WHEN Alan Shearer announced that he was not going to retire at the end of the season, it was not supposed to mean he was going to hang his boots up even earlier.

Yet, when the Newcastle skipper walked into Graeme Souness' office last week and asked to be left out of the squad which travelled to Fulham on Wednesday night, that is exactly what he did.

His honesty was commendable - although quite how Souness would have reacted if it had been a less favoured son doing the asking is a moot point - but it has left the Newcastle manager at a major crossroads in terms of his Newcastle career. Until now, Shearer's future has been the greatest taboo at St James' Park.

Not his future as in 'Should he retire at the end of the season?' - that conundrum has been resolved successfully in the eyes of Souness and all Newcastle fans.

But, perhaps more pertinently, his future as in 'Should he be guaranteed a starting spot next season?'

That is a poser which has barely been raised, let alone resolved.

When Souness arrived on Tyneside last September, he used his very first press conference to stress that Shearer's would be the first name on his team-sheet.

The policy was borne as much out of self-preservation as selection choice - everybody knows what happened to Ruud Gullit and Sir Bobby Robson when they crossed the Premiership's leading scorer - but, by effectively making his skipper undroppable, Souness backed himself into a corner he has been unable to wriggle his way out of since.

He might claim otherwise, but it is unrealistic to think that there have not been times this season when the manager would have at least liked the option of leaving his number nine out of the starting line-up.

His ability to terrorise European defences has not been replicated on the domestic stage, where Shearer's muscularity and sheer bloody-mindedness does not carry the same shock factor it does on the continent.

He has scored just four Premiership goals from open play this season and, while his team-mates have hardly covered themselves in glory either, Shearer's exalted status unquestionably played a role in both Craig Bellamy and Patrick Kluivert throwing their toys out of the pram at various stages of the campaign.

That is not to say that the 34-year-old does not deserve his place in the side.

He remains Newcastle's most potent attacking threat and it is no co-incidence that whenever Shearer has played well this season Newcastle have generally prospered as well.

But he does not deserve to retain a guaranteed starting spot when there are other, potentially more effective, alternatives waiting in the wings.

Tellingly, he has admitted as much this week by telling Souness he was left "physically and psychologically drained" by what happened in Lisbon last month.

It is nothing to be ashamed of - it is simply the ravages of age catching up with someone who has pushed his wearying limbs to the limit in the last couple of months.

Souness treated Shearer's admission with respect. In return, the striker must show the same understanding if his boss comes to an identical conclusion next season.

The talismanic striker still has a key role to play in the final 12 months of his playing days. But, after warning at the start of last season that he did not want his final year to be a stop-start affair, he can no longer claim to be above criticism or rejection. His own pleading has seen to that

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