Three questions: What’s the first football match (ie league) you went to? What’s the last match you went to? What’s the best match you’ve been to?
My first was Man Utd v Birmingham in 1982. My last was Swansea at SJP. The best game was probably the 5-1 over the Mackems.
Irish a Shamrock Rovers game,English Arsenal v Everton early 90s All home internationals but Toon v S'land 1-1 A lot of great London Toon games in the 90s,1 nil win in Highbury
Gateshead in the mid-60s. First Newcastle game 70/71 ish, no clue who it was against. Recent game v Swansea last week. Best, also probably the 5-1 win over the Mackems.
PNE vs Hull City 1967. Was my 9th Birthday Party. Best Game Newcastle vs MAn Utd a couple of seasons ago 3-3 draw. Or England vs Argentina at World Cup in Japan 2002. Last game Man Utd vs Stoke last Monday night. 3-0 to Utd.
First game I can remember going to was Blyth Spartans v Wrexham at St James in the FA Cup 5th Round (1978 I think). Might have been to some before then but don't remember. Haven't been to a game yet this season, so last one was PNE at home last season. Best match for atmosphere was probably Scotland v Spain at Hampden in 1984 when Kenny Dalglish tore them apart in a world cup qualifier and Scotland won 3-1. Weirdly, the toon game I remember enjoying the most was an old league two game when we beat Luton 3-2. Imre Varadi scored a last minute winner.
He’s saying Utd again... First game was probably Whitley Bay. First NUFC game was a Reserves game but cant remember who but would be about 1965 and first first team game again can’t remember against who but would have been about 1966. Last game was our last home game. Best, very hard too choose but two that stand out are 1, v Ujpest Doza home leg or 2, v Barcelona. Two other memorable mentions on best game are v Sunderland 5-1 and v Man Utd (@JakartaToon notice reference to Man when referring to Man Utd) 5-0.
First - Newcastle 2 West Brom 1, late 89 or early 90, dark days of Jim Smith, amazing that we won with monstrosities like Wayne Fereday, Roy Aitkin and Ray Ranson in the team. Last: Toon 0 Brighton 0 in December, ****ing dire. Best, theres a few: Toon 6 Barnsley 0, 1993, Andy Coles first hat trick Toon 4 Fenecvaros 0, 1994, THAT Ginola goal Toon 5 Manure 0
First - Newcastle 4 Wimbledon 0. Peter Beardsley hat-trick, Cole with the other. 30th Oct 1993. Last - Reading 0 Newcastle 0. Utter ****. 7th March 2017. Best - Arsenal 0 Newcastle 1. 7th November 2010. Hardly a vintage performance, but it was a different kind of impressive performance plus I was there as a corporate hospitality guest and there's probably no better stadium for all the luxuries than the Emirates!
First Newcastle game was a 1-1 draw with Man U in 1984 Last match was the hugely disappointing 1-1 draw with Swansea this season Best match. I want to say 5-0 against Man U which was awesome. Or 3-2 against Barca which was fantastic. But I can't get away from the 4-2 against Sheff Wed in 1993 Monday Night Football - just for pure atmosphere. Pissing down with rain, bouncing up and down in the Milburn Paddocks. You had Waddle on for them getting plenty of chat and playing along, geordie boy Sinton got a double for them, Cole bagged two (obviously), Allen scored and showed his crazy teeth, and Alex Mathie scored a sliding looping volley that will stay long in the memory. I've never heard the ground like that before or since, it summed up the height of that Keegan era. Great start, got behind, came back to win well. Fans non stop throughout and even louder when we went behind.
First - SJP vs Derby in '82 Best - since most of the obvious choices have gone - Newcastle 4 - Leicester 3 in '97 - Shearer's 13 min hat trick Last - SJP vs Man City this season Going to add a worst in there as well as this was so painful to watch - away at Mansfield in the League Cup 0-0 in '92 - think there may have been one shot on target in the entire game
First vs Fulham 1-2 1981 League Cup Best vs Leeds 4-3 2001 Prem Last vs Hull 1-1 Lost on pens 2016 League Cup
Also for best, how could I forget: Grimsby 0 Newcastle 2 ,April 1993 When we all decended on grimsby in force, they blantantly lied about the attendence and said it was less than it was, all of us crammee into that tiny stand behind the goal, the mayhem after Cole's goal right at the start of the second half, Kelly's beautiful finish right at the end. Promotion confirmed, dreamland.
The fact I didn't mention a turd like Stimson when listed our crap players of that era, just shows how **** we were. Wayne Fereday. Seriously, Wayne ****ing Fereday! Ok, so Jim Smith was a crap manager for us, but nicking Gavin Peacock from Bournemouth and shoving Wayne Fereday at them in return was genius, pure and simple.
I've never watched a footballer as bad as Stimson. I felt sorry for him in the end. When Keegan arrived you just knew he'd be first out the door. We have a few things to thank Jim Smith and Ossie for. Ossie blooded the likes of Watson, Elliott, Howey, Clark - that little influx into the first of homegrown players is unheard of these days but it didn't half stand us in good stead. You need someone to take the pain with youngsters to get the benefit. Money doesn't allow it now. When you think we also had Alan Thompson who turned into a decent footballer, that was a real boon to a first team squad. There was also the likes of Matty Appleby, Alan Neilson, who never quite cut it. 7 players who were either first 11, squad or fringe players. Also Ossie signed David Kelly who linked up so well with Peacock under KK to get us promoted. None of us would change KK coming in and doing so well of course. We'd have never have signed Kilcline for a start who was part responsible for our survival. However I always think however painful that 12 months were under Ossie, that braveness to say **** it, the younguns are in, was a bit thing. Remember Wattos somersault throw ins? I was gutted when they made him stop them.
