5 memorable golden boot rivalries in England
The English top flight has seen many a goalscorer. From Jimmy Greaves in the 60's to Ian Rush in the 80's and of course the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Theirry Henry in the 2000s, great strikers have always been a part of the league.
Sometimes there has been more than one prolific goalscorer during the same period. These rivalries were fueled even more when the teams for which the players were a part of were competing with each other for silverware or just their status in their Premier League
So the importance of finishing as the top scorer in the league became not just a matter of personal pride but also helping their respective teams achieve greatness. With that in mind here are 5 memorable golden boot rivalries.
5) Alan Shearer – Robbie Fowler
Alan Shearer is one of the greatest goalscorers the Premier League has ever seen. The Englishman scored 260 goals since the inception of the league in 1992 and is still top of the all-time scorers list.
Despite his exploits, Shearer has only one Premier League title to his name. That was during the 1994-95 season when he won the trophy with Blackburn and also finished as top scorer. He’s won the EPL golden boot three times in his career and had many strikers with whom he competed with every season.
But for two years he had a rivalry with Robbie Fowler for the award. The Liverpool striker was still young but looked like a natural when scoring goals and Shearer was also in brilliant form. The first season when Rovers won the league Shearer beat him by a comfortable margin of 9 goals, with Fowler’s team finishing in 4th.
In the 1995-96 season, the competition was much closer. Both Liverpool and Blackburn were competing with Manchester United for the title. United eventually became the champions with Liverpool finishing third and Blackburn 7th.
Shearer though edged out Fowler once again for the award by a margin of just 3 goals. Shearer scored 31 to Fowler’s 28.