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#nufc #newcastleunited #stevewraith
[Applause] don’t pinch his drink see welcome along with the surf Cafe great to have you here welcome along um let’s go back to the start of your career when did you your first kick a football Steve where did you learn your craft um probably hundreds of thousands of other
Geordie Lads in the Front Street uh lamp post or the Hedge next door with a few we made some wallsend um graduated to Saint Peter’s field tried to nip on to actually wear Newcastle train now they’re the only players that had Nets at the time it was a gas for
The thing the team was yeah yeah no I just seems any other Jordy lad really and then um about actually quite famous really because there’s so many people asked us about that throw in I used to do and it was literally just about 100 yards down there with heads and volleys and I
Remember getting the ball on the beach trying this stuff through it and uh that was literally just down there so um I plenty memories around here and I’ve just moved in about 400 yards up the road so you might be seeing a bit more of his yeah
Tell us about your youth career or not I mean you know what position were you playing and you know you know did you did you get the Cup finals and stuff like that how did you do yeah I mean I was I was lucky I was um I was in a good
School with good good players I I was in the same school as Alan Thompson and you know yourself if you get two good players in the team with it with a few other good lads you’ll do well so uh that was high for middle and wallsend
And then we split up when he went to Willard and I went to Burnside but all the way through all Zen Boys Club following people like um Alan Brucie um you know Carrick lots of good players and um we had a really good team we had
We had me Tom or Rob Elliott all the CMH group we had Lee year above so we you know we we pretty much you know pretty much dominated and back then in Newcastle it was it wasn’t the academy it was called the center of excellence so we started there when we were 10
Um with a fella called Stan Nixon who was the coach um and Peter Curley who was the Scout there’s only two back then and Steve Howey was there and you know brilliantly that we all went through together but we all end up in the team again the first
Team together which four slots Jordy Lads obviously it’s our version of what man united did or albeit probably less true if used to show up for it but you know we had five or six ads all coming through the same era all in the first
Team at the same time so now it was a great uh it was a great upbringing of football what position were you playing at that yoga Ridge just pretty similar how I spent your career over here I was uh I’m funny enough to start off and go up
Um start off and go and I’ll tell you about that later when hopefully we’ll talk about the anfield girls so I better tell you about that then but um not just everywhere but um I remember I was at Newcastle for from 10 around 15 and then
Got told at 15 that I wasn’t gonna wasn’t gonna be kept on and I was heartbroken you know I mean I’m at the Academy now coaching similar age groups and hardest thing to do is to tell you I’m curtain the hardest thing for a young kid of here is that
Um and I you know I found out why you know and it was basically because I was I was so involved in every sport you know I was I was at a basketball player at school I was a um cricketer I played tennis I was Athletics for North Town
Side I was high jump and I was Triple jumping and I just think Newcastle thought that the focus wasn’t solely on football whereas corgis was Tom Morris was that’s all they did so I tried I screwed me lower for the last uh season at the boys club and end up playing up
Front so I had a great season and then I got they came back for his right at the end and said you know you’ve done enough you know we’ve seen what we’ve seen the reaction and so I signed as a striker the sign is a striker and then made me
Debut about five months later uh right Midfield and you were the youngest player to to play up a Newcastle yeah no I mean obviously being a majority of growing up watching it watching the tune um just to get that to get that um debut
Was was good enough but to be to be the youngest that I play and still be it um you know every time somebody comes through in the squad I’m thinking how old are they he’s not ready yet so uh so yeah I’ve still got that who is the manager
Yeah Jim Smith Jim Smith manager um old school proper old school holidays Nails um seeing things in that dressing room not you couldn’t prepare your phone and things that for young lad seeing it now you know you think the manager need to be arrested for that but it was just the
Norm once you got going um tea cups flying everywhere t uh uh tea against the wall uh sharper cakes everywhere but no um he gives me debut and I was I’ll always be grateful for that I’ve done well in the reserves it was so no I was the youngest that just shows
People you know people people hit the Peak at different times people get ready at different times you know body small and they didn’t come in Stuart Pierce all in the 20s when they started to become professional footballer so um I was the last person to sign but
Obviously the first one in my age group the player in the first team so I just it just clicked quickly uh made me debut against wolves uh it was in November don’t know what was I don’t know what was the most memorable Me Maybe debut at 16 o’clock you’re scoring a header
I think um I think Barkley thinks that but um and then from then on you know Jim Smith will always be your hero of mine for for that but we had a pretty you know we’re really Senior Team and I helped us through a lot we had people like John Burridge and go
It was actually the first roommate I don’t know what doing what again nowadays looking at safeguarding and um Put them through oranges out so things I’ve changed in that respect I mean create a new idea but it was you know Newcastle we’re in the doldrums yeah I mean it was it was an old site and it was it was an experience site but we weren’t we didn’t have any energy
We’re going we know we’re the great setting Lads but I remember me first team you know as I said budgie Ray Ransom uh John Anderson Kevin Scott Mark Simpson you had like Roy Akin um Kevin Dillon Liam O’Brien Queenie and Mark McGee up front um you know all probably apart from me
And Lee and Steve holder is knocking on the door then um probably well in the 30s so I think just having a bit of a you know a bit of Youth around a bit of energy um I think it went down really well with the fans obviously it’ll always go down
Well with with clubs but especially up here having one or two of their own in the in the in the team so you know that helped me as well because I was you know they talked to us straight away Jim Smith never really recovered from losing
The playoffs today it was the first year of the playoffs Newcastle had finished thirds you know the best third best team in the league Sunderland of course you know managed to sneak into the playoffs uh but beat Newcastle nil nil away sorry and then we came back
To St James’s part of Gabby and Deanie and gates to visit home we lost two nil and he never really recovered from that didn’t he no it’s a it couldn’t go any worse really but no I mean I looked at it and I’ve managed myself and
You know look luckily for me you know I’ve had about one time where I’ve been sat and it was sort of mid-table and it was a club that was expecting promotion and um but when I look back at me managers and I’ve you know I didn’t want to see
Any of them go well I wouldn’t mind saying oh look who are they but um but I didn’t mind seeing you know you can understand you know it probably was the right time for Jim to go as much as I loved Aussie um you know we weren’t we were
Struggling uh and then Kevin took over and obviously Kevin decided to leave but um yeah I mean as much as I love Jim you know you can understand why you had to go he mentioned Aussie he was next in and you know what was it like having a
You know a former World Cup Legends you know take over it’s in James’s problem it was good for the youngster yeah he was he was he was brilliant for us and I think when you look at the success sort of Kevin had will lead probably Lee in particular uh Steve uh
Not so much myself In fairness because I didn’t play a lot in the promotion season but a lot of that and the younger Lads as well Robbie Lee Michael uh who were back in the squad up Aussie needs to take a lot of credit for that Aussie Aussie really did um really
Did sort of put a lot of faith in youth probably to the to the detriment of resorts at times um he played he played front foot football he didn’t he didn’t pay a lot of attention to what was you know what was going to happen without the ball he was
He was very positive thinking um he was really you know give a lot of trust to us and he kept he kept a good nucleus a senior up there so he thought could um compliment us but ultimately the results were poor um I remember one game which some kind
Of summed Aussie Aussies spell up with us and so like no again we’ve got tip responsibility we were young but you know we knew we knew what to do and what not to do um remember we went three in a little against Charlton at St James’s
End up losing 4-3 and then I thought you know that that game sort of was the Catalyst and I think Aussie’s last game was against Oxford was it Oxford in the cup and this is you know when they say a week’s a long time in football I
Remember Ozzy pulling me and Lee Michael funny love before the Oxford game and he said um this should be really tough from now at the end of the season you know we’re gonna need as many I’m gonna that that didn’t happen but I’m gonna have that
I’m gonna have uh a lot of seniors involved and they’re gonna you know they’re gonna help um they’re gonna help get through this hopefully so you and Lee probably won’t be used again until the end of the season so obviously a bit deflated and I think as you’ve got the sack on a
Monday I think Kevin came in on the Tuesday introduced himself to us and then I played I played the next year my Bristol Bristol City Kevin’s first year and again played Kevin’s first game and Kevin’s last game so it’s another I think that’s another unique sort of thing um as much
As much as I was in and out at times I was lucky enough to play his first and last game so I thought this season was over and then you don’t know if your career is going to be at Newcastle or not and then something happened with
Kevin I don’t know if the youth coaches sort of said well look he’s better than what we’ve got in the team at the moment and I remember playing the first game against Bristol so yeah so obviously loved Ozzy just amazing to see Kevin just because he was idle anyway and I
Was Kevin uh Chris I was I was always Chris waddle in the street um and uh Terry Martin to see Kevin and Terry Mark come in and become your managers um you know breathtaking for me in amongst all of that Aussie yard dealer situation where the ongoing battle for
United didn’t win did that affect you as a young player you know because you had you know you had McKee who was running the club George bulbs came in you had the shares issue and then Sir John Hall and The Magpie group you know trying to
Wrestle the control of the club away did did you pay much attention to that now in all honesty I was probably a mixer between me being so young and the fact that players don’t really get involved you know that there’s nothing personal can do about that they don’t
Really get involved in and it’s not you know back then there wasn’t social media you couldn’t couldn’t pick a mobile or a tablet that we read everything about it you know it was just literally what you heard on the news or in the or in the chronicle journal or Sunday Sun so
Um no we did we didn’t really um but what I will say about well I don’t think that’s mentioned enough about Sir John and um and Douglas and Freddie um it was a hell of a gamble for them to do what they did you know I mean to take
To take the club over but also to take Kevin on who would never manage their coach before um you know I could have went it could have went either way but as it happens it was it couldn’t have worked out better really you know just just not just him
As a manager but just the way that he got everybody all of us in the city um all the stuff around the club um the way I don’t think anybody else could have come and got that reaction so you have to give them a lot of credit for
That decision because it was a ballsy decision that yeah definitely Was Keegan comes in seven years on the golf course after after he’d flown up in the helicopter from St James’s Park and you know he’s he’s managing so you know you play in that first game can you remember
The atmosphere and just the feeling around the club back there yeah I mean it had gone you know with all the sounds great support you know but but you understand that it dropped a little bit it it would become a little bit flat I remember playing sort of Tuesday night games and
It just it wasn’t this and James as I remembered and it just changed like that I mean everybody got on board and it was buzzing and adrenaline got you through a lot of the games back then and it just became it just became a bit of a soap up
At the end of the season and typical Kevin the way it worked out last game of the season just you know only only Kevin could have read that um but not just that you know the way the way he managed from then on the decisions he made some some of them you
Know harsh and tough you know David Kelly for instance who’ve done fantastically well um making you know deciding uh but David can go and you know bringing in Andy Cole it was relatively unknown and things like that you know he made brilliant decisions as well and he wasn’t scared to make hard decisions
Um he made decisions for the time and he made decisions that got us promoted and then he made harsh decisions the way he thought well now we’re looking for people for the next step um and then he was quite he was quite ruthless like that the key the key
Saying that you know a lot of people talk about including Kevin back in the day was Brian killed claim you know what what did he bring to the team um he just he brought a he brought a calmness and he doesn’t look a corn block he looks like this
He’s actually a really calm uh fella around the place um he’s an absolute leader he’s a leader a man and um he was the perfect exactly what we needed at the time um he fit in brilliantly and I agree with Kevin you know he just um he just
Epitomized he’s epitomized that team at the time you know we were we were brilliant going forward um but we we always had we always had that reliability at the back and he was just he was a talker uh when you had when you had young players around him um
He would in there on the trade and ground he was fantastic and then later on from him and then I’ll be as he looks nothing like Brian killed playing but killer had the same kind of effect as Peter did when he came in as in the respect the standards
Um the everyday like quality control and training I think the one thing is surprised fans was Mickey Quinn I mean you know he was a goal scorer Legend he wore the number nine shirt better than some of the the recent incumbents of that [ __ ] um you know what went wrong with quinnian
Queenie will tell you about it and I think he quite enjoys telling the stone fact he’s he’s up tomorrow night I’ll uh I’ll make sure I remember it better this time but now is he’s he’s now the goal scorer Whitney wasn’t he and um but I just think Kevin
Saw the Dynamics of the team in a different way and and you know what Courtney was like as a fellow he was he was very happy to go lucky but he was kind of a old school footballer wasn’t he he would um he wouldn’t you know he wouldn’t live the
Way Peter lives and the way Corley probably did you like the night out yeah I mean but we all did back then didn’t we but but I just think I just think he just again like David Kelly and he eventually like killer I think it was
Almost a case of thanks what you’ve done but I see this going differently The Following season after Newcastle had stayed up you know didn’t need to win it Leicester but they did um you know was was again rebuilding and they brought in some some key players
Um and you know that team went unbeaten at the start of the season 12 games in a row yeah I mean that that promotion season was special the the the open top Bush the um the holiday of Cyprus lucky luckily all of us came back half of
Killer’s hair didn’t come that way but um I’m sure you’ve heard that story a few times but yeah I mean again as I said you know back then Kevin didn’t have he didn’t have a recruitment office so he didn’t have a sporting director you know all the scouting was done sort of In-House
Um you know but some of the some of the silence he made you know for very very little money really comparatively the best selling for me Rob Lee um Bears Paul brescow came and done a great job venison came into the grid Scott sellers um just just made great silence and but
What Kevin always had this ability to do where they meant it or not you know you always seem to get players in that um not had a fantastic camaraderie and dress room I’ve never been in the dressing room under Kevin where everybody was Investments and our
Relative success in the in the mid 90s when we were Cup finals on top of the league and what have you that was that was all not all down to but that was in part down to everybody being just on the same page everybody being best mates you
Know we used to if if you’ve done anything it would be done as a group um and that’s what Kevin had a really good Knack of doing he put a really good always put a really good squat together what was the trailer like because we’re here you know stories about it you know
Being Head tennis and you know five aside and that’s it I mean was it as simple as that hi yeah no pretty much I mean we had a um it was just all about I mean Kevin’s philosophy I think and Terry Mark used to tell us this as well
Um a Liverpool that’s not really what Liverpool here probably the best arguably the best British side that you that you’ve seen uh dominance wise you know man you were brilliant for a while the invincibles at Arsenal but here it is Liverpool team took some beaten and I
Think it was you know that was their Mantra really they just used to play every day um so a lot of it was you know a lot of it was ball skills you know technique work making sure everybody could handle the ball um always at their start we had tennis but
I was before training um and then you know Terry will admit himself he wasn’t at coach he was he was he was more or less he was more or less Kevin’s you know number two but he didn’t take any sessions um but the guy that really when we did need work done
Um was Derek exactly and Faz was a fantastic coach he was he was he was a very very good coach and a lot of the time Kevin would just be on the pitch plane and I know you know you know never I’d not be a
Night goes by where I don’t wish I had a premier league medal and and everybody gets to blame from do you know to Kevin’s defensive work and really it’s it’s a collective them you know we we all knew how to play the game um we all knew how we should have shut
Up shop at times but it just it just wasn’t to be getting back to that promotion season there was a goalkeeper who came through um you know sadly no longer with us probably sooner Chuck what was he like to play alongside yeah I mean I think Pop came through with Jim Smith and
At the time you had very few foreigners um in the squad very few foreign very little English um unbelievably flexible you know like an athlete they would never seen before and he’d pull off sales that you’d think were impossible and then he’d do something the way he’d think that was easy
And you know that was part of and Pub Kim Pub came at an early age and I think by by the time he got the Kevin zero he’d become you know very special keep apple just a great block you know just won the best Vlog she’s ever met one of
The biggest misses you’ll ever meet and I just think Jordans don’t often get it wrong and the way that the way that everybody talked to him um and the fact you know when you see him see him wandering around the pitch on the promotion season with a gray t-shirt on
Um not the SMB one the part about there’s a Geordie one um but no I think I think everybody everybody got them in there I think he he was brilliant and he spent a lot of time and we had great goalkeepers along the way you know we had we had um we had
Shaka come in and challenge him and then later on obviously the sheer given it was probably best school he had played with but um for a long long time was um Power was a special part of the squad couple of games at standout um I guess
For me as a fan from That season where Grimsby away when we sealed promotion and then the final game of the season at home where we played less than was six nil up at half time and uh you know two hat tricks and it was just a faultless
45 minutes I mean what’s your memories of those two particular games this you know as a fan but also as a player well in all honesty I was a fan I remember I was understand most of that season um again I took it like what was great
About Kevin was he was you wouldn’t let anything go and I’ll admit yourself you know um my early Seasons when I played Rover were brilliant but I was playing on adrenaline I didn’t really get um what it was all about and I think that season in particularly
Um I took a dip and Kevin literally sent me for the whole season back to the um to the Juniors uh I played the odd game I probably you know I didn’t even get enough to get a medal um so you know um but that was the kick of the
Ass I probably needed because I could have went one or two years that summer um I could have but what a lot of young Lads do which is just you know they just get me head down and and sort of soak and and probably go nowhere yeah
But what I did was I was lucky enough to find a block who changed my life really and changed me career and if you speak to a lot of people in different sports Johnny Wellington Sony speaker Joey Barton Danny Cipriani Jonathan Edwards Glenn McCrory you know world champions
Um thank God I found Steve black and we spent again on the ramp down there spent all summer uh me clarky the Newcastle Falcons rugby team Glenda Crowley was trading for a fight against Alex Lewis so I spent all that summer um just getting them to the best sort of
Physical shape mental shape and then you know Church would never look back from them um got in the squad for the first game against Spurs came on and relatively paid most ever played most of the seasons from then on but um if I hadn’t met Blackie you know I
Don’t know where I’d have been yeah going into the the Premier League I mean it was changing wasn’t it it had been around for a couple of seasons and and Newcastle really took it you know took the ball by the horns and made a big impression didn’t it
Started brilliantly but I think you know that that was sort of Kevin’s Mantra you know he just he made us think walking down the tunnel he just made us think that we could beat anybody he made us think oh there’s nothing to fear um and I know I lost the first game
Against Spurs I think Sharingan Squad those really tight games further at top side but we you know we we didn’t really fear anybody back then because that’s that was his real strength um looking at now with people to talk about sports psychology I think he did it
Without even doing he was doing it just because he had so much motivational power behind him behind him uh and I think you know we we were just rolled our sleeves up and we were ready to take anybody in the Premier League you mentioned it earlier as well coming back
To the club for the for the second time um how big a sign in was that for for the squad and you know just to see somebody like him coming into the into the team well I think obviously obviously now he was um again talking about we
Want to be Chris waddle in the street now I remember I was old enough to remember the the last two or three games when we got promoted you know that goal against it was a Portsmouth where he just kept dummy in the ball and the lion and then
He chipped uh Joe Corrigan against City you know he was somebody I I would have just been happy to meet let alone play alongside so when he came in as well as Kevin and and Terry um but his his they killed Klein his impact wasn’t just what you saw on the
Pitch it was in the training ground every day you know every single session would be to the max you know you’d never have a lazy day you’d never have a deer where he took his foot off the gas and he wouldn’t let anybody else in and around him
Um he was he was such a special player and he did up here but I wonder how well he’d have done without Peter alongside him um he scored some fantastic goals but Peter as well alongside him and then if he was Les or you are you asked Alan
Um do you know a lot people like that you know that nobody nobody will ever understand it Pedro’s impact there’s a couple of other places I mean the holiday doesn’t get much praise but I mean he came in and did quite well didn’t he Swiss International and and
You know certainly you know one of those players who doesn’t get I mean enough credit well no because he’s not all right came into a place well that was it you know I always I always um always end up getting it getting in somewhere and I think that was because I
Don’t think he ever completely trusts this but he was another guy really good athlete good player Philippe Alba came in roughly the same time pretty much the same time um and they just dropped the club you know they’ve got the city um and I think they were all good
Players you know Kevin would never bought somebody wasn’t a fantastic footballer um and I think back then you don’t really you don’t really do your homework as much as you do now I mean nowadays you’re looking at people’s Lifestyles you’re looking at what they like people what the family situation is like you
Know but back then it was you were just a gamble I think you just took them on have the worst players but the other real skill of getting everybody I came in just got the club in the city I remember first preseason went straight to uh went straight after the first
Preseason train session at jesmond hot Digger Alba um I know he wasn’t foreign people like that and within two or three days like we were just solid again as a group these Lads got it um and they couldn’t believe the tune by the way they just didn’t know what it did them
What was it like training in front of the supporters um Kevin you know certainly encouraged it and you know I remember the days that made in Castle going up there you know and watching the live stream and then at the end of the the training session
Kevin in system is went out and signed everything for for all the fans up there yeah I mean I don’t I don’t quite get it now I get why you can’t just open the doors freely but you know I don’t quite get how there’s such a void between players
Staff and support us you know even if it’s even if it’s once a week Universe once a month you know there has to be there has to be a chance I think that was what was great about us and that era that not even just the training but if
You finish the game you know you you’d be able to go into anywhere in town and just any of the lads would be wandering around and you’d be able to paint with them be able to chat about the game with them um there’s such a void now and I I don’t
Really I don’t understand why it’s so big Kevin just believe that the club belonged to the city and you know we we were we were employed by the by the fans really and um he wouldn’t hear of it you know if we if we had a game of golf to play after
Training and one of us trying to sneak out he’d be grabbing Us by the back of the night like your chance sign everybody’s autograph before you go anywhere and that’s why everybody you know that’s why the fans took the cabin so much because it wasn’t an act he got it
Um he was he was a man of the people and and not many press not many press would ever go against Kevin either because they were all on board as well and if it did um it was quite brutal there was nowhere back yeah no definitely talk about some
Of the the foreign imports that were brought in you’ve mentioned a few of them there Tino for example came in what was what was Taylor like in the dressing room many stories about it no uh now listen he was um he was just a one-off but again like he just um
He just got it he loved it he didn’t learn English he just he just literally on it sounds like he literally learned Jordy everything that you said in the English language was with Geordie accent he just um he came in from the first year when he
Got off the um he got off a plane and and think he’d even other glass of red waiting with Kevin when we were doing Middlesbrough and then Kevin says do you fancy going on a bench to coming on I think he twisted Steve Vick as Inside Out crossed it
Um still a lot to do by the way uh but anyway I scored that was the start of it but he was brilliant and in the early days he um in the early days he had a translator his name was Jimmy um no no sorry Jimmy was his brother uh
Sorry no it wasn’t Jimmy did Jimmy Wallace no it was um he um and he’s brilliant you should be with us at the boys club so he’s a proper lad as well but he lived in Spain for a long time so he was given the job of being
Teenos and turbo must have been hard work so it would be would be in Julie’s other night out and he’d have Chino just couldn’t say this and you’d see him wandering across like young lads green as grass wander it across you’re just seeing this you see this girl is slapping across the fence
But when he first signed he used to go remember that Metro Center he said the Warner Brothers shop that’s where he used to get all these clothes honestly you’d have a denim shirt on and you think well that’s not too bad that one today and then he’d go to the bar and
He’d have like a full cast on his back and pretty pie and a Tasmanian devil and he’s like that was fully raw but he couldn’t even talk he was and he again his parties were a different for a different era different talking he was brilliant but as a talent as a
Talent he was he was so special that the night against Barcelona you sent us it actually because I remember a few years back I’ve never actually I’ve seen all the highlights I’ve never actually seen the full game sent me the DVD and um what what’s unbelievable about that game
Is not just his heart rate but the his performance that night um I think they play the back three and he literally occupied all three he was um he was like the best center forward performance I’ve ever seen that they’re in the main update played games with Alan numerous times Wayne Rooney
Um big less Pedro but that performance was just out of this world and not just for the goals and that’s what he’s capable of but the the other side of tuna was we played West Harbor on a Saturday and he got chucked off at half time he was
Shopping and that’s and that’s that’s that’s the man that he was capable of unbelievable things but he was always God knows what he’d be doing before I’ve got a rough idea what you’ve been doing before uh before the two games well that was him unbelievable Talent okay let’s go to France dubbies David
Janella what was he like what’s it like now is that the camera right there he crept up behind us and started started cuddling us and had a good chat room and all that and the wife I know I met him before and he walked away and she just went he’s good looking
Yes yes yes there’s a good man to follow on the case side by the way if you were if him and Les were talking to a group you’d be maybe Clark would be like that for the wicked keep my gloves just something to get some Nicks
Now Les was the best player um the best player I’ve saw or the best player I’ve played with for probably six or seven months spell um he was he was six foot tombs strong as an oxy was mobile he had two feet he was in two Good Feet and he
Could go either way um didn’t know it didn’t have much going for him really and he ended up um he ended up being a defender’s nightmare because you couldn’t show him anywhere and he was for six months probably the first season really he was the best singing ever seen and then In
Fairness Kenny had a tough decision to make can he end up selling him but I do think and we all thought at the time you know we had seen the best of him I think we’ve got the stage where he wanted to be in London maybe
Um he wasn’t giving us as much I mean this is poor John Beresford like he he was doing two jobs but every time he’d mentioned the Keegan Keegan would just say Hey listen he’ll win your ball games and he loses you and that was it and he
Did but when he stopped doing that um it was you know it wasn’t he wasn’t the the player that we remember um I remember him Alan having a couple hours about you know Alan had probably seen a lot of them but once he got to play with him you know he probably
Wasn’t that standard that he used to be uh for us anyway um he had great Spells at Spurs but honestly the most talented player uh the you know the best General event best looking best as he ever seen in your life but um I do think that he had a he had that
Little shelf life he wasn’t he wasn’t one of them about you’d remember him because he couldn’t not for he wouldn’t be one of them where you think years and years he was brilliant for us but for that spell unbelievable you also mentioned Phillip Albert I mean um well
He has stories from some of the other players about him you know having a bit of a sense of humor and whatever have you got any stories about big film big Phil just like unbelievable fella uh biggest biggest pain drink I’ll ever meet in your life and bear in the mind
After a while then I’ve met a few but um Philly I remember one day he took us remember next to Civic Center I used to be exchange names loads of times but it used to be called BRX um Philip said like we’ll have a night there like
Every now and again every now and again we’d all just to say we’ll we I’ll do this for one now you do the next thing so Philip said right this is my night we’re gonna have a Belgian beer night in uh in BRX took us there Jesus Christ it
Was like I think it was Duval uh and there’s another pint called Lucifer I think of about eight and a half nine percent Philly just necking them and he just seen bodies lying around everywhere bodies lying around everywhere newcastle’s first team just laying everywhere on the city center Lawns
Throwing up in the city Clark he was lying on top of a taxi um and that was really about great great father drink I bought great footballer and he he was probably the first I think they me and bears were quite Advanced pullbacks as in we were we were
Among the first era that attacked you know I scored a few goals but I think Philly was the new breed of Center half back then um to Darren peacock something disgust and Steve Howard because Philip used to pass the ball and just follow it uh but
If you see some affiliate schools I mean everybody remembers the Manu chip but he scored he scored a call against Man City well he played about three uh three one twos and just started one in at the top and he done so he said oh let’s do that
Anymore I need 10 hours so Philip again great Center harp is a Defender but ahead of his time really as a sort of forward thinker you mentioned physically being the man who was coaching and Kevin you know being the inspirational bit of a man manager what was what was Terry Mac’s job well
Listen Terry Matt was important to Kevin and he was great around the place as I said before never our coach but never claimed to coach you know he wasn’t one of these who didn’t coach and made excuses he literally said I can’t [ __ ] coach come on Coach don’t want me badges
Um I’m a system manager and that was fair enough Kevin would take sessions the technical sessions fans would take um but Terry was so important to Kevin as was Arthur Cox arthos in there um sergeant major but he was always Kevin’s sort of go-to guy and Terry was always the guy that
Would be in the dressing room and be the guy that you know would back Kevin up and you could go and talk to Terry um granted what you said to him would definitely get a part of Kevin Lee but no Terry was important to Kevin and he
Was great great for us and and you know we all love him dearly and we wish him well because he’s not having a great time at the moment health-wise yeah yeah Kevin worries heart on his sleeve there’s two incidents which really stand out from his time as as manager at
Newcastle that first time rounding first of all is selling only cool I mean and then going out on the steps it’s in James’s Park and I explained into some supporters who who went up there why don’t it what did you think of that it was a really Brave thing to do
Um Really Brave thing to do for two selling cool he was the first thing but don’t get many managers extreme themselves to fans but that’s that’s what Kevin that’s what Kevin thought the fans he thought he’d deserve an explanation and you know he said I think
He said you know you have to trust me you have to be able to do these things and obviously got Keith for a for a bargain really in in the process um I think I’ve got to keep that move because I think he’s turned inside me it all drop and put on
The top corner so he’s got me to thank for that being a [ __ ] Defender but then you bring Les in and as I Claires give us a different type of Center forward for the Premier League movie but let’s get it right cool he didn’t do badly after I see that he’s
The second top scorer is he still second that was Harry Kane called second top scorer in Premier league history so um and you know what when you speak to Corley he had a fantastic time up here but he also was merely ready to go he loved man you you love being alongside
Yorkie that became best mate um so you know the the move arguably worked for both the other occasion of course is when you know the Newcastle United attempts to win the the Premier League started there to dip the former dip and Cameron went on TV um and gave up infamous speech would
Love it if we’ll beat them love it and you know you guys were getting back on the team coach and and you know obviously it’s repeated time and time again now what’s what was what was the what was the feeling in the dressing room the you know after that about that
He starts next week at the Live Theater yeah okay I’ll go and watch that um we didn’t know about it obviously it was a tough game I beat me into one nil and um we were getting on the coach I think the Press officer at the table was Graham Courtney
Um and I just remember like waiting on the bus for a while and I remember Graham Courtney coming on the bus and Kevin was following him and we were sitting quite close to the front I just remember Graham just sort of looking at us going so nobody knew what had happened
Um and back then we didn’t have a Sky Sports on the bus so it wasn’t until we all got to open until we understood what he’d said and then Dave batty like literally must have memorized the whole So every time Kevin come out for the next two weeks he’d just go through it all in the Walmart just like Kevin would just slap his head off you know another one you know we haven’t mentioned him unbelievable player for us David Bowie great player never you’ll never see him again right
You know he didn’t he didn’t he almost hit in football but when he played he was he was all in but you know you’d be one of them you’d turn in just before you’re going out from Weatherby do this session he’d be brilliant the minute it finished he’d be back in
His car screeching out and we’d be still playing that tennis and stuff but as a player on the pitch he was unbelievable but um but yeah he he he had an unbelievable sort of uh impression of Kevin but didn’t surprise you and nobody you know everybody just helped you love them
More because that’s him you know there was no there was no hiding for Kevin there was no there was there was no like sort of um you were never in any doubt what he thought you’d never he’d never lie you’d never have to worry about what he was
Saying and he’d just tell you that’s him and that was that was one of his huge um huge skills I think you know I think it was a big bonus I just that just shows the people he met Fergie must have been sitting in the house they just [ __ ] rubbing his
Hands thinking I’ve got him here but for us like we just thought it was a mark of a man really I guess that season you know that we didn’t win the league it was it was probably two games that stand out you know but the four three
Liverpool and then and the one nil at home I think you know what man united had some great form counting R1 Neil schmeichel stopping everything in cool but that game it’s in James’s Park was a was a key wasn’t it I think that’s something like 45 50 shots at goal and
He said every single one I put down the one thing to be honest with you Barton instead of watching the other side yeah I’d agree no um it was just yeah it was fun to those games look I’ve seen it loads of times schmeichel was the best goalkeeper I’ve ever seen um
You may all have different opinions but I bet you I bet you you probably wins a lot of votes for the best goalkeeper by Era um pull it down average finishing on the day but uh Philly put the crossbar that didn’t have a lot of chances um
He’s volleyed into the ground and it’s bounced over it was just it was one of those nights where you thought you know that that was huge that was huge and cool cool is running against us you know Ian warns at nuts Forest uh you know pulling from 35 yards
There’s nobody listen there’s nobody more disappointed at but we didn’t win it didn’t win a title than I am but when I do look back at it and I just look and I just think well over the season we played the same way um we didn’t get I don’t think we got
Any worse I just think man united well the run there went on at the very end um they deserve the winner you know should we have won it yes I think we should have won it but man united had had everyone I think they won 16 of the last 18 games we’d never
Probably did that we were just you know Manuel probably started soil and they would have done um but now this listen there’s not a day that goes by we are doing I don’t think about that we’ll finish up the first half just with Kevin’s departure I mean
How big a shot was it and how big a blow was this um you know to you in the lab didn’t see it coming you know I didn’t see it coming at all um Alan are just saying didn’t he oh well signing this summer um we’d we ran out of brilliant start
But we were more than capable of uh well we did we finish Second That season um got ourselves into Europe and our second two seasons in a row would have been a huge achievement but um and I still you know what I still sit here I
Don’t know the 100 of the real reason um Kevin’s Kevin’s never sort of said it to us despairs I don’t know if he’s ever divulging in an interview but he just kind of said I think I’ve taken as far as we can go uh obviously devastated but
Then you have to get on whether it’s a player you can’t you can’t sit and assault because there’s always a game so I think that was the New Year’s deal it was just something yeah early early January and it was um and then Kenny comes in
And again you know you don’t none of us want to lose Kevin but Kelly had won the Libra Blackburn Allen had spoken really had David Batty and Alan Shearer had spoken really high here Kenny um Kenny again from somebody from my era supporting football in the 80s another
Hired up albeit not from my team another football and Idol so you’re looking forward if Kevin’s gone you’re looking forward to the next chapter I’ve been under another Legend okay we’ll cover that in a second half for now put your hands together let’s keep watching foreign
1 Comment
Wheres the 2nd part steve ?