Here at The Mag we invited a number of regular/irregular contributors to give us their Newcastle United heroes and villains.
Our thanks to Tony Mallabar for taking up the challenge.
Tony has looked back at his Newcastle United heroes and villains across the various decades when he has been supporting NUFC.
So, back in 1977 a young Mallabar was living a contented life as an eight year old kid with a mam and dad plus a little brother.
But I always felt something was missing from my life.
You see, every Saturday we were loaded up into the Robin Reliant and off to visit nana and grandad Tommy. Except every other Saturday grandad Tommy would be missing because he had something called a season ticket, for the old West stand. When he returned home after teatime he would tell me all about him going to “THE MATCH”.
Tales of previous seasons would have me listening intently (he was of the opinion that Len White was a much better player than wor Jackie).
Now my dad was always a fan who infrequently went to games but since me and wor kid came along he was definitely a grafter and a family man. But after much badgering on October 8th 1977 he took me and wor kid to our first game against Derby County, lost 2-1 and I was hooked.
I remember the smells ( Condor cigars), men swearing and how green the pitch was. In later years he tells the story of how when we got home from the game my mum asked how were the bairns and he said all wor kid did was ask for a hot dog/ hamburger, whilst our Tony was completely transfixed by the action on the pitch.
So I guess my first Newcastle United hero was Micky Burns (just because of the song, I’d never heard so many men swear in unison singing a song before).
Villain of the 70s for me was Gary Rowell. When they beat us 4-1 I was at my nana and grandad’s and a neighbour had put a village of the damned scarf up in their bay window and as a nine year old I cried all the way home and got sent to my room because my mum took umbrage when I asked her if I could go and put their windows out.
Cult hero of the 70s for me was definitely Alan Shoulder, imagine now going from non-league straight into the Championship.
As for a not so obvious villain I would say Richard Dinnis, don’t know why but every adult supporting toon fan I knew seemed to hate him.
The 1980s
Into the 80s and as I got older I was desperate to go to games on my own and finally when I was 13 my parents agreed, so come my birthday I was at the ticket office and for the price of £25 I was a proud owner of a season ticket in the East stand.
So Newcastle United hero of the 80s, only one man need apply for that position, KING KEV, as a 13 year old kid watching him emerge from the tunnel in front of 36,185 fans still remains my favourite ever toon game and that includes beating luckypool in the League Cup final.
Cult hero of the 1980s has to be John Trewick, only because later on in the 80s I went out with his cousin.
Villain of the 80s is Jack Charlton, totally destroyed everything Arthur Cox had achieved.
Not so obvious villain of the 80s is the bloke who invented them daft Celtic/Rangers hats.
The 1990s.
Hero of the 90s was the six of us fans who decided that an offer from this mackem we knew to sit in the Clock stand (O’Brien free-kick game) because sunlun had some geet ard fans and you wouldn’t dare spout your Geordie sh… to these lads. I will let you guess which way it went that day.
Cult hero can only be one player, Peter Beardsley. When he returned from the scouse mackems I thought he could never live up to the player that left…WRONG…he was Lionel Messi before Maradona. Just watch his goal vs Pompey away and it will all make sense.
Villain of the 90s. Fat Fred and lugless Douglas.
No so obvious Villain of the 90s, whoever was in charge of the security for Luchese away in the Anglo Italian cup. It was looking well dodgy after the game with the Panthers Front waiting for us after the game and we asked could we jump a lift on the team bus, only to be told that you should have come on the official trip so make your own way back to Pisa. Luckily for us the Panthers Front only wanted to swap badges, not punches.
The 2000s
Hero has to be Sir Bobby.
Issue 179 – 20 March 2004
Cult hero? My grandad Tommy who sadly passed away in this decade but still had season ticket only three years before he passed.
Villain would be Johnny Hall for all the great work he undone when selling to you know who because his son and doylem mate wasted all the cash.
Not so obvious villain is Shay Given who left us in our hour of need and now on TV playing the plastic Geordie card.
The 2010s
I cannot really remember much of this decade as I was fulfilling one of my lifetime ambitions of becoming a 7am Oranjeboom 8.5 % on the cornflakes alcoholic and keeping Pablo Escobar in the luxurious lifestyle he was used to.
The 2020s
Well we finally got rid of the FCB and we have Amanda Staveley to thank for that.
Cult hero could be Bruno, Isak, Tonali or Gordon but unfortunately they decided to become rats, so step up Dan Burn.
I know The Mag only asked for one mention per category over the years but Mike Ashley deserves his own special place in toon hell. The way he ran our club into the ground makes me genuinely feel like did he find a two billion pound note on the street and that’s how you got his fortune? He also let the best manager we’ve ever had walk (Rafa is a Geordie).