He was always going to end the season as a demi-god of the Geordie Nation, no matter what happened.
But last night, as the chants of "Shearer! Shearer!" rang round St James' Park, his legendary status on Tyneside was reinforced like never before.
Alan Shearer may never be a great Newcastle manager, no matter how much he wants to be.
Yet no Toon hero will have made a braver substitution than the one that may have saved their Premier League lives just as they seemed locked in a north-east suicide pact.
It takes a big man to take off Michael Owen, even on an evening when the England goal-ace is not making any impression.
That is even more the case when the consequences of failing to win are so enormous, not just top-flight status but arguably the entire financial future of the symbol of Tyneside.
That, though, is what Shearer did, trusting his instincts as he sent on Obafemi Martins with 20 minutes to go, aware that the flak would come if the Nigerian could not deliver. But deliver he did, with his first touch, stabbing the ball into the ground and then the bottom corner of the net at the Gallowgate End where Shearer spent so much of his youth, to spark a celebration party that went on deep into the night.
It may prove premature, even after Peter Lovenkrands completed the victory that looks almost fatal for Boro's flagging survival hopes.
After all, what was only Newcastle's second win of 2009 took them above Hull merely on goal difference, the most tenuous but priceless of advantages that could be overturned over the next two games.
Yet this felt like a great escape. And while Gareth Southgate, the trapdoor to the Championship opening under his feet, justifiably moaned Kevin Nolan was offside in the build-up to Martins' vital strike, the Boro boss also knows that sometimes you cannot argue with fate.
The Toon Army did not care, nor were they concerned they had witnessed an evening which demonstrated why these clubs have been locked in the cold embrace of relegation for months.
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Nor are they thinking about the massive revamping job Shearer will have to oversee in the summer, should he choose to stay on.
Last night, all that mattered was the result, the three points that could be enough to keep them up - although that would be more due to the deficiencies of others.
Newcastle had suffered a nightmare start, Habib Beye watching in horror as Tuncay's shot rebounded off Steve Harper but then his own shins to dribble over the line. But once Steven Taylor headed them level, it always seemed as though Newcastle's desire would carry the day, even though Boro had chances through Marvin Emnes and Gary O'Neil before the break.
Yet as the Boro fans prepare themselves for visits to the Keepmoat Stadium and Home Park, they will curse the man who undermined them more than anybody else in black and white.
How Southgate could have done with a striker of Mark Viduka's quality this season, rather than having to hope the hapless Afonso Alves could find the shooting boots he left behind at Heerenveen.
Viduka monstered Robert Huth and poor Matthew Bates, hitting a volley against a post and coming so close to providing, as Owen's header was tipped over by Brad Jones.
It was the Aussie who won the battle for the ball that ended on Martins' right foot and when Lovenkrands lashed home the third, the ground was rocking with Shearer's name again.
He can do no wrong. Last night he only made them worship him all over again.
Newcastle: Harper 6, Beye 6, S Taylor 7, Bassong 6, Duff 6, Guthrie 6, Nolan 5, Butt 6, Gutierrez 7 (Lovenkrands 65, 6), Owen 6 (Martins 70, 8), Viduka 8 (Carroll 87).
Middlesbrough: Jones 7, Hoyte 6, Huth 7, Bates 5, A Taylor 6 (A Johnson 76), Downing 6, O'Neil 6, Shawky 5 (Aliadiere 69, 6), Tuncay 6, Emnes 6, Alves 5 (King 36, 5).
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