ALAN SHEARER was last night given Graeme Souness' unequivocal backing to become the next incumbent of the manager's chair at St James' Park - but only after the Scot has led Newcastle United to glory.

Shearer confirmed yesterday morning what the whole of Tyneside had been waiting patiently to hear. He has decided to play on for one more year and forget about retiring at the end of the season.

Now, armed with the news that the club's legendary skipper will be lacing up his boots and pulling on the No 9 shirt again come August, Souness and chairman Freddy Shepherd have turned their attentions to adding England striker Michael Owen to what would be their dream ticket forward line.

Shearer's decision to play on, reached after weeks of discussions with friends and family, was also down to the persistence of the Newcastle boss before an agreement was reached on Thursday. He has signed a new one-year player/coach deal, believed to be worth around £5m.

The 34-year-old has never hidden the fact that he intends to have a shot at management and has gained his initial coaching qualifications.

Souness, who was told during last week's squad trip to Dubai that Shearer was almost certainly going to make a U-turn on his retirement decision, has admitted he would love nothing more than to see the club's talismanic forward succeed him in the manager's office.

But first the former Liverpool and Blackburn boss wants to see Shearer lead the club to trophy joy for the first time since the Fairs Cup success in 1969 and become the first Newcastle captain since Bob Moncur to lift some silverware.

With two semi-final dates on the horizon - against Sporting Lisbon in the UEFA Cup and Manchester United in the FA Cup - there are strong hopes that success could come calling this season.

Souness admits there would be no better scenario than him being able to walk away from a successful Newcastle, where Shearer will have learnt his trade as a coach, and the old-fashioned centre-forward will then take charge of team affairs.

"I know what his aspirations are and one day he wants to be a manager. He can be involved as much or as little as he wants on the coaching side of things," said Souness.

"My attitude to it is that one day I would love to hand over the reins to Alan Shearer as manager of this club. I want a few years here, and to be very successful then hand over a healthy club. This is his club."

But Souness certainly has no immediate thoughts of leaving his Tyneside post just seven months into his tenure after leaving Blackburn. And, with Shearer in tow for one more year, a more pressing issue is who will partner him up front next season.

It has become clear that Real Madrid's Owen, after being unable to become a regular at the Bernabeu since leaving Liverpool last summer, is the top target.

The 26-year-old, rated at around £7m, admitted last week that he was flattered by Newcastle's interest but Arsenal appear to be the front-runners for his signature.

Souness said: "That's the level of player we should be looking at."

In the frenetic land of Newcastle United, though, arguably the biggest signing of the summer has already been made before the transfer window has reopened.

The son of a sheet metal worker, there should be no doubts that Shearer will now become Newcastle's greatest ever goalscorer. His 18 goals in 30 starts to date this season - and he sat out 12 games with a thigh injury - have taken him to 191 for his home-town club, just nine short of Jackie Milburn's astonishing record.

It embarrasses Ruud Gullit. The Dutchman said before arriving in the North-East in 1998 that Kevin Keegan had paid far too much when he gave Blackburn £15m in July 1996.

But, if anything, Shearer has gone on to prove Keegan and the then chairman Sir John Hall actually got him on the cheap. After all, he hit 43 at Southampton, 130 at Blackburn and 30 in 63 games for England.

In turning down Manchester United to play for his beloved club, he also immediately went down in Geordie folklore and in deciding to play on for one more year his standing in the club has now reached even greater heights.

Shearer - ruling out a U-turn on international retirement ahead of the World Cup 2006 - admits it was the most 'difficult' but not the 'biggest' decision he has had to make to go back on his word to retire.

He said: "The response from the public has been incredible. You have to believe me when I say I have thousands of e-mails and faxes at home and I've been through every one of them. That was the point when I thought 'hang on, am I making the right decision?' The majority of people were telling me that I was making the wrong decision."

Newcastle chairman Shepherd, who agreed terms over the new deal, said: "This will be his tenth year at the club and we're looking forward to another one. He'll get his gold watch in a year's time."

Shearer's decision to extend his playing days will not put his contract as a BBC television pundit in jeopardy.

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