ALAN SHEARER has assured Newcastle United manager Bobby Robson that he won't risk his career for the sake of derby revenge against Sunderland.

Skipper Shearer, out for five months following make-or-break surgery to cure tendinitis in his left knee, can at best expect to be on the bench in tomorrow's televised Tyne-Wear showdown at St. James' Park.

Robson will have a heart-to-heart discussion with the 31-year-old striker after training today to gauge his mood and fitness.

The United boss knows that Shearer would love to erase the bitter memory of successive 2-1 home defeats by Sunderland.

Shearer was dropped to the bench two years ago at the height of his feud with Robson's predecessor Ruud Gullit, and last season saw his late penalty saved by Black Cats' keeper Thomas Sorensen.

But both Robson and Shearer are adopting a cautious approach to the former England captain's comeback.

Robson, who has already seen key men Kieron Dyer and Carl Cort suffer injury setbacks, stressed: "Alan will only be on duty in a substitute's role if I think that's right and after there has been dialogue between us.

"I've already had a 20-minute chat with him.

"He's a very sensible, responsible guy. He knows how important this game is to the club, but the last thing he wants is to not perform creditably. He won't do that.

"He scored twice against Hartlepool Reserves on Wednesday and his knee is fine. All the pain and inflammation has gone and he's making fantastic progress.

"But I'm anxious we don't set him back like Cort and Dyer. That would be a hat-trick of real disasters and I don't need that in my life at the moment. We've just got to protect Alan. He's valuable to us, particularly with Cort definietly out for three months.

"If Alan is not right for Sunderland, so be it. There are more points to be picked up after Sunday, no matter how crucial this match is. We have to apply common sense in this situation.

"If you put Alan on the bench and you get an injury to one of your strikers after five minutes, he has to be able to go on and play. I think he'd be all right for 20 minutes at the end of the match, but there's no guarantee that's when we might have to bring him on.

"He's a great character and he wants to play in every match if he can. But we know that, after this weekend, we've got two weeks without a match and we can get him ready for the game at Middlesbrough. We can arrange a couple of in-house matches for him. He played 45 minutes the other day and was a class above.

"But playing against Hartlepool Reserves at the Blue Flame Ground in Benton is a bit different to playing Sunderland in a derby here in front of 52,000.

"This is the biggest match we play all season. It's bigger than Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. If you drew Lazio here in Europe, Sunderland would still be a bigger match.

"We've had two creditable draws at the Stadium of Light in my time here, but this club has lost both games at home to Sunderland in the last two seasons.

"We didn't deserve to lose last season, but we did. That's the cruel game it is.''

Robson was yesterday booked for talks with winger Nolberto Solano and goalkeeper Shay Given - for different reasons.

Peruvian Solano, who has resumed his international career against Robson's wishes - and after United awarded him a new five-year contract - has been called up by his country for their World Cup qualifier with Uruguay.

Robson has warned Solano he is putting his Newcastle future on the line.

"I've got a list as long as my arm of players who will be away on international duty next week,'' said Robson.

"We've got 12 players away, including Nobby, which I am unhappy about. We've had a request for him to link up with Peru for their game with Uruguay. Doubtless he wants to play in that game, but that's not the way he felt less than a year ago. We have to sort the situation out.''

Robson was also speaking to Given, who was guilty of costly errors in the 1-1 Premiership opener at Chelsea and the dramatic 4-4 Intertoto Cup final second leg with Troyes, which saw the French side win on away goals and the Magpies miss out on a UEFA Cup spot.

"I have to talk to Shay about the situation,'' said Robson, who refused to give the Republic of Ireland international a vote of confidence, prompting talk of a possible call-up for Steve Harper.

Meanwhile, Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has issued a "hands off'' warning to Newcastle and Fulham over £10m striker Andy Cole.

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