A light in the North
Thirty-four years of hurt never stopped them dreaming at Newcastle United.
The Magpies have, in the last ten years, returned to the forefront of English football after decades of decay and neglect, yet have always found themselves bridesmaids rather than brides when the trophies have been handed out.
Twice Premiership runners-up, twice FA Cup finalists, it's rarely been a dull time at the Toon. After the Keegan rollercoaster, there were the stillborn eras of Dalglish and Gullit, both of whom left Tyneside totally reviled by the Geordie nation. It seemed the club was headed back into the doldrums.
But at last it took a right turn in appointing Sir Bobby Robson as first temporary and then permanent boss. The septugenarian has a popularity rating in the city higher than Brown Ale for his work in turning the club back into a contender.
The team of 11 Geordies that former chairman Sir John Hall dreamed of at the beginning of the Keegan era has never materialised. Newcastle may never be England's Athletic Bilbao, but of all England's leading clubs they have the most indigenous foundations.
When it comes to collecting young talent, then Sir Bobby Robson has a comparable record to Hugh Hefner. Since arriving at the club in 1999-2000 he has added the likes of Jermaine Jenas, Jonathan Woodgate, Craig Bellamy, Andy O'Brien, Carl Cort, Titus Bramble, Darren Ambrose and latterly Lee Bowyer to his squad.
The likes of Ronaldo, Romario and Luis Figo have previously benefitted from Bobby's fatherly approach and boundless enthusiasm to become true greats. And Robson has never been afraid of using rough diamonds either. He managed to tame Romario at PSV Eindhoven and turn him into a World Cup winner. Similarly, few managers would have placed such faith in the lunatic talent of Paul Gascoigne in a World Cup as Robson did so successfully at Italia '90.
The summer of 2001 saw Robson pay £7.5m for Craig Bellamy from Coventry City, a move for a fiery and unproven talent that few thought would succeed. Yet Bellamy has been a revelation on Tyneside, giving Alan Shearer a new lease of life by doing all his running for him and weighing in with some important goals himself.
Robson has brought the best out of the pacy striker yet sometimes has been unable to rein in his worst excesses. Bellamy missed six matches of Newcastle's Champions League adventure through rank indiscipline and now faces court action over a nightclub brawl, ever the folly of a footballing 'bad boy'. Some have accused Robson of being far too lenient on the Welshman but few could argue with the sometimes spectacular results of letting him have his head on the pitch.
Kieron Dyer, a young man who is no stranger to tabloid revelations about his various peccadiloes. He had been a nascent talent for far too long before Robson finally got him to take responsibility on the pitch and succeed as a central midfielder last season. The 24-year-old began to show the true grit and workrate required to achieve his own lofty ambitions. And if Dyer should end up moving to Manchester United or Chelsea and become an even richer man then he should thank Sir Bobby most heartily.
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| Lee Bowyer: A considered risk. (BenRadford/GettyImages) |
But the risks taken on Dyer and Bellamy pale into insignificance when compared to his signing of Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer, 'the Majestyk two'. Though of the two it was Woodgate that was actually found guilty after the incident in January 2000, it is Bowyer who has by far the worst reputation, a legacy of his failure to act in a contrite manner following his acquittal and a continuing poor disciplinary record.
The signing of Woodgate, a young English defender of the calibre that a leaky defence required, passed with scant comment save on the bargain £9m fee that secured him from Leeds. Bowyer's signing on a free in June raised far more eyebrows and not only because of his execrable form for West Ham in his short spell at Upton Park.
However, Robson's status as a kindly, schoolmasterly 'Mr Chips' character surely lessened the media furore, as did Newcastle's geographical location, where few Fleet St journalists fear to tread. Should a London team or one of the North-West giants have signed the pair then the paroxysms of outrage would have been far more frenzied.
Robson's enthusiasm and sometimes mystifying diction may give him the appearance of an innocent but a man who has ridden out eight years as England manager and been a TV pundit for decades must have some media savvy. A calculated risk of media glare against playing talent, Robson took the option to sign two of the most talented players in England.
Can his team make the step up and challenge Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea? If his players continue the accelerated development of the last two seasons then they can go further than last season, when they failed in the big games with their 6-2 demolition by Manchester United perhaps the pivotal match in the entire season. Newcastle were finished and the Red Devils had the bit between their teeth.
If Newcastle could add defensive quality to their flowing attacking game then they could truly challenge. Woodgate never really settled last season and needs to find a partner. Titus Bramble made far too many mistakes and O'Brien is perhaps lacking in pace. An experienced head at the back could add organisation and one wonders whether Olivier Bernard, Andy Griffin and Aaron Hughes really have the quality required in a championship winning team.
Perhaps Robson has erred in not reinforcing his backline, since he has an embarassment of riches in midfield. Jermaine Jenas is perhaps the best of all the youngsters, and carries little media baggage, while on the wings, Nobby Solano, Bowyer, Ambrose or Dyer can play on the right while Hugo Viana, still getting used to English football, can play out left if Laurent Robert goes off the boil - as he often does. An anchor man is perhaps still required though Bowyer, Jenas and Gary Speed can all weigh in there.
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| 1969: Bobby Moncur shows off the last piece of Newcastle silverware to the Geordie public. (PeterRobinson/Empics) |
Recent comments from Freddy Shepherd suggest that the board will back Robson in adding more players before the transfer window closes. With Manchester United not achieving their transfer targets, Arsenal hamstrung for new additions and Chelsea perhaps taking a while to adapt to their new broom, then a couple of defenders and perhaps an additional forward could see Newcastle being genuine contenders.
It was in 1969 that the Magpies won the European Inter-city Fairs' Cup (UEFA Cup in new money), 1955 that they last won the FA Cup and 1927 that they last won the league - even Bobby wasn't born then. It's been far too long a wait.
