A bunch of zombies causing a plague of rage across the North East? Yep, it must be July 1997, “King Kenny”, and the worst transfer business of modern times
If I remember rightly, they tried to tempt Bobby Robson from Barcelona but he wouldn't renege on his contract so we ended up with Dalglish instead. A sliding doors moment, imagine what Bobby would have done with that team? Ironically, the Barca chairman did the dirty on Bobby the following season.
We went from sublime to absolute dog shit in about 6 months.
If only Sir Bobby hadn't been such of a gentleman that he felt he owed loyalty to Barcelona (who then royally shafted him) I really think we could have won the league with Keegan's team and sir Bobby...
Awful, absolutely awful. After we blew the League in '96, standing watching the start of The Riot of Bigg Market after the last day game, I recall looking on, thinking: 'well, we were that close, we'll definitely win something next year, even if it is JUST a cup'. By the end of the next Summer, as you tragically lament above, such thoughts returned to their place as pipe-dreams (even though twice, we were just 90 minutes away from an FA Cup). Listed as you do above, that amount and type of 'business' was criminal, recklessly criminal. Ginola - £2million sold, idiocy, local lads ditched too, for a pittance, for a bunch of Euro-crap and has-beens. Terrible.
I always thought it was so bloody unfair that we reached the cup final under those managers and with those teams, not the one of the previous couple of years! The draw we got after Everton in 1997 was unbelievably favourable!
Smashing article Mathew despite the subject matter.
However I also remember that cross field pass to Ginola. My recollection of it is that it was his debut and the ball was hoofed over from our right back position to Ginola on the left wing halfway or so in the Leazes end, a good forty yards or so, and he simply collected it and moved on down the wing as if the ball had been gently rolled to him from a few feet away.
Not sure about the debut bit mind but it was pure class. I still rate him as one of the best left wingers I’ve seen in a NUFC strip. Come to think of I can only think of one other.
Yeah, I really struggled to remember which match. I've got a 1-0 in my head, against Arsenal or Boro. I've not checked whether that fits any actual matches at all!
That was such a dire period I almost buried it so deep in my mind to have forgotten how absolutely awful it was. I'd been such a big admirer of Dalgleish the player too.
Ha! Funnily enough I also really admired him as a player when I was younger. It's said, of course, that the trauma of Hillsborough changed him. Maybe there's something in that.
Magnificent recollection of that dark period. Dalglish acted like a bitter man who hated Keegan’s legacy. And boy, how he systematically dismantled it completely
I was a grown man in my late 20's and still wept the day we sold Sir Les. It brought back the trauma of when Gordon Lee sold SuperMac to Arsenal and my late-father's rant! He hated Lee, who he called "Martian Heed" as he thought he looked like the Mekon. I cannot print what I said about Dalglish they day he peddled Sir Les and claimed it was "good business" for a player his age only to bring in three members of the Dad's Army and his gormless son playing the part of Pike.
Great piece, Matt. Goodness knows what trophies we might have won if Dalglish hadn’t sold the Crown Jewels, thereby destroying our team. His daughter, Kelly, is however a different matter. She genuinely has a great deal of affection for the club. As for 28 Years Later… that’s a must see film!
Aye, Des Hamilton, Garry Brady (for Ginola!!!), Brian Pinas (ooh err missus), etc.
I will credit him with Given and (I think?) Solano - but my God he utterly dismantled a team of stars and replaced them with dross. I was at the Leeds game at Elland Rd when we got stuffed 4 - 1 and it was, as you rightly referred to it in the article, as football "attrition". Sat behind me on the day was Robbie Elliott. He'd broken a leg at Bolton and was in in a cast and crutches. I looked round at him late on in the game and he just looked down at the ground, shaking his head.
Mad-Dog Ketsbaia was the only player who showed any positive intent on venturing into the Leeds half - he was rewarded for such recklessness by being hooked at half-time.
Have lost count of the number of times I've said to myself "if only Bobby Robson had succeeded Keegan . . . "
Excellent piece, Matt. My first game at SJP was the bonfire night game against PSV. Had been trying to get tickets for years, reading this reminds me how / why I got one!
It might seem strange now, but pre-transfer windows players could leave or sign for anyone any day. Hence the sheer number of players that would flow through Dalglish or Gullit’s squads in about two years apiece!
I’ve always been a slight apologist for Kenny. Yeah he signed Giorgio Georgiadis (another one for the list) and all the other useless players being mentioned here, but he also signed Given, Dabizas, Speed, Solano, Ketsbaia. Also Glass, Pearce and Barnes hardly let the club down like. Pearce was my favourite Newcastle player for a while there. And Tomasson was certainly worth a punt as he went on to prove with Milan.
I suppose he’ll be remembered for the sales of Ginola and Tino, but remember Tino played the best football of his career under Dalglish, and, I love them both to bits, but neither one them was quite as heroic in their twenties as revisionism paints them. Check out the bench-bound Tino’s lack of celebration behind Keegan during Howay 5-0.
Look I think Kenny was a crap manager but his transfer record is at worst mixed. It kinda stands up next to Bobby’s, if I may commit further heresy there! Gullit’s transfer record was much worse (Dyer apart really).
Really interesting view, Neil, and you're definitely right on quite a few points, especially the romanticisation of Ginola and Asprilla (although what's football for if not that!) and the decent signings he did make.
But he spent a lot in net terms and ended up with a much weaker squad. Tomasson was absolutely worth a punt, but as I say, his potential was squandered. No point in buying young overseas players if you haven't got the skills or set-up to nurture and develop them. Andersson and Guivarc'h didn't come cheap and they were shite.
But as much as anything, for me it was the way he sucked the joy out of the club. Oh and I hate Souness more.
Yeah. I agree that he did suck the joy out of the club. Who inevitably wouldn’t following Kev! We did all think it was onwards and upwards, maybe a touch more pragmatic, at the time of his appointment. I’m picturing the signings he did make, rather than his dour style. The best of those signings (the ones I’ve mentioned) were playing in the Champions’ League literally five years later under Robson and would make a lot of fans’ all-time teams. Tin hat off:)
Totally agree about Souey. Most of his transfer activity seemed to be odd-looking ‘deals’. His only saving grace on the transfer front was signing Emre. I dunno if I’d wanna get stuck in a pub conversation with Emre (if you know what I mean!:) but I loved him as a player. He said on the quick interviews on MOTD after he’d scored the free-kick in the derby, “I’ve played in Istanbul and Milan derbies, but I’ve never heard anything like this.” This is pre-everything-being-recorded, so I just remember watching it on me little telly. Absolutely true.
You’re absolutely right, what is it all for if not romance? I’m just worried I sounded a bit of a miserable sod there. I still can’t think of a footballer who was quite like Tino. His unpredictably always gets mentioned, but he was not willowy, I’d forgotten he was strong as an ox as well. He lead the line once Shearer was injured and Ferdinand sold. We barely saw them together, unfortunately.
After the experience of having a football team that others envied we were brought down to earth in technicolour and we were dragged into the darkness. On hearing that Dalglish had been appointed I thought, misguidedly, that we would enjoy business as usual. As a manager, Dalglish had won the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers, a side that contained Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton. Unfortunately for us that was the highlight of Dalglish's managerial career and the beginning of the Babylonian exile for us. We saw some crowd favourites including Ginola, Ferdinand and Asprilla heading out of the door while Newcastle United seemed to be a landfill site for ex-Liverpool players with a rotund John Barnes and the antique Ian Rush being dumped on our doorstep. Initially, Dalglish survived because he inherited Keegan's team but once he had replaced them with his own selections the rot set in quickly. Very early into the 1998-99 season Dalglish ran out of rope and walked the plank. But, by that time, the damage had been done and we were forced to endure Ruud Gullit's "sexy football" until September 1999 when Bobby Robson arrived to drag us out of the morass. Newcastle United requires a manager with charisma: a man who is at one with the supporters Keegan had it, Robson had it, Benitez had it and Eddie Howe has it. These managers have to enjoy strong support from those senior to them in the hierarchy. Amanda Stavely understood that completely and it's to be hoped that our current owners understand that important element.
I was a grown man in my late 20's and still wept the day we sold Sir Les. It brought back the trauma of when Gordon Lee sold SuperMac to Arsenal and my late-father's rant! He hated Lee, who he called "Martian Heed" as he thought he looked like the Mekon. I cannot print what I said about Dalglish they day he peddled Sir Les and claimed it was "good business" for a player his age only to bring in three members of the Dad's Army and his gormless son playing the part of Pike.
Was this the summer we bought des Hamilton? Utter shite he was
Checked and it was March 97
Don't forget Brian Pinas!
He was in the first draft! Had to cut it down! He's the 18 in the list of ages in the final piece.
If I remember rightly, they tried to tempt Bobby Robson from Barcelona but he wouldn't renege on his contract so we ended up with Dalglish instead. A sliding doors moment, imagine what Bobby would have done with that team? Ironically, the Barca chairman did the dirty on Bobby the following season.
Yes, that's right, Dean, or at least that's what's said.
1997, the year the entire club lost its marbles and the inspiration for ‘How to lose friends and alienate people’.
Absolutely DETEST that bloke.
I remember it only too well!!
We went from sublime to absolute dog shit in about 6 months.
If only Sir Bobby hadn't been such of a gentleman that he felt he owed loyalty to Barcelona (who then royally shafted him) I really think we could have won the league with Keegan's team and sir Bobby...
Awful, absolutely awful. After we blew the League in '96, standing watching the start of The Riot of Bigg Market after the last day game, I recall looking on, thinking: 'well, we were that close, we'll definitely win something next year, even if it is JUST a cup'. By the end of the next Summer, as you tragically lament above, such thoughts returned to their place as pipe-dreams (even though twice, we were just 90 minutes away from an FA Cup). Listed as you do above, that amount and type of 'business' was criminal, recklessly criminal. Ginola - £2million sold, idiocy, local lads ditched too, for a pittance, for a bunch of Euro-crap and has-beens. Terrible.
I always thought it was so bloody unfair that we reached the cup final under those managers and with those teams, not the one of the previous couple of years! The draw we got after Everton in 1997 was unbelievably favourable!
Agree. And the opposition we faced chasing a double or a treble.
Very true. As soon as we went a goal behind we all knew we had absolutely no chance of coming back.
The sums involved really do hark back to a different time.
Smashing article Mathew despite the subject matter.
However I also remember that cross field pass to Ginola. My recollection of it is that it was his debut and the ball was hoofed over from our right back position to Ginola on the left wing halfway or so in the Leazes end, a good forty yards or so, and he simply collected it and moved on down the wing as if the ball had been gently rolled to him from a few feet away.
Not sure about the debut bit mind but it was pure class. I still rate him as one of the best left wingers I’ve seen in a NUFC strip. Come to think of I can only think of one other.
Yeah, I really struggled to remember which match. I've got a 1-0 in my head, against Arsenal or Boro. I've not checked whether that fits any actual matches at all!
That was such a dire period I almost buried it so deep in my mind to have forgotten how absolutely awful it was. I'd been such a big admirer of Dalgleish the player too.
Thanks Matt! Not
Ha! Funnily enough I also really admired him as a player when I was younger. It's said, of course, that the trauma of Hillsborough changed him. Maybe there's something in that.
Magnificent recollection of that dark period. Dalglish acted like a bitter man who hated Keegan’s legacy. And boy, how he systematically dismantled it completely
I was a grown man in my late 20's and still wept the day we sold Sir Les. It brought back the trauma of when Gordon Lee sold SuperMac to Arsenal and my late-father's rant! He hated Lee, who he called "Martian Heed" as he thought he looked like the Mekon. I cannot print what I said about Dalglish they day he peddled Sir Les and claimed it was "good business" for a player his age only to bring in three members of the Dad's Army and his gormless son playing the part of Pike.
10/10 for the headline pmsl
Great piece, Matt. Goodness knows what trophies we might have won if Dalglish hadn’t sold the Crown Jewels, thereby destroying our team. His daughter, Kelly, is however a different matter. She genuinely has a great deal of affection for the club. As for 28 Years Later… that’s a must see film!
Aye, Des Hamilton, Garry Brady (for Ginola!!!), Brian Pinas (ooh err missus), etc.
I will credit him with Given and (I think?) Solano - but my God he utterly dismantled a team of stars and replaced them with dross. I was at the Leeds game at Elland Rd when we got stuffed 4 - 1 and it was, as you rightly referred to it in the article, as football "attrition". Sat behind me on the day was Robbie Elliott. He'd broken a leg at Bolton and was in in a cast and crutches. I looked round at him late on in the game and he just looked down at the ground, shaking his head.
Mad-Dog Ketsbaia was the only player who showed any positive intent on venturing into the Leeds half - he was rewarded for such recklessness by being hooked at half-time.
Have lost count of the number of times I've said to myself "if only Bobby Robson had succeeded Keegan . . . "
Excellent piece, Matt. My first game at SJP was the bonfire night game against PSV. Had been trying to get tickets for years, reading this reminds me how / why I got one!
It might seem strange now, but pre-transfer windows players could leave or sign for anyone any day. Hence the sheer number of players that would flow through Dalglish or Gullit’s squads in about two years apiece!
I’ve always been a slight apologist for Kenny. Yeah he signed Giorgio Georgiadis (another one for the list) and all the other useless players being mentioned here, but he also signed Given, Dabizas, Speed, Solano, Ketsbaia. Also Glass, Pearce and Barnes hardly let the club down like. Pearce was my favourite Newcastle player for a while there. And Tomasson was certainly worth a punt as he went on to prove with Milan.
I suppose he’ll be remembered for the sales of Ginola and Tino, but remember Tino played the best football of his career under Dalglish, and, I love them both to bits, but neither one them was quite as heroic in their twenties as revisionism paints them. Check out the bench-bound Tino’s lack of celebration behind Keegan during Howay 5-0.
Look I think Kenny was a crap manager but his transfer record is at worst mixed. It kinda stands up next to Bobby’s, if I may commit further heresy there! Gullit’s transfer record was much worse (Dyer apart really).
Right, where’s me tin hat?:)
Really interesting view, Neil, and you're definitely right on quite a few points, especially the romanticisation of Ginola and Asprilla (although what's football for if not that!) and the decent signings he did make.
But he spent a lot in net terms and ended up with a much weaker squad. Tomasson was absolutely worth a punt, but as I say, his potential was squandered. No point in buying young overseas players if you haven't got the skills or set-up to nurture and develop them. Andersson and Guivarc'h didn't come cheap and they were shite.
But as much as anything, for me it was the way he sucked the joy out of the club. Oh and I hate Souness more.
Yeah. I agree that he did suck the joy out of the club. Who inevitably wouldn’t following Kev! We did all think it was onwards and upwards, maybe a touch more pragmatic, at the time of his appointment. I’m picturing the signings he did make, rather than his dour style. The best of those signings (the ones I’ve mentioned) were playing in the Champions’ League literally five years later under Robson and would make a lot of fans’ all-time teams. Tin hat off:)
Totally agree about Souey. Most of his transfer activity seemed to be odd-looking ‘deals’. His only saving grace on the transfer front was signing Emre. I dunno if I’d wanna get stuck in a pub conversation with Emre (if you know what I mean!:) but I loved him as a player. He said on the quick interviews on MOTD after he’d scored the free-kick in the derby, “I’ve played in Istanbul and Milan derbies, but I’ve never heard anything like this.” This is pre-everything-being-recorded, so I just remember watching it on me little telly. Absolutely true.
You’re absolutely right, what is it all for if not romance? I’m just worried I sounded a bit of a miserable sod there. I still can’t think of a footballer who was quite like Tino. His unpredictably always gets mentioned, but he was not willowy, I’d forgotten he was strong as an ox as well. He lead the line once Shearer was injured and Ferdinand sold. We barely saw them together, unfortunately.
And being a miserable sod is definitely my job around here!
After the experience of having a football team that others envied we were brought down to earth in technicolour and we were dragged into the darkness. On hearing that Dalglish had been appointed I thought, misguidedly, that we would enjoy business as usual. As a manager, Dalglish had won the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers, a side that contained Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton. Unfortunately for us that was the highlight of Dalglish's managerial career and the beginning of the Babylonian exile for us. We saw some crowd favourites including Ginola, Ferdinand and Asprilla heading out of the door while Newcastle United seemed to be a landfill site for ex-Liverpool players with a rotund John Barnes and the antique Ian Rush being dumped on our doorstep. Initially, Dalglish survived because he inherited Keegan's team but once he had replaced them with his own selections the rot set in quickly. Very early into the 1998-99 season Dalglish ran out of rope and walked the plank. But, by that time, the damage had been done and we were forced to endure Ruud Gullit's "sexy football" until September 1999 when Bobby Robson arrived to drag us out of the morass. Newcastle United requires a manager with charisma: a man who is at one with the supporters Keegan had it, Robson had it, Benitez had it and Eddie Howe has it. These managers have to enjoy strong support from those senior to them in the hierarchy. Amanda Stavely understood that completely and it's to be hoped that our current owners understand that important element.
I was a grown man in my late 20's and still wept the day we sold Sir Les. It brought back the trauma of when Gordon Lee sold SuperMac to Arsenal and my late-father's rant! He hated Lee, who he called "Martian Heed" as he thought he looked like the Mekon. I cannot print what I said about Dalglish they day he peddled Sir Les and claimed it was "good business" for a player his age only to bring in three members of the Dad's Army and his gormless son playing the part of Pike.