A number of regular/irregular contributors to The Mag were invited to give us their Newcastle United heroes and villains.
Our thanks to The Armchair Fan for taking up this challenge.
He has focused on the Newcastle United heroes and villains of the 2000s in this piece.
Newcastle United Hero of the 2000s
I think this is an easy one.
Signing for NUFC in 1996, Alan Shearer spent ten years in a black and white shirt, culminating in three very special matches that all took place in 2006.
The first of this trio came on the 7th January 2006 during an FA encounter at home to Mansfield Town. The tie was drifting toward an eminently forgettable (and goalless) conclusion until Albert Luque backheeled the ball to Mr Shearer at the Gallowgate End to smack home the winner as we saw off the League Two side despite looking second-best throughout. Under normal circumstances, this would have been a run-of-mill cup tie barely remembered by most people there. This match however was special as Shearer’s goal was his two-hundredth for the club, not only a landmark strike but also a record-equalling one as he tied with the late, great Jackie Milburn as NUFC’s greatest ever goalscorer.
The second of these three matches came on 4th February 2006 when the record was broken. I was lucky enough to be in the stadium with my best mate Lewis when Shearer raced through and buried an effort to put us 2-0 against Portsmouth to become the highest scorer in NUFC history. The whole ground went wild celebrating an absolutely iconic moment. This would have surely been enough for hero status but didn’t I say there were three matches!? I certainly did.
April 17th 2006 saw the Toon go behind enemy lines for a crucial derby match against arch-rivals Sunderland. This proved to be Shearer’s final ever match for Newcastle, we were chasing three crucial points as we progressed towards European qualification whilst the Mackems had failed to win a home match all season and were desperate to salvage a sliver of pride on their way to yet another relegation. The first half was an uncomfortable affair for the away fans as the red and whites took a deserved lead into the break. Thankfully Glenn Roeder inspired his team to a second-half comeback, Michael Chopra scored only twelve seconds after coming on as a substitute and, just one minute later, Shearer smashed home a penalty to make it 2-1. He was injured soon after but goals from Charles N’Zogbia and Albert Luque sealed an incredible 4-1 win that was celebrated long into the night. My hero of the 2000s is the one and only Alan Shearer.
Newcastle United cult hero of the 2000s
Dr Richard Steadman.
When the above Mr Shearer was injured in 2001, he’d scored less than one-hundred NUFC goals and was struggling for both form and fitness under Sir Bobby Robson. He missed the vast majority of the 00/01 season and scored a paltry seven goals in total. He flew to America to see this specialist doctor who worked on his knee and Shearer returned firing on all cylinders the next season as Sir Bobby inspired United to a top four finish and a place in the Champions League. None of this would have been possible without my cult hero Dr Richard Steadman, who also worked hard a few years later trying to heal Michael Owen towards full fitness…I said he was a doctor, not a miracle worker!
Newcastle United villain of the 2000s
Mike Ashley, an incredibly easy choice.
His crimes against NUFC are well documented and thankfully his reign of terror has now been consigned to the history books.
I’ve chosen him for this decade because he joined the club in 2007 but he could quite easily be the villain of the next as well.
Forcing Kevin Keegan out, disrespecting Alan Shearer, overseeing two relegations, getting rid of Chris Hughton, renaming the stadium, using the club for free advertising of his other businesses, playing weakened cup teams, wanting the Toon to finish seventeenth every season, losing Rafa Benitez, causing fans to boycott, the list goes on and on! He’s not just my villain of the 2000s, he’s my villain of all time. Good riddance!
Newcastle United not so obvious villain of the 2000s
On 24th May 2009, Newcastle United were relegated to the second tier of English football after sixteen years in the Premier League.
Our demotion was confirmed at Villa park, where NUFC fittingly scored an own goal in a 1-0 defeat. The not so obvious villain wasn’t the manager or the players but the fans of the opposition. Aston Villa were a club that we’d never had a problem with, despite this their fans went out of their way to goad and abuse travelling Newcastle supporters with some even spending their time writing slogans on bedsheets mocking the plight of NUFC. This was a bizarre overreaction to a situation that didn’t concern them and has not been forgotten with Aston Villa fans being given a rough ride by Toon followers on a number of occasions since, not least when we hammered them 6-0 in 2010, our first home match as we returned to the Premier League. My not so obvious villain of the 2000s is Aston Villa fans.