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Venue Old Trafford 30/08/99 Jeff Winter (dodgy ref ) 5 Newcastle United 1
From the first whistle to the last Newcastle completely dominated the opposition. Old Trafford had never witnessed anything like it . Manchester were shocked, stunned, overwhelmed and silenced by Newcastle's will to come out on top. Everyone played their part in a famous victory over Manchester that will live long in the minds of the 55,200 that witnessed the occasion. If only the Newcastle players had shown as much determination on the pitch as the fans to whom I refer, in the stand then perhaps we wouldn't have lost by so many. On the other hand, If the referee is playing his part in a scam to get Newcastle relegated then they would have no chance. The bookies must have known of the plot and gave a two horse race 8 - 1 odds in favour of one of the horses winning. Foolishly we took up their generous offer before we took our seats in the East corner of Old Trafford. The fans were absolutely fantastic, I can't ever remember a more vocal, defiant set of fans . Chants of "We are the Geordies" "We hate cockneys " "what's it like to live in Kent" "you only sing when your winning" were followed by "Blaydon races" and the usual " new....cas...ell, new....cas...ell, new....cas...ell" Everytime Man United scored. The Newcastle fans would drown out the part time cockney fans that made up the opposition for the whole of the match. Then as the matched reached it's finale "We can see you sneaking out" and "Long way to London, it's a long way to London" But the best ones of the day were directed at a couple of individuals that were stirring us up "One jimmy Saviille " directed at a young version of the aging DJ soon shut him up and i was particularly fond of the "Don't get yer **** out for the lads" directed at a obesely challenged Manchester united Stewardess who was giving us all a wave in the lock in after the game. As for the game, after 5 minutes we new that we were in trouble. Boro loving Jeff winter, a self confessed Smoggie fan and Geordie hater, soon made it clear that he was in the same far eastern betting syndicate as his friend Uriah Rennie. How much these referees are set to gain at the end of the season if Newcastle are relegated is the only mystery in this shocking situation. Something is going on, that's for sure. In three instances in the first 20 minutes, Man United players fouling Newcastle players were given free kicks. It gets worse but more of that later. Steve Clarke had chosen the politically correct team .With our 4th choice keeper, and forth choice defenders , (Domi was on international duty) We would be extremely lucky to get anything out of this game. Wright ......Barton ....... Dabizas ..... Goma .......Hughes... Dyer ..... Lee .......Speed ........Solano.... a gap another gap Ferguson Shearer.. Thirteen minutes gone and Cole opens up the scoring. Lee , back in the side as Number 37 deflected the ball into the path of Cole, who finished with ease past our Manchester City reserve stand in goalkeeper. Perhaps this was going to be a blessing in disguise I foolishly thought to myself, We have been ahead in virtually all the games this season only for the opponents to come back to win in the second half. My thoughts were verified as Dyer broke loose, skipped past Giggs and crossed to Ferguson . Henning Berg stuck a foot out and diverted the ball into the back of the net. Half an hour gone , one all , was it was going to be our day after all? Thoughts of what to do with my share of the £160 winnings flicked through my mind. Robert Lee looked fairly tired by this time, and Duncan Ferguson had looked shattered when he entered the arena at the start of the game. He took up his usual position well upfront , waiting for a ball to be hoisted in his direction . He did manage to break into a canter on a couple of occasions but Bobby Robson, would have had more energy at 66 than Duncan has at the moment. His strike partner? Alan Shearer stopped him from getting lonely by keeping him company in the opposing half. The most promising player was Dyer, he showed that the best option was to win the ball in midfield then run at them and around them . It works a lot better than standing with your back to goal hoping that you can win the next ball lofted high in your direction. The first half was actually evenly matched , Dyer had been outstanding for us on the right along with Barton, and I thought that we could get another in the second half. Oh how wrong could I be.
The Other alternative is to play Shearer in the centre of midfield, He could be that "hard blerk" in midfield that creates goals for others? Ahead of him a nippy skillful young striker and Ferguson as the target man. Whatever the outcome, things have to change dramatically. One Manchester United fan said to me after the game ," I hope you don't get relegated, I feel really sorry for you, you're such good fans, the premier league just wouldn't be the same without the Geordies." "Feel Sorry for us".... He meant it as a consoling compliment, It hurt more than the result I can tell you. |
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With
only seconds gone up pops Andy Cole, and brushing past Dabizas once
again fires past a hapless TommyWright. The most incredible thing
then occurred. Dabizas got up from the floor and approached Mr
Winter, queering him as to why he hadn't been given a foul. Winter
replied "Cos I hate you geordie scum, stop arguing."
Dabizas persisted and was shown the red card. From this moment things
went rapidly down hill. Stand in manager Steve Clarke decided to keep
the 3 remaining defenders and continue with the team as it was, in
the hope that we could pull one back. It didn't work, they scored
another 2 in the next 20 minutes. Our defenders were too stretched
our midfield was tiring, Solano was having to try to cover the whole
of the left side. Speed didn't know what to do to plug the gaps on
either side of him due to Lee by this time hardly being able to run
anymore. After the 3rd goal, Maric replaced Lee then after the 4th,
Beharall same on for Nobby to stop any more going in. He was
ineffective and gifted Giggs the 5th Goal. Finally Paul Robinson came
on for the last 10 minutes to show the overpaid "Undynamic
duo" how a striker should perform. He was like a breath of fresh
air, I would have loved him to get a goal, just to show the incoming
manager that their could be life without Ferguson and Shearer. Even
with 11 men we would have found this game hard (but not impossible)
to win with the current injury problems. When the cheating ref
delivered the killer blow at the start of the second half we had
absolutely no chance. Now here's an idea. Why can't each team before
the start of the season be allowed to select a lets say two referee's
that they don't think have been fair with them in the past. I am sure
that would go some way towards appeasing fans that believe certain
refs have it in for their particular clubs. 
Five
- one is a bad result, let us remember though that we do have lots
of injuries with 3 goalkeepers and 7 defenders out of action, We are
bound to leak goals, especially when down to 10 men. I am sure that
we will be OK in defence once all the injuries clear up. I am also
sure that the next manager will see that we need a left winger and a
hard man in the middle to win the wall and play it forward. This
though is United's big, big problem. Our forwards, Shearer and
Ferguson. I don't think that they will ever be able to work as a
pair. They are both simply too slow, How many other teams have two
slow players up front. You either have one target man or none, not
two. Young Robinson or another quick young striker in the Peter
Beardsley / Robbie Keane mould with EITHER Shearer or Ferguson may
well work, but not both of them at the same time. These two players
cost £23 million between them, on top of that they cost £4
million in wages EACH year, and will do for the next 5 years. What
does the next manager do with them? There are two solutions . One is
too try to sell one of them, now.... if you were another club and
able to afford the wages, which one would be worth more than half of
what we paid for them? Would you pay £4 million for Ferguson or
£8 million for Shearer on current form?. Perhaps the later, you
get my drift?. We are stuck with Ferguson so must pray that he gets
fitter and improves dramatically. I await the forthcoming England
matches with interest to see if Shearer does improve with the
"Better Service" that he goes on about all the time. 
