A special edition recording Alan Shearer’s testimonial match resulted in a sales lift for the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, with the paper selling an extra 22,000 copies on the day it was published.

Staff worked through the night to produce a 48-page special with pictures of the United hero’s testimonial against Celtic, which was given away free with the paper the day after the match.

The supplement also included ten pages of goodwill text messages from supporters, and editor Paul Robertson said the demand for the souvenir edition was unprecedented.

He said: “In all my time in newspapers I have never seen anything like it.

“Everytime we stocked up our outlets we were getting calls for more.

“The testimonial was an incredibly emotional night. The atmosphere was unbelievable. Never has so much black and white looked so colourful.”

The Evening Chronicle also helped turn Newcastle black and white for the day in honour of Shearer, teaming up with with the Newcastle-Gateshead Initiative and encouraging people around the city to ditch their normal school or office clothes and dress in United’s colours.

The Trinity Mirror title also launched a Black and White Day desktop for visitors to download from its website, featuring a black and white No9 shirt with the words Shear Legend.

Editor Paul said: “I always knew Shearer was popular but the reaction has been phenomenal.

“Everyone entered into the spirit of black and white day – we changed our masthead for the day – and it became a real celebration.

“Our own team put in an incredible performance. Editorial worked through the night to produce the supplement, advertising supported us with some great ads, we printed a superb quality product on time, while newspaper sales and transport showed great initiative to ensure we could meet demand.”

A week after the event the paper is still selling.

The Chronicle’s morning sister title, The Journal, also produced a wrap of its front page and saw a sales lift of around 7,000, while thousands clicked on to a special photo gallery on their website to relive the occasion.

Grey’s Monument decked in black and white

The Evening Chronicle has a daily circulation of 87,138 (ABC, Mon to Fri – July to Dec 2005).