Newcastle legend Alan Shearer reveals how Sunderland put him on the path to greatness
Toon icon was speaking as he visited his former school top open some new buildings
ALAN SHEARER may be Mr Newcastle after his incredible goalscoring exploits - but he owes his development to Sunderland.
The Toon icon headed back to his old school today - and met some of the kids, as well as a few old faces.
And as he shared the snaps on Twitter he revealed his childhood mentor was named Mr Sunderland.
He said: "Back to my old school today @grange_first to officially open the new buildings. Thanks for the lovely welcome back.
"Great to see my old teacher Mr. Sunderland (not a joke!)."
During the visit, SunSport columnist Shearer paid tribute to former sports teacher Graham Sunderland.
He said: “You couldn’t write that script could you, a teacher called Mr Sunderland who encouraged me so much. It’s great to be back, it’s changed a hell of a lot since I was a lad and I used to live only half a mile from here on the Park Avenue estate.
“My memories are of playing football in the school yard, whether it was with a can or a stone, it was all weathers and this is where it all started.
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"Football was always a passion of mine since I was young and Mr Sunderland who I recognised today was sure that I should play football, so Mr Sunderland put me on the right path.
“I will always be eternally grateful to the school and its teachers for the great start they gave me to my education and first steps towards my football career.
"One of the main reasons that I made it in football and now I’m lucky enough to talk on TV about it is because of what I was taught at this school.
“What I would say to young people is that 50 per cent of what happened with me was talent, the other 50 per cent is attitude, the willingness to learn, to listen and to understand.”