AFTER time to reflect on England's quarter-final exit at the European Championships, Alan Shearer is ready to turn his attention to the Premier League once more.

Shearer mulled over and commented on a big summer for Roy Hodgson, which ultimately ended in frustration as Italy knocked them out in the first knock-out stage on penalties at Euro 2012.

But now, after a couple of weeks break, the former England striker is starting to think about Newcastle again. Like every Magpies supporter, he was satisfied with last season's fifth place finish in the Premier League.

Can that be repeated? Ahead of a season likely to involve many more fixtures courtesy of Europa League qualification, Shearer thinks a similar domestic finish will depend on how often Mike Ashley opens up his cheque book.

The Magpies great said: "There will be expectation at Newcastle. That's the way it works. For me, it will all depend on what sums of money Newcastle spend. Or whether they keep hold of some of their top players.

"At the minute, it's too early to predict what is going to happen at Newcastle. I hope they kick on because they had a great season last time.

"They might be playing 60 games in a season as well. I can't remember if I did that; it was so long ago. But that is going to be a lot to cope with.

"It's going to be tough for them to play on Thursday nights, if they get into the Europa League, and then Sunday. I'm sure a pretty big squad is needed."

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has so far only added the largely untested Romain Amalfitano and Gael Bigirimana to his squad from last season.

Throw in the fact Leon Best, Danny Guthrie and Peter Lovenkrands have all left St James' Park, along with Fraser Forster and Alan Smith, and Pardew's squad is actually weaker than it was in May.

He is working hard on boosting his pool of players with Lille's Mathieu Debuchy, Blackburn's Junior Hoilett and Twente's Douglas. A new striker remains a possibility too.

But for Newcastle to go one better than last season and claim a Champions League spot, Shearer thinks such a target will be difficult.

Speaking at Close House Golf Club where he played in a Have a Heart charity golf day, he said: "I still look back to the end of last season, which was incredible, when Manchester City won it with the last kick of the ball. They will be the team to beat. I'm sure they will spend pretty big in the next month or so.

"It's going to be a fascinating year. Manchester United will be desperate to get back on track, Liverpool are going to be keen to be back up there again and then there is Tottenham with their new manager, while Arsenal are desperate to win a trophy. It's going to be an interesting month to see what clubs bring in players."

Shearer will be on the BBC sofa for Match of the Day again next season passing judgement on Newcastle's efforts in the Premier League.

He was also in Poland and Ukraine to examine the performances of the countries involved at Euro 2012 - including England.

Expectations were never high surrounding England's chances of success and there were reasons to be positive, but Shearer thinks the over-riding feeling was frustration.

"Football-wise, I thought it was a really good tournament. There was plenty of goals and some really good entertainment. The refereeing standards were great and I must say that the stadiums were magnificent," he said.

"The travelling was hard work, but other than that I thought it was a good tournament. England were disappointing, but we get used to that, don't we?

"I said during the tournament that we were OK. It's what people expected. We were really disappointing against Italy, though. I know it went to penalties, but if they had their shooting boots on then it could have been three of four.

"We are where we are. England are fifth, sixth, seventh or even eighth in the world. We have a bit of work to do."

But Shearer is hopeful the Football Association have made the right appointment in replacing Fabio Capello with Roy Hodgson.

He added: "Roy should be given time and his chance. Hopefully, we can look forward with confidence in two years time for the World Cup in Brazil.

"Roy did come out with credit and I was pleased about that because he's a really nice guy. We worked with him at the last World Cup with the BBC and his knowledge of players and tactical awareness was outstanding. I am sure he will use all that experience in the next few years."

* Alan Shearer was at Close House to play in a charity golf day. North-East entrepreneur Graham Wylie hosted the Have a Heart day, when world-class golfer Lee Westwood arrived in a helicopter to raise funds for the Children's Heart Unit Fund (CHUF) at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle. Shearer helped to raise more than £100,000.