We have invited a number of regular/irregular contributors to give us their Newcastle United heroes and villains.
Our thanks to The Armchair Fan for taking up the challenge.
He has focused on the Newcastle United heroes and villains of the 1990s in this piece.
Newcastle United Hero of the 1990s
So many options!
I was lucky enough to start really following the club as a ten-year-old in the mid-nineties, there were so many heroes and all have a special place in my heart. Keegan, Shearer, Ferdinand, Ginola, Rob Lee, Peter Beardsley, the list just goes on and on.
There is one special occasion however that will forever be a golden memory of mine. On September 17th 1997, I attended my fourth ever match as a starry-eyed eleven-year-old to watch United do battle with Catalan giants Barcelona. I attended the match proudly kitted out in my favourite birthday present, a brand new NUFC shirt with Asprilla 11 on the back.
Newcastle were supposed to be there just to make up the numbers against such illustrious opponents. Every single player however contributed to a superb 3-2 victory for the black and whites but one man really was unplayable that night. Tino scored an incredible hat-trick (one penalty and two headers) to put the Toon 3-0 up as we threatened to run riot. My hero of the nineties therefore is Tino Asprilla.
Newcastle United cult hero of the 1990s
Most of our signings in the summer of 1997 failed to hit the ground running as NUFC endured an alarming slump from being Premier League runners up to relegation candidates in the space of one disastrous season.
One man however developed the rather pleasing habit of scoring last minute-goals. Late strikes against Leeds and Southampton were heartily enjoyed by fans whilst an injury time winner against Bolton was exuberantly celebrated by the man himself, who went absolutely bonkers when kicking seven bells out of the advertising hoardings before throwing his shirt into the crowd and having to be restrained by bemused teammates. My personal favourite memory of Kets however came in the one-hundred and twentieth minute of a Champions League qualifier away at Croatia Zagreb. With the tie looming towards a dreaded penalty shootout, great work from David Batty and Tino Asprilla set up Ketsbaia to net his first goal for the club with the last kick of the match to send the small pocket of away fans utterly delirious, Great stuff! My cult hero of the nineties is Temuri Ketsbaia.
Issue 119 – January 1999
Newcastle United villain of the 1990s
Kenny Dalglish seemed a superb appointment when replacing special K as manager in January 1997.
Things started relatively well with the Toon finishing second in the league on the last day of the season to qualify for the Champions League. Unfortunately, that summer saw a complete dismantling of Keegan’s entertainers with Ginola, Clark, Beardsley and Elliott all being sold. This pales into insignificance however compared to, what I maintain is, the worst footballing decision the club has made in my lifetime.
Sir Les Ferdinand had scored fifty goals in just two seasons at NUFC and was universally adored by all members of the Toon Army. He made it clear that he never wanted to leave. His sale to Tottenham was atrocious business, typically coming on the same weekend Shearer picked up a serious injury in a friendly at Goodison Park and was ruled out for months, wrecking the season before it had even begun. The Toon only survived relegation by four points and Dalglish left at the start of the following season, none of which would have happened with Sir Les leading the line. My villain of the nineties is Kenny Dalglish.
Newcastle United not so obvious villain of the 1990s
Serge Muhmenthale.
Ten points for anyone who knows who on earth I’m talking about!
When Newcastle United kicked off against Metz in a third round Uefa Cup (second leg) tie in December 1996, we were safe in the knowledge that our away goal in a 1-1 draw in the first leg had given us a huge advantage in the tie.
Despite this, a nervy United survived three separate golden chances for the French club as they threatened to knock us out of Europe. Newcastle were desperate for a goal to ease the anxiety and in the eighty-first minute Darren Peacock chested the ball down and smacked it across the face of goal for Asprilla to nod a header into the bottom corner.
All very well, you may say but where does this villain fit in? Well when Asprilla wheeled away, ripped his top off, uprooted the corner flag and used the two items to fashion a makeshift Toon army flag, the unimpressed referee (a certain Serge Muhmenthale) yellow carded our Colombian hero. This booking meant that my favourite player would be suspended for my first ever live match, a quarter-final first leg against Monaco. Tino’s suspension was compounded by injuries to Alan Shearer and Sir Les, meaning a toothless United suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat on their way to exiting the competition. My not so obvious villain of the nineties is the grumpy, humourless Serge Muhmenthale (and his needless yellow card).