Newcastle's search for the man to replace Alan Shearer has reached crunch-point. The 35-year-old confirmed his premature retirement on Saturday morning and was on the bench in his role as caretaker boss Glenn Roeder's assistant for Saturday's 3-0 Premiership victory over West Brom.
Shearer's career has been ended by the medial ligament tear he suffered in a challenge with Sunderland's Julio Arca during his side's 4-1 win at the Stadium of Light on Easter Monday.
However, the fact is that with just three games to go before his planned retirement, the task of finding his replacement had already been under way for some time.
Indeed, the club's ill-fated move for Patrick Kluivert two summers ago and their interest in Mark Viduka during the last closed season were attempts to prepare for the start of next season. The Magpies, of course, have a world-class striker already on the books, although speculation that Michael Owen's stay on Tyneside after his £17million move from Real Madrid in August last year will last only a quarter of the four years for which he signed refuses to go away.
Even with their new manager as yet unnamed, Newcastle have been running the rule over a series of targets - chief scout David Mills was recently dispatched to watch long-term target Dirk Kuyt, who took his total for the season to 25 in Feyenoord's 4-2 play-off semi-final defeat by Ajax at the weekend.
However, with Roeder and the man he replaced, Graeme Souness, both admitting Shearer is irreplaceable, that may prove an onerous task. In the short-term, home-grown Shola Ameobi and Michael Chopra did their prospects little harm against the Baggies on Saturday, and while Chopra knows Shearer will leave a huge gap, he insists he and Ameobi must believe they can fill it.
"It was very disappointing for all of us to hear that Alan has played his last game for us," he told the club's official website. "He went out with a bang by scoring at Sunderland, and we'll miss him, that goes without saying.
"But as a striker - and I'm sure Shola would say the same - it's now up to us to step in and make an impression in the last couple of games.
The likelihood is, however, that Newcastle will look to spend big again this summer to increase the firepower at their disposal. Owen has played only 10 games so far this season and scored seven goals - his presence in the squad on Saturday was little more than a PR exercise, and he will do well to make the 16 for the trip to Birmingham at the weekend - a statistic which underlines just why the Magpies are so keen to keep him on board.
Youngsters Carl Finnegan and Andy Carroll have prospered in the reserves this season, but their time is yet to come.
