We invited some regular/irregular contributors to The Mag to select 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 2010s in this piece.
Newcastle United hero of the 2010s
Chris Hughton had the seemingly impossible task of achieving promotion to the Premier League in the 2009/10 season. He did an amazing job, when many felt him destined to fail, only losing four matches throughout the entire campaign.
Newcastle went up as champions in 2010 and enjoyed a superb start to the following season. Before December we’d enjoyed fine away wins at Everton and Arsenal as well as hammering Aston Villa and of course demolishing the Mackems 5-1 on one of the most glorious days of our Premier League history.
Disgracefully, Chris was suddenly sacked in December 2010 by Mike Ashley despite having done a sterling job in very difficult circumstances and having guided Newcastle not only to promotion but also to mid-table stability in the Premier League. He always conducted himself with a calm dignity even when treated appallingly and for that reason my hero of this decade is Chris Hughton.
Newcastle United cult hero of the 2010s
I can’t be the only Newcastle United fan thinking we only signed Ryan Taylor to stop him scoring against us!
When he signed for NUFC in January 2009, he’d only scored six career goals and incredibly four of those came against United in four straight games, all in draws or defeats for the black and whites. This free-kick specialist never tired of scoring against the Toon but thankfully took this habit to St James’ Park where he netted a string of important and impressive strikes. Memorable efforts include goals against Crystal Palace, Ipswich, Coventry and Preston in the Championship and a superb long range goal against Everton that was voted goal of the month. His one unforgettable moment in a black and white shirt came on enemy territory in Aug 2011 when Taylor gloriously curled home a free-kick to win the derby against the mackems in a victory that was celebrated long into the night.
Newcastle United villain of the 2010s
It’s easy to forget that the 2013/14 season was very close to going swimmingly, but for the behaviour of one player, who not only damaged our start to the season but also dismantled the campaign halfway through.
Yohan Cabaye refused to play the first two matches due to having his head turned by a bid from Arsenal, a move that he ultimately didn’t make. He was then booed onto the pitch in the third game of the season by the Toon Army who refused to forgive his lack of loyalty. Incredibly, he managed to turn things around and get back into favour with fans after a series of inspirational performances saw us climb into the top eight with highlights including winning goals away to both Man United and West Ham. With Newcastle now dreaming of Europe, little did we realise that this was to be a fleeting calm before the storm.
Just a few days before the biggest game of the season, Cabaye once again flounced away from the Toon, leaving a demoralised side on the receiving end of a disastrous 3-0 home defeat against our arch-rivals. We went on to lose eleven of our last fifteen matches of that season, finishing a deeply disappointing tenth in the league, miles off European qualification. The next season we’d avoid relegation on the last day before finally succumbing to the inevitable in 2016. Would we have avoided such torture with our talisman firing on all systems for those two and half years? Who knows, but it would be nice to have found out. My villain of this decade is the man who gave us two and a half years of misery, Yohan Cabaye.
Issue 273 – 10 November 2012
Newcastle United not so obvious villain of the 2010s
This has to be Rio Ferdinand.
Hang on a minute…did this guy have anything to do with Newcastle United?! In his playing career, no. That didn’t however stop him from spouting some absolute pro-Mike Ashley (who Rio Ferdinand had a business relationship with) nonsense in the media, even suggesting that our owner shouldn’t buy any players in case they get injured and Rafa Benitez should put his hand in his own pocket to purchase members of the squad that were badly needed at the time.
When ridiculed about this ludicrous take over social media, he quickly backtracked and claimed he was ‘fishing’ to wind up Toon fans. Very odd behaviour from someone paid to talk about football and, if true, completely unprofessional. I’m not keen on giving this guy any more time, so will leave it at my not so obvious villain of the 2010s being Rio Ferdinand.