“Jossys Giants” visit Bobby Charlton and Willie McFaul at St James’ Park – 1985.
Aye Bobby Charlton, not Jackie Charlton who had left the club as manager in the huff over player sales and such before McFaul stepped in and faced the same old problem.
After introducing the Jossy’s lads to McFaul the ex Northern Ireland goalie, Bobby then takes them through the bowels of the old St James Park, the old away dressing room with the old plunge bath, the old physio room and so on. A magical trip down Magpie memory lane. As you can see, Bobby’s no Al Pacino when it comes to acting; then again, he could probably teach Pacino a thing or two on playing against the likes of Eusebio and Beckenbauer! (more…)
30 minute Tyne Tees Television special programme from 1984, where David Burton reviews Newcastle United’s 1983-4 promotion season. Featuring Arthur Cox, Kevin Keegan, and some classic Keegan, Waddle and Beardsley goals from the days when the club had a front three that I’m sure quite a few Toon fans would happily include in their NUFC all time “Dream Team”. One telling point was the commentator looks back at when the club were ninth early in the season and had problems scoring goals, “but the signing of Tyneside born Peter Beardsley changed all that”. It certainly did. As well as being one of the club’s great goalscorers, he was also quite possibly the greatest goalmaker in the club’s history. Despite all the above though, the real star of the show for me is the old St James’ Park scoreboard with those daft little gadgies kicking a football across it.
Warning: As this is the eighties, these videos do feature lots of men running around in VERY tight shorts, and a streaker! (more…)
Shola Ameobi - A scapegoat for the ill informed?It probably hasn’t escaped your attention that Northumbria bizzies have been investigating what have been described as “sickening” racist comments about Newcastle United forward, Shola Ameobi, on Facebook.
This comes after recent similar comments about his younger brother and teammate Sammy Ameobi on Twitter. However unlike the case of Ameobi jnr which just seemed to come out of the blue, the Shola case has come on the back of an existing campaign of vilification of the striker from some Newcastle United fans for what they perceive as poor performances. Whilst racism is undoubetedly an awful thing, some of the highly personal attacks which preceded this development have at times tried their hardest to stoop to the same level of nastiness without being overtly racist. Many other stories have already concentrated on the alleged verbal racist attacks though, so I will concentrate instead on the anti Ameobi hysteria which has quite possibly led us to this sad state of affairs. Some of them have been so venomous that sadly it was probably inevitable that it would spill over into racism eventually. (more…)
I hope they aren't the player's wives and girlfriends Alan!A report in yesterday’s “People” newspaper contains pictures and an account of Newcastle United’s Tenerife trip last week, as Alan Pardew and his squad prepared for last Saturday’s ill fated FA Cup clash with Brighton.
It contains a bawdy tale of late night binge drinking and €20 lap dancers as Pardew and the players celebrated Steven Taylor’s 26th birthday party at “Lineker’s Bar” on the island.
Before embarking on the trip, Pardew told the media:
“If I am honest it is not a work situation and a case of making the players work hard and run. It’s a breather. We will have a rest and a chat and socialise a little bit.
“We will obviously do some training and hopefully be refreshed for Brighton. Don’t get me wrong, we won’t be drinking but it is a kind of ‘let’s see where we are’ and analyse everything. We will enjoy each other’s company and hopefully stay tight until the end.”(more…)
Vertonghen: Top notch but will be £10 million+.Of all the defensive targets (allegedly) pursued by Newcastle United, Ajax’s 24 year old Belgian defender and captain, Jan Vertonghen, is by far the most interesting proposition.
At a potential cost that will almost certainly be over £10 million, along with the abilty to command a Coloccini sized salary package he should be really. However, despite another thing being almost certain, that he will also be pursued by other clubs (most with more “clout” than Newcastle United too), he’s still the one that Alan Pardew should really push the boat out for. After taking my advice from last year telling him to stop messing around with forwards such as Modibo Maiga and buy Papiss Cisse instead, and also to stop being silly and put Hatem Ben Arfa back on the flank, hopefully the Silver Supremo will heed my sage advice once more!
Cultured, powerful, versatile, attacking…
Jan Vertonghen first came on to my radar quite some time ago when Johan Cruyff named him as his favourite Ajax player in the current squad. When the greatest Dutch master of them all says something like that I tend to listen, and look. After watching a few Ajax games I could see why. (more…)
