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Opinion

Newcastle United stars – Once varnished but now forever tarnished

3 years ago
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I thought it might be a change to write an article on a few Newcastle United stars who let themselves down in my eyes.

First up is the last man to lift silverware for the black and whites….

Our legendary former skipper and Fairs Cup goalscoring hero, Bobby Moncur.

Bobby is now less than affectionately referred to as Bobby “Concur” amongst a wide range of the fanbase, since he decided to take the Ashley shilling and toe the line as one of the Fat Controller’s minions.

Originally a dissenter and critic of this wretched regime, for whatever reason Bobby turned turtle and even became a director on the club’s board alongside the likes of McClaren and Charnley.

Next up is Jermaine Jenas, whose ego was a lot greater than his talent.

Signed from Nottingham Forest by Sir Bobby Robson, Jenas flattered to deceive for a few seasons before remarkably receiving an England call-up. Not so remarkable though when you consider that the man who was doing the calling up was the useless Sven Goran Eriksson.

Later, Jenas would recall that he found it hard going back to Newcastle after England duty and training with inferior players. Well, excuses about goldfish bowls etc quickly followed and he was soon on his bike to Spurs… who had managed about one top six finish in fifteen years.

Finally, to complete this trio of Newcastle United stars, onto “the incredible sulk” Andy Cole….oops sorry, Andrew.

This lad quickly established himself as a hero on Tyneside but was only to spend 22 months at Newcastle. A player given his big chance by the Messiah, his first show of real petulance occurred before an away League Cup tie against Wimbledon when he walked out on Keegan and the team before the game, only seven months after signing.

Newcastle had started their first season in the Prem in fine form but consequently lost this cup tie. The writing was on the wall.

In Cole’s second season his form dropped from the amazing goalscoring of his first Premier League campaign but this didn’t deter Man Utd from coming knocking.

He couldn’t wait to get away fast enough and KK went out onto the St James’ steps to confront and reassure a handful of disgruntled supporters, who believed they had seen this all before. There was no mass protest as the media have wrongfully repeated over the years.

Cole was woeful at Man U in his first two full seasons and the frustrations of the likes of Cantona at his inept link-up play were clear for everyone to see.

Although he did try to endear himself to their supporters by singing “cheer up Kevin Keegan”, I suppose that’s gratitude for you…

Two of the three above are Newcastle United legends without doubt and are testimony to the old adage of there being nothing like finding out your heroes aren’t what you thought them to be.

Maybe some of you have stories good or bad regarding your own experiences.

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