtic
3-1 in the Scottish Cup in 2000.
to Elgin City. In December 2002 both Paterson and Shearer left Caley Thistle to take up management roles at Aberdeen. However, this did not prove to be a happy homecoming for Shearer, as Aberdeen struggled in the SPL
and were put out of the Scottish Cup at the fourth round stage by Livingston
. Steve Paterson and Duncan Shearer left the club in 2004.
Shearer was appointed as manager of Highland League
side Buckie Thistle
in October 2004.
On 20 April 2008, he was sacked as manager of Buckie Thistle, just one day after a disappointing home defeat to Cove Rangers
which all but ended Thistle's hopes of winning the league championship.
During Shearer's reign as manager he managed to win the Aberdeenshire Cup
twice and the Aberdeenshire Shield once but in the end it was his failure to win the league which led to his sacking.
7 times for Scotland between 1994 and 1995, scoring 2 goals.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
footballer and the brother of fellow former player Dave Shearer
Dave Shearer
David John "Dave" Shearer is a Scottish former professional football player. His clubs included Middlesbrough, Scunthorpe United and Gillingham. He made over 230 Football League appearances. He is the brother of fellow former professional Duncan Shearer.-References:...
. He played shinty
Shinty
Shinty is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands, and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread, being once competitively played on a widespread basis in England and other areas in the...
as well as football as a youth.
Playing career
Shearer began his career as a twenty-year-old strikerStriker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
at Highland League
Highland Football League
The Press & Journal Highland Football League is a league of football clubs operating not just in the Scottish Highlands, as the name may suggest, but also in the north-east lowlands...
club Clachnacuddin
Clachnacuddin F.C.
Clachnacuddin F.C. are a semi-professional senior football club from the city of Inverness who currently play in Scotland's Highland Football League. They have won the most League championships in the competition's history a total of 18 times overall. Their home ground is Grant Street Park in the...
. From there, he moved to Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
in 1983, before going on to play for a number of English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
clubs including Huddersfield
Huddersfield Town F.C.
Huddersfield Town Football Club is an English football club formed in 1908 and based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. They currently play in League One...
, Swindon Town
Swindon Town F.C.
Swindon Town Football Club are a team based in Swindon, Wiltshire. Currently in League Two, Swindon have been managed by Paolo Di Canio since 23 May 2011...
and Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
.
He left Chelsea at the end of the 1985–86 season after only appearing in two League games for the London club (scoring one goal) and signed to Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
Huddersfield, scoring a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
in his first full game for the club (A 3–1 win against Barnsley) and was top goalscorer for 1986–87
Huddersfield Town F.C. season 1986-87
Huddersfield Town's 1986-87 campaign saw the end of Mick Buxton's reign as Huddersfield Town manager, a job he had had for 8 years. Only Clem Stephenson has had a longer reign as manager of the Terriers...
and 1987–1988
Huddersfield Town F.C. season 1987-88
Huddersfield Town's 1987-88 campaign is statistically Town's worst ever season in their league history. Town won only 6 league games all season, had their heaviest ever defeat in their history, conceded 100 league goals in the season and finished 19 points adrift of safety and even 14 points behind...
whilst also being named the teams Player of the Year for 1987 and being including in the publication Huddersfield Town F.C. - The Fans' Favourites on the club's centenary in 2008.
However, he was unable to prevent Huddersfield's relegation to the Third Division at the end of the 1987-88 season. Just weeks before, unrelated English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
striker Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer OBE, DL is a retired English footballer. He played as a striker in the top level of English league football for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United and for the England national team...
(aged 17) had scored a hat-trick in the First Division for Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
against Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
, whose captain Tony Adams
Tony Adams (footballer)
Tony Alexander Adams, MBE is an English football manager and former player.Adams spent his entire playing career of 22 years as a defender at Arsenal. He is considered one of the greatest Arsenal players of all time by the club's own fans and was included in the Football League 100 Legends...
missed the game through injury. In his autobiography 11 years later, Adams revealed that he had followed the progress of the game on Ceefax
Ceefax
Ceefax is the BBC's teletext information service transmitted via the analogue signal, started in 1974 and will run until April 2012 for Pages from Ceefax, while the actual interactive service will run until 24 October 2012, in-line with the digital switchover.-History:During the late 60s, engineer...
and mistakingly believed that the Shearer who scored a hat-trick against Arsenal was Duncan Shearer.
He was approached by Lou Macari
Lou Macari
Luigi "Lou" Macari is a Scottish former footballer and football manager of Italian descent.-Playing career:...
and offered a club record fee of £250,000 to join Swindon in 1988 to fill the striker position left following Dave Bamber
Dave Bamber
John David Bamber is an English former professional footballer.His nicknames included Bambs and Dipper Bamber, the latter for the way in which he lurched forward to head the ball....
and Jimmy Quinn
Jimmy Quinn (Northern Irish footballer)
James Martin "Jimmy" Quinn is a former Northern Ireland international footballer and was manager of Bournemouth.-Club:...
exiting the Wiltshire club. In his first season he was sidelined due to an injured foot and later a groin strain but managed to score 14 goals in the 45 League games he took part in and was the clubs top scorer for that season. In the 1989–90 season he scored 21 League goals for Swindon as well as the winner in the playoff semi-final against Blackburn Rovers and was part of the team that won promotion at Wembley only to be demoted due to financial irregularities at the club. In all he was top scorer for Swindon in every season he was at the club and was named in the PFA Team of the Year for Division One before being bought by Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish
Kenny Dalglish
Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish MBE is a Scottish former footballer and the current manager of Liverpool F.C.. In a 22-year playing career, he played for two club teams, Celtic and Liverpool, winning numerous honours with both. He is the most capped Scottish player, with 102 appearances, and...
in 1992 for £800,000. He only played six games for Blackburn before returning to Scotland at the end of the season.
In 1992 the powerfully-built forward signed for Aberdeen
Aberdeen F.C.
Aberdeen Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen...
at a price of £500,000 where he made the biggest impression and was nicknamed "Deadly Dunc" for his strike-rate. He formed partnerships with other strikers such as Eoin Jess
Eoin Jess
Eoin Jess is a former Scottish football player. He was capped 18 times by Scotland, scoring two goals.His career started at Aberdeen, helping the Dons to finish second in the Scottish Premier League in the 1993–94 season...
, Scott Booth
Scott Booth
Scott Booth is a former Scottish football player. He began his career at Aberdeen as a teenager in 1990, before moving to Germany in 1997 to play for Borussia Dortmund. After a spell in the Netherlands, he returned to Aberdeen in 2003 before retiring a year later...
and Billy Dodds
Billy Dodds
William "Billy" Dodds is a Scottish former professional footballer, he was assistant manager at Dundee, but was made redundant when the club went into administration in October 2010, one of his former clubs...
during his time at Pittodrie
Pittodrie Stadium
Pittodrie Stadium is an all-seated football stadium situated in the Scottish city of Aberdeen. It was first used in 1899 and from 1903 has been the home of Aberdeen Football Club...
, and made 116 full league appearances, scoring fifty-three goals. In 1995 he won the Scottish League Cup
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup is a football competition open to all Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League clubs. At present it is also known as the Scottish Communities League Cup owing to the sponsorship deal in place with the Scottish Government. In the past it has been sponsored by...
with Aberdeen. He also appeared in the Scottish Cup
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,, commonly known as the Scottish Cup or the William Hill Scottish Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the main national cup competition in Scottish football. It is a knockout cup competition run by and named after the Scottish Football Association.The...
final in 1993, when the Dons were beaten 2-1 by Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
.
At the age of 35 he joined Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club are a Scottish football club from Inverness who compete in the Scottish Premier League. They are currently managed by Terry Butcher and assistant manager Maurice Malpas...
in 1997, where he played for two and a half seasons, notching up forty-eight appearances and nineteen goals. In season 1999-00
1999-00 in Scottish football
The 1999–2000 season was the 103rd season of competitive football in Scotland.-Scottish Premier League:-Scottish First Division:-Scottish Second Division:...
he began to concentrate more on coaching than playing, and was in the dugout when Caley Thistle famously beat Celtic
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
3-1 in the Scottish Cup in 2000.
Management career
Shearer later retired from playing and in 2000 he became assistant to then Caley Thistle manager Steve Paterson after the departure of former assistant manager Alex CaldwellAlex Caldwell (footballer born 1954)
Alex Caldwell is a Scottish former football player and manager. He played for Dundee, St. Johnstone and Forfar Athletic in the Scottish Football League. Caldwell managed Elgin City from 2000 until 2002...
to Elgin City. In December 2002 both Paterson and Shearer left Caley Thistle to take up management roles at Aberdeen. However, this did not prove to be a happy homecoming for Shearer, as Aberdeen struggled in the SPL
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...
and were put out of the Scottish Cup at the fourth round stage by Livingston
Livingston F.C.
Livingston Football Club is a Scottish association football club based in Livingston, West Lothian. The club currently plays in the Scottish Football League First Division.The club was founded in 1943 as Ferranti Thistle, a works team...
. Steve Paterson and Duncan Shearer left the club in 2004.
Shearer was appointed as manager of Highland League
Highland Football League
The Press & Journal Highland Football League is a league of football clubs operating not just in the Scottish Highlands, as the name may suggest, but also in the north-east lowlands...
side Buckie Thistle
Buckie Thistle F.C.
Buckie Thistle are a senior football club based in the town of Buckie, Banffshire, who currently play in Scotland's Highland Football League. Founded in 1889, they are also known as The Jags and play their football at Victoria Park, in Buckie....
in October 2004.
On 20 April 2008, he was sacked as manager of Buckie Thistle, just one day after a disappointing home defeat to Cove Rangers
Cove Rangers F.C.
Cove Rangers are a senior Scottish football club currently playing in the Press & Journal Highland Football League. They are based in Cove Bay, a suburb of Aberdeen and play their football at Allan Park.The current managers are Kevin Tindal and Colin Milne....
which all but ended Thistle's hopes of winning the league championship.
During Shearer's reign as manager he managed to win the Aberdeenshire Cup
Aberdeenshire Cup
The Aberdeenshire Cup is a football tournament for all senior clubs in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The Aberdeen Football Club itself holds the record on cups won, having won it 39 times. Aberdeen often don't take part in the competition, to avoid fixture congestion...
twice and the Aberdeenshire Shield once but in the end it was his failure to win the league which led to his sacking.
International career
During his playing career Shearer was cappedCap (sport)
In sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...
7 times for Scotland between 1994 and 1995, scoring 2 goals.