Alan Shearer has revealed he once turned down the chance to manage Cardiff City.

Shearer was interviewed by the Championship club after being relegated from the top-flight in 2009 as interim boss of Newcastle - his hometown club where he spent most of his playing career.

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But the all-time leading Premier League goalscorer decided that he was done with management at that early stage, instead turning has hand to punditry with the BBC – most notably as a regular on Match of the Day.

Why did Shearer say no to Cardiff?

Explaining his decision to snub Cardiff, Shearer told the BBC: "Newcastle were in desperate trouble and I could never say no [to taking that job] – we were bottom of the league, fighting for our lives.

"I should have known that when I signed the contract on April Fool’s Day that it wasn’t going to work out!"

Following his brief spell in the St. James' Park dugout, Shearer was initially open to staying in management – but he ultimately changed his mind.

"I always felt that I was going to go into it again and I wanted to," he continued.

"I had a couple of interviews and got offered the job at Cardiff. And then things changed... and I thought, ‘What am I doing here?'"

Shearer stays loyal to Match of the Day

Shearer has now been part of the Match of the Day team for the best part of two decades, also working for the BBC on live coverage of the World Cup, FA Cup and more.

The 56-year-old also co-hosts The Rest Is Football alongside Match of the Day colleagues Gary Lineker and Micah Richards.

Lineker fronted Match of the Day when Shearer came onboard, but left the BBC last year.

Since Lineker's departure, the iconic Premier League highlights show has employed a rotating presenting line-up of Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan.

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Shearer, who scored a record 260 Premier League goals for Blackburn and Newcastle, remains part of a refreshed punditry pool.

Former Tottenham boss Thomas Frank and ex-Manchester United full-back Ashley Young are among the new names involved for 2026/27.

However, the BBC have been warned to learn from the demise of Football Focus in order to ensure Match of the Day survives.

"I think, like every show in the world, if you don't have good talent on there, then you are not going to have a good product," said talkSPORT's Simon Jordan in August.

"Shearer's good. I think Wayne [Rooney] is getting much better. The digital landscape is, of course, undermining linear broadcasting.

"It is decimating linear broadcasting. And the figures that you get now of that once upon a time you'd turn on EastEnders and 20 million people would watch it, those days have gone.

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"But digital is still underpinned to some extent by the credibility of mainstream media.

"And so the good pundits that land in mainstream media and do digital as well will still want mainstream media to seed some of their credibility, viability, and validity so that they can do the digital stuff."