Ted Robledo. With the ship’s captain charged and then acquited of the murder of Ted Robledo, one of the famous Robledo Brothers who played in United’s 1951 cup winning team, no-one was to ever find out the truth of what happened to Ted that fateful night. It was 1970 when the ship set sail from Dubai enroute to one of the oil rigs in the Gulf where Ted worked after giving up football. Some claimed a fight broke out between Ted and the captain but people who knew the mild mannered Ted said that was totally out of character and they didn’t believe it. Despite several trips by his family Ted’s body was never found and the truth to this day never uncovered.
Born in Chile to an english mother and chilean father, the Robledo brothers found themselves moving to England as small children when their home sick mother moved back to the small mining town in South Yorkshire where her family lived. After playing amateur football while working down the pit, George signed professional terms with Barnsley in 1943 when he was 16. On the opening day of the postwar season George was to score a hat-trick on his league debut. (more…)
Supermac! Supermac! Found comatose and surrounded by empty whisky bottles in a bed-and-breakfast, it was a far cry from his glorious arrival at St James Park for his home debut. Then, little kids gasped as the car wheels on the white Rolls Royce came to a halt outside St James Park and they surged forward to get a better look at its passenger. Excitement filled the air at the sheer flamboyant spectacle.
It was 1971 and 21 year old Malcolm MacDonald, who was to go on to become another one of our legendary centre forwards, had arrived. A transfer from Luton Town costing an eye watering £180,000, huge money at that time, he would go on to take not only Newcastle but a lot of the country by storm.
Scoring a hat trick on his home debut against a Liverpool side which featured the young Kevin Keegan, and while attempting to go for a fourth, had a collision with the keeper which saw him being stretchered off to rapturous applause, a new Geordie hero was born. From that moment Newcastle fans adored him. (more…)
