Top 10 Goalscorers In England’s Top Division Since 1888
5. Alan Shearer [1988–2006] [283 Goals/559 Matches]
Premier League’s record goalscorer, Alan Shearer played for Southampton, Blackburn and Newcastle United. He spent the majority of his career at Newcastle United but it was his time at Blackburn when he won his only title – the Premier League in 1995.
Earlier in his career, especially at Southampton, Shearer played a more creative role: providing chances for fellow strikers and making runs into space, owing to his early development as a midfielder. Later on in his career, Shearer played a more forward role.
Shearer scored 283 league goals in his career, including a record 260 in the Premier League with a record 11 Premier League hat-tricks, and a total of 422 in all competitions including international at all levels. He is Newcastle United’s record goalscorer. Shearer was named Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year in 1994 and won the PFA Player of the Year award in 1995. He retired in 2006.
4. Gordon Hodgson [1925–1940] [287 Goals/456 Matches]
When supporters think of Liverpool’s greatest goalscorers, thoughts will turn to Roger Hunt, Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush or perhaps Robbie Fowler. However, long before all of those players were even born, Liverpool possessed a player so prolific he was a legitimate rival for Everton‘s Dixie Dean. That man was Gordon Hodgson, who signed for Liverpool in 1925 and played 377 games for the Reds, scoring 241 goals, earning him a place in the Liverpool FC Hall of Fame.
The player would finish the Reds top scorer in seven of his nine seasons at Anfield. He notched a total of 233 goals in the first division for Liverpool, including 19 hat-tricks. He left Liverpool in 1936.
After Liverpool, he played for Aston Villa and Leeds United before hanging up boots in 1939.
3. Dixie Dean [1924–1938] [310 Goals/362 Games]
Arguably the greatest goalscorer ever to grace the English game, undeniably the greatest Everton player of all-time,Dean joined Everton in March 1925 for a transfer fee of £3,000 from Tranmere Rovers. He made his first appearance against Arsenal at Highbury and scored on his home debut a week later against Aston Villa. He scored 32 league goals in his first full season at Everton.
In the 1930s he captained the club to the title of Second Division, First Division and FA Cup triumphs. But the achievement for which he is best remembered is the individual goalscoring record of 60 League goals in a single season – a record set in 1928 and never beaten since.
Dean played the majority of his career at Everton before injuries caught up with him and he moved on to new challenges at Notts County in 1938, before retiring in 1940.
For a man whose life was linked so heavily linked with Everton Football Club, it was fitting that he died at Goodison Park in March 1980, minutes after the final whistle of a derby match.