THE SON of Jackie Milburn claims his late father will be cheering every goal Alan Shearer scores as the Newcastle United captain closes in on dethroning the club's greatest goalscorer.

Shearer's announcement that he is to carry on playing for one more year almost certainly means that Milburn's 200-goal record during his six years at St James' Park will finally be beaten.

The 34-year-old needs just nine goals to equal that tally and it should prove an easy target for the former England international following his decision not to retire at the end of the season.

Milburn's family believe the late Jackie will be willing Newcastle's modern day hot-shot all the way to the total. But they do have one small gripe - the fact that Wor Jackie scored a further 38 goals during the Second World War years.

"I mentioned this tongue-in- cheek once but people seem to pick up on it more and more," said his son, Jack. "My father scored 238 goals if you consider the games played when there weren't any league games.

"Those games were played in front of 60,000 people so you can't say they weren't serious. I say it a little tongue-in-cheek though because Alan has done remarkably and he could well go on to get that total anyway.

"It looks as if he will pass 200 and I think it's great news. I'm sure my father will be sat on a cloud up there shouting 'go on Alan' every time he gets a goal.

"My father would be the first to say congratulations to Alan if he were still around, I'm sure of that."

Jackie passed away in 1988 and his son has taken over media duties ever since. He met Shearer when the two legendary Newcastle number nines were the subject of a BBC documentary a couple of years ago, and a book about the Ashington man was published at the same time. The 53-year-old was privileged to meet today's black and white hero and believes the pair were equally special in St James' Park history.

"When I met Alan a couple of years ago he told me he wasn't that bothered about breaking the record, he was more concerned about delivering silverware to Newcastle," said Jack.

"He said it would be great to have but silverware was his priority. Regardless of what he said or says, I think it would be fantastic for a local lad to break the record.

"He is a Geordie lad and the whole of the city are excited by the prospect of him breaking the record. The whole city has just been excited by the 'will he, won't he' retirement situation. That just shows how highly he is regarded around the place."

Shearer has a little further to go if he wants to score more league goals than Milburn, who hit 177 in 353 appearances. Shearer has grabbed 138 in 257 games for the Magpies ahead of today's home game with Aston Villa. But with another year to go, you wouldn't bet against him.