Alan Shearer’s final game 16 years on: best Newcastle United strikers since iconic number nine’s retirement

United’s all-time leading goalscorer bagged from the spot - his third career strike against Sunderland - to put his side 2-1 up and send the away end into raptures. Glenn Roeder’s men would go on to finish seventh - a feat Newcastle have rarely achieved since.

A 14-year reign of disillusionment under Mike Ashley suppressed the Magpies’ potential, with the club bouncing between the bottom half of the top flight and the Championship. Other than Alan Pardew’s outlier season in 2011/12 - when United finished fifth - the starting line-up has failed to live up to the standards set during Shearer’s stint at St James’ Park.

However, Toon supporters have occasionally been blessed with attacking talent to keep them entertained. ChronicleLive ranks the nine best strikers to represent Newcastle since Shearer hung up his boots.

Arguably the best pound-for-pound signing of the Mike Ashley era, Newcastle took a punt on Ba despite his failed medical at Stoke a few months earlier. The gamble paid off, as the Senegalese striker netted 16 goals to help secure a surprise fifth-place finish in 2012.

His partnership with Papiss Cisse and Hatem Ben Arfa formed a devastating trio that obliterated defences in the second half of the campaign. Despite the Magpies’ poor showing the following year, Ba continued to score goals but left to join Chelsea after his £7million release clause was triggered.

It is a shame that Ba did not stay at Newcastle as he could have become an all-time great.

After rejecting a move to Newcastle the previous January, Remy joined on loan from Championship outfit QPR. A short-term fix to fill the void left by Ba, the Frenchman’s goals single-handedly dragged the Magpies to a 10th-placed finish.

Ironically, he too left to