| Peter Shearer | |
| Fullname: | Peter Andrew Shearer |
| Birth Date: | 1967 2, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Birmingham, England |
| Position: | Forward / Midfielder |
| Youthclubs1: | Coventry City |
| Youthyears2: | 1983–1985 |
| Youthclubs2: | Birmingham City |
| Years1: | 1985–1986 |
| Caps1: | 4 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
| Years2: | 1986 |
| Clubs2: | Rochdale |
| Caps2: | 1 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Years3: | 1986–1988 |
| Clubs3: | Nuneaton Borough |
| Years4: | 1988–1989 |
| Clubs4: | Cheltenham Town |
| Years5: | 1989–1994 |
| Clubs5: | AFC Bournemouth |
| Caps5: | 85 |
| Goals5: | 10 |
| Years6: | 1994–1996 |
| Caps6: | 25 |
| Goals6: | 7 |
| Years7: | 1997–1998 |
| Caps7: | 0 |
| Goals7: | 0 |
| Nationalyears1: | – |
| Nationalteam1: | England National Game |
| Nationalcaps1: | 1 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
Peter Andrew Shearer (born 4 February 1967) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward or midfielder for a number of teams in the lower divisions of the Football League in the 1980s and 1990s.
Shearer was born in Birmingham, and began his football career as a schoolboy with Coventry City. When he left school in 1983 he joined Birmingham City as an apprentice, and signed professional forms two years later.[1] He made his first-team debut as a 17-year-old, on 3 November 1984, as a substitute in a goalless draw at home to Shrewsbury Town in the Football League Second Division. He played four more first-team games that season, at the end of which Birmingham were promoted to the top flight,[2] but made no further appearances, and in April 1986, he was one of several players released with the club in financial difficulties.[3]
Moving on to Rochdale of the Third Division,[4] Shearer played only one league game[5] before dropping into non-league football six months later with Nuneaton Borough.[6] A year with Nuneaton and a successful spell with Cheltenham Town,[7] during which he was capped for the England's semi-professional representative side,[1] brought him an £18,000 move back to the Second Division with Harry Redknapp's AFC Bournemouth.[8] [9]
Shearer's form at Bournemouth impressed sufficiently for a £500,000 move to First Division club Wimbledon to be projected, but a knee injury spoilt his plans. In December 1992, after the player's return to fitness, Cheltenham manager Lindsay Parsons predicted that Shearer would "be a Premier League player in a month"; Cheltenham Town would receive a third of any fee paid to Bournemouth for such a sale.[10]
After trials with Coventry City and Dundee,[1] Barry Fry brought Shearer back to Birmingham in January 1994 for a fee of £50,000.[11] Initially he failed to settle, and was soon made available for transfer, but in the 1994–95 season he came into his own. He made a major contribution to the club's winning the Second Division title and the Football League Trophy both with his tenacity and his goalscoring[1] – ten years later, the Birmingham Evening Mail, discussing the young Darren Carter, suggested that "Blues have not had a player capable of scoring goals in that manner from central midfield since Peter Shearer".[12] An operation on his Achilles tendon prevented him playing in the last two games of the season, when the club clinched the title,[13] [14] and he never played for the club's first team again.
Shearer had a trial with Notts County in 1997[15] before joining Peterborough United as player-coach. He played for Peterborough's reserve team,[16] but his only appearances for the first team were three outings as an unused substitute.[17] [18]
Birmingham City
1994–95