Is Shearer king of the Newcastle?

Newcastle icon Alan Shearer (center) inherits a club with a squad that has underperformed grossly in the English Premier League. Ian Horrocks/Newcastle United via Getty Images The Limey's Mailbag Keep the banter flowing to The Limey. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

That the new castle to which the city owes its name is now 929 years old is not Newcastle's only temporal oddity. Dominating the skyline above the medieval keep is St. James' Park -- home of Newcastle United -- a rare place where time's normally linear passage takes peculiar cyclical paths.

Unusual in having a downtown location, St. James' Park is very much the contemporary focus of the "Geordie nation," the aluminum-clad temple of a culturally distinct and warmly introspective maritime city with a rich history of working-class folk heroes.

And it was here on Wednesday that the crowds gathered to welcome local hero Alan Shearer as the new interim manager, and presumed savior, of their beloved team. Shearer scored 206 goals for Newcastle in 395 appearances -- a club record. That in his pomp he rebuffed the advances of Manchester United to sign for his hometown side maximized the due adulation.

But we've been here before. Kevin Keegan, too, once was termed the "Geordie Messiah" when crowds greeted his arrival as manager in 1992. Like Shearer, Keegan also had starred as a striker for both Newcastle and England, and though the club is now a division higher, he, too, responded to a desperate telephone call begging him to become manager and save the Magpies from relegation.

Keegan's heart-on-his sleeve passion and swashbuckling goal-getting tactics, combined with two Premier League runner-up finishes, ensured his hero status remained intact when he walked out of the club in '97 and again after a second brief stint as manager last year.

Between those spells, the only manager Newcastle fans espoused was Sir Bobby Robson. Locally raised, he also provided two seasons of Champions League soccer. Kenny Dalglish, Ruud Gullit, Graeme Souness, Glenn Roeder, Sam Allardyce and Joe Kinnear were never fully embraced. Varying combinations of poor form and overly defensive approaches saw to this, but additionally, none benefited from Keegan's strong ties to the club, Robson's to the city or Shearer's to both.

With the local connection already in place, and with owner Mike Ashley's off-field tenure as erratic and chaotic as his predecessors', to repeat history and to ensure he remains a Geordie Messiah, Shearer now needs sufficient success. Although long-run expectations of silverware now are raised, in reality, like Keegan and Robson before him, the bar will be set at a level below achieving Newcastle's first domestic trophy since '55. Indeed, Shearer's battle, at least for now, is to keep Newcastle, currently in the relegation mire, afloat in the EPL.

We think he'll do it; Shearer does, too. Before accepting the job, he must have calculated positively the chances of receiving a $1.5 million bonus and unlimited adulation on offer for keeping Newcastle in the EPL. Relegation would tarnish his cherished love affair with the club and city.

Though appointed on April 1, Shearer is no one's fool. Three of Newcastle's remaining home fixtures are against Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and Fulham. Wins against these relatively weak sides -- two also are battling against relegation, while Fulham's away form is poor -- would leave Newcastle's comparatively strong squad possibly just needing one further win to stay up. Next Saturday's trip to Stoke will be watched keenly.

Already on the training pitch, his players appear reinvigorated, responding to Shearer's rousing enthusiasm and obsession with excellence. If he can revive the scoring fortunes of Michael Owen, as Robson's arrival at the club once did for Shearer himself, Newcastle will have the requisite firepower. If Mark Viduka can return from injury soon, his ability to create chances will better complement Owen than alignment alongside the inconsistent and less spatially aware Obafemi Martins.

In-form Chelsea's visit will be Shearer's first game in charge. Like the new castle below, St. James' is no longer a fortress, but a now rare sellout crowd will help plaster the cracks. And Shearer, like the rest of his "Toon army," gladly will take a draw.