LATER today, Newcastle United will open a new museum in the Gallowgate End of St James' Park to commemorate the leading figures from the club's illustrious 125-year history.

Featuring artefacts such as Jackie Milburn and George Robledo's FA Cup winners' medals, Michael Owen's hat-trick ball from England's 5-1 win in Germany and personal belongings from the likes of Malcolm Macdonald and Len White, the museum promises a "walk through black and white history".

The timing of the opening could not be more fitting. On Saturday, more than 50,000 fans were treated to a walk through black and history of their own. Alan Shearer scored his 201st goal for the Magpies and, in doing so, became Newcastle United's leading goalscorer of all time. The new museum now has its most prized exhibit.

"We have got Alan's boots off him and they are going to the silversmiths to get done up," said chairman Freddy Shepherd, who shelled out £15m to bring Shearer to St James' Park in July 1996. "They needed them as a mould - I don't know the technicalities of it, but he will have some silver boots on display.

"Breaking that record meant everything to everybody. At one time, I thought Jackie Milburn's ghost was keeping the goals out because Alan had so many chances, but it's fantastic for him to break the record, especially as a Geordie.

"Jackie is held in such esteem but I am sure he would have wanted Alan to have finally done it. I saw Jackie play, but you can't compare the two of them. They are both legends and heroes and they always will be."

Shearer's association with Newcastle has always been something of a fairytale but, even by his sublime standards, Saturday's events were penned to perfection.

With his beloved club teetering on the brink, the 35-year-old restored pride and passion to a Geordie nation that had been put through the mill in the preceding three days.

With Graeme Souness' dismissal having left him in joint temporary charge of the Magpies, he salvaged honour and dignity from the wreckage of yet another unsavoury sequence of events.

And, with more than 50,000 of his fanatical followers packed into Newcastle's footballing cathedral, he made history in front of the same Gallowgate End on which he had stood as a child.

The son of a Gosforth sheet metal worker had carved his own indelible imprint on the heart of Newcastle United. His 201st goal came in his 394th appearance - three games less than it took Milburn - and his achievements will never be forgotten.

He might not have trophies and medals to show for his ten years on Tyneside but, when he finally hangs up his boots in the summer, he will leave the game with something more precious - the eternal adulation of the people of Newcastle.

"I'm a big believer in fate and, if I could have chosen where to do it, it would have been at the Gallowgate End," said a clearly emotional Shearer on Saturday night. "I couldn't believe it when I missed a chance at Cheltenham last weekend, but maybe I needed to miss it to get the goal here.

"The reception the fans gave me after scoring will live with me forever. I knew they would do something special, but it was just incredible. Even I was getting emotional after scoring and then five minutes later, they were still chanting my name.

"They were great to me when I arrived to sign at the Leazes End, but (Saturday's) reception will live with me forever.

"This ranks up there with anything I have ever done in football and I'm a very happy and proud man.

"When the club bought me and paid £15m, they did it for me to score goals. Thankfully, I've been able to do that, but you don't score goals without great players around you.

"The record is a huge, huge bonus, but the most important thing was the relief of getting three points because we would have been in serious trouble if we hadn't."

Typical Shearer, but forget it. The striker has always put the team's ambitions before his own but, while Saturday's victory was unquestionably vital to Newcastle's short-term survival, the day will always be remembered for its longer-term significance.

It started to the refrain of Chumbawumba's "Tubthumping", with its chorus of "I get knocked down, but I get up again". Fitting for Newcastle given everything that happened last week, but also fitting for Shearer given the three serious injuries that threatened to bring his playing career to an untimely end.

Assisting Glenn Roeder as his on-field representative, the legendary number nine instigated a 30-second huddle before kick-off. If anyone was going to bring the club together after a week of dissension and strife, it was always going to be him.

The fans knew as much, singing "Alan Shearer's black and white army" with an undisguised glee. While the striker has underlined his determination to walk away in the summer, perhaps they know something we don't.

Shearer would exude a talismanic presence as Newcastle boss and his on-field prompting on Saturday underlined just how much influence he already wields.

Cajoling and coaxing his team-mates, the skipper led from the front with a series of clattering challenges and surging runs. Where he was keen to lead, his team-mates were quick to follow and, by the end of the opening 45 minutes, the negativity of the Souness era had all but been dispersed.

It helped, of course, that the Magpies were in front and, predictably, Shearer was at the heart of their opener. Reacting quickest to Nolberto Solano's cross, he forced a fine save from Portsmouth goalkeeper Dean Kiely before Charles N'Zogbia casually rolled home the rebound.

That had the fans on their feet but, with Newcastle continuing to press for a second, they sensed there was more to come. After 63 minutes and 48 seconds, their hopes were realised.

Fittingly, it was typical Shearer. Muscling aside Andy O'Brien to reach a hopeful upfield punt, he directed an intelligent knockdown to Shola Ameobi before spinning into space.

Ameobi played his part with a deft backheel and, as he done so many times before, Shearer steadied himself for the finish. Holding off desperate attempts to peg him back, he took aim, swung back, and coolly prodded the ball through the advancing Kiely's legs.

It was the perfect finish to a perfect afternoon but, for a man as hungry and passionate as Shearer, it was never going to be enough. Record goalscorer is a tag that fits neatly around his neck - FA Cup winner would mean an awful lot more.

"I'll enjoy being remembered as a goalscorer," he said. "But I can think of an even better description. I can think of another name, but I can't get involved in that because we are still in the great competition and I've been saying for years that it might happen.

"FA Cup hero - now that's fairytale." When it comes to Shearer, even the tallest of tales can come true.