Alan Shearer yesterday revealed how his world had turned upside down in 12 magical months.

The goal that shot Newcastle to the top of the Premiership table at Coventry on Wednesday night capped a remarkable turnabout in the form and fortune of the former England skipper since a year ago.

Shearer THEN was virtually suicidal after being dumped on the bench by former boss Ruud Gullit for the derby clash with Sunderland.

Shearer NOW admits that life couldn't be sweeter following the birth of a son and his 200th league goal in football.

The Geordie goal ace let his emotions spill out yesterday as he contemplated room at the top on Tyneside for the first time since November 1996.

He dedicated his goal at Coventry to newly-born Will and said: "A new baby, my 200th goal, three points and top of the table. Life doesn't get much better than this. I couldn't be happier."

Shearer, who was on the brink of quitting Newcastle after a major falling out with Gullit, is now contemplating a table-topping clash with Chelsea tomorrow at St James Park.

Ironically he scored at Chelsea the last time the Geordies headed the league nearly four years ago.

And Blues boss Gianluca Vialli must be grateful Shearer's wife Lainya didn't have triplets when she delivered their third child last Friday.

Revealed the Newcastle goal ace: "Things have got even better since my little boy came along and I think we should have two or three more babies after this.

"But I doubt whether my missus would agree!"

Shearer's head may be in the clouds but his feet were firmly on the ground yesterday as he predicted that he didn't expect to be holding aloft the championship trophy in eight months time.

Make no mistake, the 30-year-old striker is ready to bust a gut in a bid to keep Newcastle on top of the Premiership pile.

But he brought the Toon army back to earth when he insisted: "It's great to be top but we won't get carried away. To be honest I don't think we'll be top in May.

"We'll give it our best shot to finish as high as we possibly can. We have bounced back and that's testimony to the players, the manager and his team."

Meanwhile Shay Given is ready to give Newcastle a boost by signing a new contract.

The Republic of Ireland keeper is close to finalising a deal that will keep him on Tyneside for the next four years.

"I have said all along that I want to stay and I hope it will be sorted out this week," said Given, who has been linked with a move to Celtic.

l Young stars Brian Kerr and James Coppinger shared the goals as United Reserves notched up a comprehensive friendly victory over Whitley Bay at Hillheads last night.

Kerr, who made his premiership debut at Coventry 24 hours earlier, scored with a 12 yard shot on the turn and a 20 yard volley to put United 2-0 ahead by the 35 minute and former Darlington and Hartlepool striker, Coppinger, who made his Newcastle first team debut 13 days ago, fired home the third from a marked Boyd cross seven minutes before half time.

Newcastle overwhelmed the Northern League amateurs and Shola Ameobi struck the woodwork three times while substitute Kevin Gall wasted a hat-trick of chances.

Bay failed to get a shot on target in the 90 minutes, though Ian Irvine was narrowly wide with a shot and a header late in the game.

Newcastle Reserves: Grindlay; Cowan; McGuffie; Kerr (sub Barr 45); G Caldwell; S Caldwell; Orr; McClen; Coppinger (sub Gall 45); Ameobi; Boyd