Three Ukraine players ran to Alan Shearer at the final whistle following England's 2 -0 victory on Wednesday, each wanting to swap shirts with him.

It was the 29-year-old England captain's final appearance at Wembley for his country and a night when his emotions were there for all to see.

But Shearer refused to peel the red shirt off his back. He simply pointed towards the dressing-room as if to suggest the trade could take part in the tunnel.

Shearer, though, had no intention of handing it over, even to players of the quality and standing of Andriy Shevchenko, the £20million star of AC Milan, or Sergei Rebrov, Tottenham's new £11m signing.

That was because it was already earmarked for a hospital in Newcastle and for the man who began, forged and shaped Shearer's career.

The striker who has hit 28 goals in 59 appearances for his country will take it there himself on Sunday after England return from their friendly in Malta, their last match before the European Championship begins in 10 days' time.

He will hand it over to 79-year-old Jack Hixon, stricken by a kidney ailment and so unwell that a visit from the player he reveres as if he were his own son could help him retain his grasp on life itself.

'He's desperately ill,' said Shearer sadly. 'Going through a very bad time. I'll go to the hospital on Sunday and give my shirt to him.'

Eight years ago Shearer presented Hixon with his first England shirt and fully accepts the debt of gratitude he owes to the fine man who not only discovered him and nurtured his career but wrote to Lawrie McMenemy, then manager of Southampton, recommending the young Shearer as a star of the future.

He was not wrong in that judgment. In the years that have followed, Hixon was the man the England striker turned to for advice, solace and guidance. He is usually the last man he talks to before leaving for international duty and the first he refers to afterwards.

The bond between the two is unbreakable. Shearer's voice drops almost to a reverent whisper when he talks of Hixon, a fellow Geordie who discovered him playing for Newcastle City Boys.

Typical of Shearer, then, that he should give both his first England shirt to Hixon as well as the last he would wear at Wembley. It is another side to the captain we do not always see - or appreciate. You could sense the occasion had got to the £15million striker.

Perhaps by nibbling at an apple as he addressed us he found a way of camouflaging his feelings. No doubt there was a lump in his throat - after all, there had been eight years of memories.

He said: 'I walked up the tunnel with a mixture of regret and excitement. There were many memories - my first cap, my first as captain, against the Poles - my first hat-trick.

'There have been good times for me and bad. In club football I've lost six times at Wembley but as an international player there have been big Championship games that stick in my mind.

'For instance, Euro 96, when I had gone 12 games without a goal and then scored against the Swiss. It was important because people had begun to have doubts about me.

'I enjoyed my last match even though I was walking up the tunnel as an England player for the last time. There was still the thrill of winning my 59th cap. It was just a pity I didn't sign off with a goal.

'It didn't really feel like the last time, because I believe there are better times to come and there are definite signs that we can do well in Euro 2000. The fans at Wembley have always been fair to me and when you score goals when the pressure is really on, there's no better feeling.

'I can still recall how I felt walking on to the pitch as captain of England for the first time, the pride of the occasion, what it would have meant to other people close to me.'

One of those would have been Jack Hixon, the man who made it all possible, a former railway worker now in a hospital bed with only his memories to comfort him.

On Sunday he'll see his boy again. Jack will take that red shirt and press it to his face - and remember where the journey first started.

And Shearer will remember, too, who was responsible for making him a football star - and a millionaire.