SWEDISH student Jenny Lindstrom has spent four months in Britain studying Newcastle striker Alan Shearer.

The trip helped Jenny produce a 14,000-word, 32-page dissertation, which she described as an ethnographic essay on the construction of a modern day hero in a local society.

Her £8,000 trip to the UK allowed her to interview Newcastle fans about the legendary number nine and included a meeting with the man himself.

Her essay, called The King Of Newcastle - Alan Shearer Is Above Football, helped her gain a society and media masters degree from the University of Linkoping, in eastern Sweden. Jenny, 27, now working as an IT helpdesk executive, became a fan of the former England captain after seeing him play for England in Euro 96.

She followed his career and decided to write a dissertation on the striker as part of her cultural studies course.

Jenny's lecturers agreed to fund a four-month research trip to Newcastle.

She said: "The relationship between Alan Shearer and the city of Newcastle is so unique.

"The dissertation was a serious academic study. It was about Shearer's place in society rather than him as a footballer."

As a bonus, Jenny met her future husband while on her fact-finding mission to Tyneside.

She is about to settle in Newcastle and will celebrate her marriage to fiance David Grieves, 36, next summer with a reception at St James's Park.

She said: "We met because the cover of my phone had Shearer's number nine shirt on and he had a Shearer keyring and we just got talking.

"We are both big fans. He has a season ticket and I watch as many games as I can."