Keegan responded to the previous season's disappointment by breaking the world record transfer fee to sign centre forward Alan Shearer from Blackburn Rovers for £15 million [REF].
The signing was confirmed by the manager on 30 July 1996[REF] and was officially unveiled a week later in front of hundreds of journalists and around 15,000 fans who queued in the stadium car parks hoping to catch a glimpse of the player [REF].