Alan Shearer has made his beginning of the marathon task by increasing the number of helpers and his full week went into speaking to Sir Bobby Robson, Kenny Dalglish and Kevin Keegan reflecting the difficulties involved in the massive task that lies ahead.

The fact and one of the major reasons of downfall for Newcastle is the injuries that have been inflicted on the players. One of the most pressing requests in the previous summer of Keegan was the absence of one more left-back but due to the fact that Charles N’Zobia was sold in January to Wigan has left no cover. There is an option by taking Duff, but the chance of Ryan Taylor seems very likely in spite of the fact that he is a right-footed.

There is another defender Steven Taylor but he is unfit but there is good news with respect to Habib Beye and Sebastien Bassong as both were seen in the training session. Similarly on Sunday week there is every possibility of fitness of Mark Viduka and Joey Barton for Tottenham.

The tone of Alan Shearer is quite upbeat and he is really relishing the new responsibility and profession. He said that there has been no switching off and his relaxation time has gone for a toss as he has to give up his golf club and golf game among other sacrifices. The thoughts take you over and every minute and every second one keeps on speculating and thinking of various possibilities for picking up teams but he is enjoying his work as it is quite challenging he added.

He further added that he knows exactly what they are going to face on the near future but said that knowing about the situation and the problem is one aspect and doing something to overcome that problem effectively is another aspect and totally different.