DESPITE his 63 caps for England, 30 international goals, skippering the national side, player of the year awards, and the recording breaking 251 times he's found the net in the Premier League, Graeme Souness firmly believes Alan Shearer remains a marked man amongst the refereeing fraternity.

As well as having a seemingly legitimate goal chalked off at Wigan on Saturday, Shearer enjoyed a ding-dong battle with Arjan De Zeeuw with the Magpies manager firmly believing referee Phil Dowd favoured the home side in that particular encounter.

Souness is under strict instructions from his wife Karen not to risk the wrath of the Football Association, but he did let slip his opinion that his skipper is dealt with harsher than many in the centre-forwards' club.

In his 13 years playing in the Premiership, the 35-year-old has picked up 32 yellow cards and two red, one of which was later rescinded.

While more Dick Dastardly than Mary Poppins, it hardly registers among the so-called hard men of the game who pride themselves on the number of cautions and dismissals they tot up during their career.

When asked whether he thought the former England captain was a target for referees Souness said: "I would think so yes. His reputation goes before him," before quickly remembering Karen's words and the many cheques have been addressed to Soho Square and, before that, Lancaster Gate, adding: "But I'm not complaining about that.

"I think I've said all I can and I don't want to go on about that. I won't talk about referees.

"I don't think the decisions - not just in that particular incident but throughout the game - were particularly kind to us.

"There's nothing more I'd love to talk about and be really really honest. If I was to do that I'd be hung, drawn and quartered.

"I think it would be hard with two big powerful men (Shearer and De Zeeuw) to talk about who pushed who (for Shearer's goal) - that went on all afternoon.

"I don't think we got 50:50 of what was going on in that department especially."

His Wigan counterpart Paul Jewell begged to differ, and felt that even if assistant referee Andy Williams had ruled Shearer's header crossed the line, it should have been ruled out for a Shearer foul.

"If Graeme looks at the video he'll see Shearer pushed de Zeeuw," he said. "Arjan says Shearer admitted it on the pitch."

Souness' only encounter with referee Dowd during the 90 minutes was when he felt substitute Shola Ameobi was brought down by Wigan keeper John Filan, with the striker bearing down on goal.

After repeated gesticulations from the touchline, Souness was granted a quick chat with Dowd who assured him there was no real contact - a fact confirmed by Ameobi at full-time.

"I was wrong on that one - I'll hold my hands up," said Souness, before adding in clear reference to the match officials: "I wonder if other people will."

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