Player Profile

At the end of the 1987/88 season, both of Swindon's strikers contracts expired - and despite manager Lou Macari's best attempts to keep them, both Dave Bamber and Jimmy Quinn decided to leave the club. Macari's response was to spend a club record of £250,000 on Duncan Shearer from Huddersfield.

At first, the signing seemed to be a dud - after making his debut on the first day of the season in a 1-1 draw at Barnsley, Shearer failed to score in his first six games. A goal in a Littlewoods Cup tie against Crystal Palace seemed to spark Shearer into form - but after a run of scoring three in four matches, he found himself sidelined with a foot injury, which kept him out of the starting line-up for nearly two months. He returned to action in mid-December, but a groin strain picked up over the Christmas period forced him out again, this time until the middle of February. Shearer marked his return with a brace in a 4-1 win at home to Sunderland, and he didn't miss another game. Despite all the missed matches, Shearer ended up as the club's top scorer with sixteen goals, fourteen of which came in the League. The Town finished sixth, but were knocked out of the play-offs by Palace.

Shearer missed just four games during the following season, and he again finished as top scorer, this time with 27 goals to his name. He forged a lethal partnership with Steve White, and their goals helped the Town push into the play-offs again. After finishing fourth, Shearer scored in the second leg of the semi-final with Blackburn, and the Town won 4-2 on aggregate. He appeared again in the ill-fated final, when the Town beat Sunderland 1-0, before being demoted by the League for irregular payments to players. The demotion took it's toll on the club the following season, but though Swindon were struggling, Shearer didn't seem to - this time, his goals helping the Town to avoid relegation. He averaged a goal every other game - missing just two matches, but scoring on 22 occasions in the League.

Still, the best was to come from Shearer. Thriving under new manager Glenn Hoddle, "Postman Dunc" went on the rampage - scoring a thumping drive in a Rumbelows Cup tie at West Bromwich, becoming the first Town player to score four in a match since 1980 in a 4-0 win at Plymouth, and scoring ten goals in nine cup matches. With the Town in and around the play-off places - Blackburn Rovers, with the money of newly-installed chairman Jack Walker, saw Shearer as a potential threat to their promotion campaign. They made Swindon an £800,000 offer that they couldn't refuse - and Shearer moved on transfer deadline day. His 32 goals in 48 games that season meant that he was the Town's top scorer in all four seasons he was at the club, and he was picked in the PFA Team of the Year for Division One.

After his departure, Swindon scored just seven goals in the last nine games of the season, and ended up in 8th place - Blackburn sneaked into 6th place, and were promoted through the play-offs. Having played just six games for Rovers, Shearer was sold again before the new season began, this time to Aberdeen - proving that Blackburn had only bought him to keep Swindon out of the race for promotion.

Playing Record

Senior

Reserve and Youth Team Appearances

Note that appearance data for reserve and youth teams may not be complete. Expand for more information.

Career details

Club	Details
Caol YC Caol YC	(youth)
Partick Thistle Partick Thistle	July 1979 (trial)
Clachnacuddin Clachnacuddin	March 1980
Aberdeen Aberdeen	September 1981 (trial)
Chelsea Chelsea	November 1983
Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town	March 1986
Swindon Town Swindon	June 22nd, 1988 (transferred in , £234,000 ); transferred out (March 27th, 1992)
Blackburn Rovers Blackburn	March 27th, 1992 (transferred in , £750,000 ); transferred out (July 1992)
Aberdeen Aberdeen	July 1992 (transferred in , £500,000 )
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness CT	September 1997  2000 (player-assistant manager) ; resigned (December 2002)
Aberdeen Aberdeen	December 2002 (appointed assistant manager)
Buckie Thistle Buckie Thistle	October 2004 (appointed player-manager); sacked (April 2008)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness CT	(youth coach) November 2013 (caretaker manager)