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Opinion

Graeme Jones – Miracle worker and the five second rule

3 years ago
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In the good old days, when we actually attended football matches, a cluster of spectators around me began to join in with my five second countdown every time Newcastle United took a throw-in, in our own half.

One by one I would explain to them that, since Sourness took over as manager, we had NEVER ONCE retained possession for five seconds without an opposition player touching the ball.

They would, one by one, be incredulous until, at the end of the game we had been watching when I told them, they would have seen with their own eyes that which I had told them.

I would then ask them to go home and look at any post-Souness match footage they might have had on tape and pay particular attention to ANY match where they saw us retain uninterrupted possession for more than five seconds.

No one has yet been able to do it and I challenge you all, dear readers, to do the same.

I know it can’t be done because it has become an obsession of mine since I first spotted it in about 2006, which is when the “1….2…..3……4…..oops!!” began, or, more exactly and usually, “1….2…oops!”

HOWEVER, in the three games since the arrival of Graeme Jones, we have, unbelievably, managed it three times.

Now, it could be purely coincidental but it could also be that we finally have someone on the coaching staff who values possession of the football.

I will be watching Newcastle United throw-ins in the upcoming games with piqued interest.

Altogether! 1…2…3…

HWTL

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