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Your first footballing hero


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Guest HTT II

Andy Cole come to NUFC in ‘93 for a then club record of £1.75m from Bristol City. I was kind of late into liking/following footy and certainly NUFC. Before KK arrived my dads and uncles all previous season ticket holders and life long fans had boycotted the club due to how it was being run, they fell out of love and while they still followed games via radio, teletext and the vidi printer on the BBC they didn’t go to matches no longer and as a result a lot of us kids in Newcastle at that time, black and white was not passed onto us.

 

Then SJH took over and in come KK, all of a sudden dads and uncles and elders fell back in love with NUFC and kids everywhere my age back in ‘92’ were suddenly almost brainwashed into all things bright and beautiful NUFC related. So I took it up. I knew nowt of KK really or the history of NUFC other than what my dad and uncles would say.

 

In ‘93 we stormed the then 2nd Division and while I had some faves like Kelly and Peacock because they scored goals, it wasn’t until we signed Andy Cole when I discovered my first true footballing hero, my idol. The following season he scored 41 goals in all comps in our debut season in the PL and I was in awe, every kid at school or in the playground or playing on some patch of land with a shitty ball wanted to be him. 
 

Looking back now, Newcastle and the world of football here in the U.K. had issues with racism, a black person was very rare to me in Newcastle, but I as a kid didn’t see a black footballer, I just saw Andy Cole, our number 9, my idol, I loved the man and at that time I probably wanted him to score more than NUFC to win.

 

My hero today is KK, but that day he sold Cole, I hated him, I wanted him gone, how could he do that, I cried and we were at school that day. Our teacher would always have the radio on and there was some breaking news, he hushed us all and we all listened. He told us afterwards to put down our books and basically to forget the rest of the lesson. He seemed more gutted than us.

 

Again going back, Andy Cole wasn’t our first black player, but our first black legend, superstar, hero, icon, but no one considered his skin colour and I genuinely believe his time here bridged many racial gaps and helped with any racism at that time and massively since, with his replacement Sir Les another black player becoming our number 9.

 

Anyway, I give you Andy Cole, my hero…

 

68 goals on 84 games in all comps:

 

 

He gets the ball and scores a goal…

Who was your first hero?

 

 

Edited by HTT II

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Guest HTT II
3 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

Mick Quinn.

I had the pleasure of meeting him without having a cue who he was, at the RVI, I was badly burned as a kid and he read about me in the Chronicle and come to se me, he was great. Such a funny man, I met him a few years back and he didn’t remember me, but remembered his time at the RVI.

 

 

Edited by HTT II

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Guest HTT II
Just now, lxsln said:

Tomas Brolin. He lived in the same building as me, when he started playing for my hometown club. I was like 5.

My first WC was USA ‘94 and that Sweden team was immense, he was such a great player that didn’t really look like a footballer. 

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Guest HTT II

There has never been a Toon player serenaded like Andy Cole, that Leicester game was none stop, I know  he struggled with the adulation. 

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Slightly left field choice, but Barry Venison. I remember getting him from Liverpool, and just his attitude and character helping to change the way the team looked at itself, being positive after years of mediocrity.

 

Fine, it was towards the end of his career, but both him and Beardsley just seemed to roll back the years, like vintage wines.

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Wyn Davies was the ultimate No 9…Big,Strong and a nightmare to play against.Remember when Inter Milan came across him in the Fairs Cup…About 1970….They couldn’t cope with his aerial dominance and in the end resorted to just kicking him…he’d just get up and laugh at them…….A close 2nd was Tony Green…He only played 33 games for the toon before a cartilage problem ended his career…..but those 33 games were magic……Took on Giles and Bremner when Leeds were at their prime and dominated them both in midfield…what a player.

 

 

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5 minutes ago, HTT II said:

I had the pleasure of meeting him without having a cue who he was, at the RVI, I was badly burned as a kid and he read about me in the Chronicle and come to se me, he was great. Such a funny man, I met him a few years back and he didn’t remember me, but remembered his time at the RVI.

 

 

 


I was only 5 when the 89/90 season started. I turned 5 a few days before the 5-2 v Leeds and my brother had his 1st birthday a couple of days earlier (doesn’t remember it as fondly as I do) and we had a birthday party at mana’s. Remember my dad & grandad in the living room listening to it on the radio and spent the game listening to it with them and was hooked.

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2 minutes ago, Abacus said:

Slightly left field choice, but Barry Venison. I remember getting him from Liverpool, and just his attitude and character helping to change the way the team looked at itself, being positive after years of mediocrity.

 

Fine, it was towards the end of his career, but both him and Beardsley just seemed to roll back the years, like vintage wines.

Venison was massively underrated, played RB, CM and CB here and always classy on the ball and that goal kick clearance against Luton…

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Probably David Kelly. Was just starting to get into football as a young sprog during 90/91 season and remember being absolutely buzzing when he scored that pearler against Portsmouth. Next season was obsessed with football and he was my favourite player closely folloed by Rob Lee and Gavin Peacock. Andy Cole in the Premier League was another massive hero

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Jurgen Klinsmann, not sure why I started following him but I just found him a really great player to watch. Scored all sorts of goals and moved very elegantly around the pitch. 
 

Andy Cole for Newcastle, my class at school was actually stopped when he was sold so we could find out if it was true on the radio :lol: 

 

Taking the Cole poster down was painful. 

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Just now, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Jurgen Klinsmann, not sure why I started following him but I just found him a really great player to watch. Scored all sorts of goals and moved very elegantly around the pitch. 
 

Andy Cole for Newcastle, my class at school was actually stopped when he was sold so we could find out if it was true on the radio :lol: 

 

Taking the Cole poster down was painful. 

I kept mine up…

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8 minutes ago, Pokerprince2004 said:

Probably David Kelly. Was just starting to get into football as a young sprog during 90/91 season and remember being absolutely buzzing when he scored that pearler against Portsmouth. Next season was obsessed with football and he was my favourite player closely folloed by Rob Lee and Gavin Peacock. Andy Cole in the Premier League was another massive hero

 

Yeah, I nearly said Peacock as well. Really clever player, always seemed to pop up at the right time with a goal.

 

Most of that promotion team are seared into my consciousness, in fact. We went on something like a 10 or 11 game winning streak at the start of it, and I've never been so disappointed as when that streak came to an end. I think it was Grimsby that beat us.

 

The teenage me then went on my first massive football sulk afterwards, which must have lasted about a week. In fact no, I'm still not over it.

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