The former England manager left after falling out with owner Mike Ashley and football director Dennis Wise over the buying and selling of players.

And Shearer admits that he too could not manage a club operating under a similar structure.

But he added that while the fans have a right to protest, he does not want them to boycott the club.

Toon's all-time goalscorer told The Sun newspaper: "Without the fans, there would not be a Newcastle United. So they deserve their say. They deserve to have their opinions heard. They are angry, because they care about their football club.

"But I do not know whether staying away will be the best thing, as that will affect the players.

"I cannot see how they could be in the best frame of mind playing in front of an empty stadium.

"What the fans need to do is go along and support those players.

"I have a box at the ground and, the next time I have a chance to go, I will be there."

Shearer broke the British transfer record when he joined Newcastle, his boyhood club, for £15million in 1996.

And the former Magpie hitman added that the current situation was a very sad one and Newcastle had hit the headlines for the wrong reasons - again.

He told The Sun: "Like everyone else, I just don't know when this will end. And people have been asking this for a long time.

"It seemed it was ending with a big-money owner coming in and the return of the manager everyone wanted in Kevin.
"They had a man there in Kevin who cared so passionately about the football club.

"There are 52,000 supporters there every week and he is on their wavelength. He is one of them and they worship the ground he walks on.

"He can walk away with his head held high, because he did a decent job. But a great opportunity has been missed here. That is very sad."

He also added that he could not understand why clubs give the responsibility of buying and selling players to someone other than the manager.

"We know everyone has budgets and if a manager wants a director of football then fine. But he has to choose him. When a board picks someone, it is a recipe for disaster and I think the result is inevitable," he said.