Success Quote by Alan Shearer

Shearer’s line is blunt enough to sound like a shrug, but it lands because it’s really an argument about what we choose to reward in sport. On the surface, it’s a tautology: goals are how you win. The point is the sneaky gap between aesthetics and outcomes. He’s pushing back against the fan fantasy that football is primarily a highlight reel, a morality play where “positive” teams deserve success. In Shearer’s world - striker’s world - the game is a job with a scoreboard, and the scoreboard is the only witness that matters.

The phrasing does cultural work. “Not just” concedes the romance (yes, goals matter; yes, they’re the currency of joy) before hard-closing on the real metric: winning. It’s the language of a Premier League era that increasingly prized results, marginal gains, and managerial pragmatism over purist ideals. Think of the endless arguments about “playing the right way” versus grinding out 1-0s; Shearer is siding with the grown-ups who cash points, not applause.

There’s subtext for strikers, too. A goal scorer can be turned into a mascot for beauty and bravado, but Shearer insists on the less glamorous truth: your goals are only as meaningful as what they secure. It’s a mentality statement disguised as banter - a reminder that football isn’t judged by intention, possession, or entertainment value, but by consequence.