18 Years Ago Today

No matter how crap we have and might be.... we still have memories of nights like this...... what a night... the hairs on the back of my neck stand up thinking about it.....


It was 18 years ago today that this happened…
NUFC showed just what could be done by pulling together - a night of near perfect European football under the floodlights ending Newcastle 3 Barcelona 2.

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It was 18 years ago today, that a Newcastle eleven showed just what could be done by pulling together – a night of near perfect European football under the floodlights ending Newcastle 3 Barcelona 2.
We head back to 17 September 1997 and with Shearer long-term injured, on top of Dalglish selling Ginola, Beardsley, Elliott, Clark and Ferdinand…
It looked as though it would take a miracle to defeat Figo, De La Pena, Sonny Anderson, Sergi, Miguel, Enrique, Rivaldo and the rest.
Well it wasn’t quite a miracle but he was called Tino Asprilla, who along with Keith Gillespie put in his best ever performance for Newcastle United and landed a 3-2 victory, which you can enjoy watching all over again below.
Only four months after this hat-trick, Kenny sold Tino Asprilla.
This was a great football night never to be forgotten.
Newcastle lined up;
Shay Given
Warren Barton
Philippe Albert
Steve Watson
John Beresford
Keith Gillespie
Robert Lee
David Batty
John Barnes (Temuri Ketsbaia 81 mins)
Jon Dahl Tomasson (Darren Peacock 78 mins)
Tino Asprilla
Enjoy it all again below;
- See more at: http://www.themag.co.uk/2015/09/it-...newcastle-3-barcelona-2/#sthash.4sGnTUDA.dpuf

 

One of my most favourite matches I've ever been to in all my short life.

 

18 Years Ago Today...

...I was exactly 18 years younger ​

 

Exactly we've done **** all

 

Absolutely, one of the best.
We're you a teenager as well Sebb?

I only got a ticket that afternoon, when a couple of us, got tickets from a company we knew.

 

Almost...

 

Looking at that Lineup, quality aside, that is how I would like to see the current squad.
Mainly british with a few decent overseas players.

 

Running theme throughout those successful years is a the number of British players and its the same under Bobby. These were the best years there simply must be something in that.

 

It was actually 15 years ago on Thursday - 18 years ago was just what we told Adam Johnson.........

 

Everyone had mainly british players then. Whoever did well was bound to have a mainly british squad. None of the leading teams now have a mainly british squad. If brutishness were the key to success, they would. British players aren't better, or grittier or somehow mystically connected to the turf upon which they run. Sorry.

 

Totally agree..

It's about having the right players playing the right way that counts.

That and winning the best competition on this site; the Headline Game.

 

That was a cracking game ..loved every second of it

The squad, the tactics and the ..'feel'.. of the games then

The contrast to the ****e we have been spoon fed this past 5 odd years ...couldn't be more pronounced

 

Not this year. Then again a lot of those "top" teams are struggling. But if you go back through the teams who occupy the top 8 places in the PL over the last 20 years, most will have 3 or 4 quality british players minimum. There is reason why all the top managers whether british or foreign fight to get that british spine or core. It works, because the game here is still played a certain way - high tempo. British players are brought up on a diet of it. So it is fairly obvious that it will help. The reality doesn't really back up what you are saying. British/Irish players are not particularly brutish now either. Sterling, Sturridge, Barkley, Bale, Coleman etc.

 

I think you'll find the bottom 8 clubs generally have 3 or 4 british players too.

Oh, and "brutish" was just a typo for "british", sorry.

 

I genuinely thought you were buying into the age old "British cloggers" bull.

No doubt the bottom 8 do. You'd expect (and hope) they would given it is the English PL. It simply comes down to getting the better quality ones through purchases and development. Its achievable too. we can't go and buy them once they are proven, we can't expect to operate in the same market as Man C etc. I don't even think it is realistic to challenge the top bracket, I think it will help us challenge the bracket who we'd like to be in - 8th-12th.

There is a reason the big ones go pay what they do for Shaw or Sterling, or try to pay for Stones. Its not simply about meeting quotas.

We can do what KK and bobby did though. Cherry pick the lower leagues and young players. That is what others do like Everton. It serves them very well. Then of course you need a system like them or the Saints to help too. The answer is certainly not to just give up and buy a load of young to 25 yr olds from the Belgian, Dutch and French leagues. Its two fold for me. One because we should have home players. secondly because it undoubtly helps to have home players. You can still add in foreign players to bring a different style as we did with Ginola, Nobby, Robert etc. Its about getting the blend right. There is no doubt in my mind we haven't done that for a long time over a sustained period. We've seen the odd foreign dominated side like Cabaye, Ba etc do it for a single season but that is the best we have had.

If you look at someone like Everton who have invested in Jagielka, Lescott, Coleman, Stones, Baines, McCarthy, Barry, Holgate, Galloway, Naismith while bringing through Rooney, Barkley, Osman etc, they have achieved a very solid level of consistency with a base to build. They can't make the next jump of course but its a hell of a lot more palatable than our rollercoaster. Some would argue we would have the infrastructure to build further. I doubt that the way the game has gone money wise but it would be nice to see us return to a system that has worked for us before and is for others. West Ham, Southampton, Everton - these clubs rarely look likely to flirt with relegation. Just my opinion and obviously we have never really agreed on this issue.

I still think the number of foreign players is farcical too. we are buying 2nd rate foreign players no better than their British counterparts. Its a nonsense for me given what the home players give you in terms of understanding the game here. We jump to the "yeah but home players cost too much". Do they? Funny because I see the clubs outstripping us managing to get them for reasonable fees. At Newxastle we have become obsessed with the excitement of some unknown foreigner - who then turns out to be good, bad, indifferent - just like a home player.