Class of 1993: What happened to them? The other day I wrote an article debating which team would come out on top in a match between the promotion side of 1993 and the promotion side of 2010.
The response was mixed, although the poll is still open, and opinion was pretty evenly split when deciding just which team is stronger and what the outcome would be. Would the attacking style that started to show itself back then triumph over the rock solid, never-say-die attitude of today’s team? Plenty of debate took place amidst an awful lot of reminiscing. However, that got me thinking about what happened to some of that team from 1993?
It is well known what happened with some of the team, especially the likes of Rob Lee, Andy Cole, and Lee Clark, but what about the rest? Is 17 years enough time to forget just how the careers of those players panned out after leaving us? I thought I would track back and take a look at the fortunes of some of the players and just what twist their career path took after 1993. (more…)
Kelly - Could he come back to haunt us?Monday nights game against Nottingham Forest will see one former Toon player coming back to his old stomping ground and hoping to make a dent in his old teams promotion charge. David Kelly, now assistant manager at Forest is targetting Monday evening as the game he believes will end the myth of Forest being in poor form away from home.
Kelly was an integral part of the last Newcastle side that won promotion back in 1993 and ended that season as the clubs top scorer with 25 goals to his name, not to mention the season before when he traded in the surroundings of Filbert Street and Leicester City for the bright lights of Newcastle, a club that were embroiled deep in a relegation battle to stay in the division. He scored 10 goals in the remainder of his first season with us and helped the club avoid a drop into the 3rd tier of English football. A very undervalued player nowadays as people look back at players like Beardsley, Cole, Lee, and with good reason, but his 1 goal every 2 appearances should not be forgotten. Without them who knows where we would be? (more…)
David Kelly last time round.Looking back at 1993 and seeing the likes of David Kelly, Rob Lee, Scott Sellars securing promotion to the Premier League and the joy that it brought to tens of thousands of people is something that I will always remember fondly.
The party atmosphere as Kevin Keegan took an unfancied team that flirted with relegation the season before, into the promised land of the still new Premier League is something I remember vividly, even being only 12 years old at the time.
A young, attacking team playing some attractive football took the Premier League by surprise. After a shaky start the team ended up 3rd in their first season. An outstanding achievement with players that were again unfancied. Performances on the pitch were matched with development off the pitch as St James’ Park grew, eventually into what we have today. The rest, as they say, is history. (more…)
