A Simple Football Memory

I looked up at my desk Calendar and realised today was marked the 23^rd anniversary of one of my fondest Newcastle memories.

The Year was 2002 and the chances of Newcastle United reaching the Champions League second Group stage were all bit finished going into Game week 4. We had lost our first three games in the group without scoring a single goal and with a star studied Juventus coming to Juventus coming to Tyneside it looked unlikely we would make it through.

An Unlikely scorer in Andy Griffin gave us a 1-0 win over Juventus and gave us a glimmer of hope. A week later our rivals for 2^nd place Dynamo Kyiv came to St James Park and took the lead just after half time and that seemed to be that, but the Toon had other ideas. Legends of the club Gary Speed and Alan Shearer scored 2 goals in 12 minutes to seal a win and take it to matchday six. Dynamo Kyiv were at home to Juventus who had already qualified knowing a win for them meant there would be nothing we could do.

Wednesday 13^th November 2002

So, all we could do is go to Feyenoord, win the game and hope Juventus could take something from Ukraine.

Craig Bellamy scored in first half stoppage time to take a lead into the break and just after half time young Portuguese player Hugo Viana gave us a 2-0 lead and as the time ticked past the hour Juventus were leading 2-1 and the impossible qualification looked guaranteed.

But…… This is Newcastle United!

Feyenoord scored two goals in 7 minutes to bring the game level at 2-2 which would not have been enough to see us qualify alongside Juventus.

The time agonisingly ticked down past the 90 minutes, and it felt like our heroic recovery in the second half of the group would amount to nothing until in the 91^st minute Craig Bellamy pounced on a rebounded effort from Kieron Dyer to complete the historic group comeback and take us into the last ever second round group phase.

It was an historic evening that took us into a group with both Barcelona and Bayer Leverkusen who we wouldn’t play again until this season.

A Personal Memory

I would love to say I had been a part of those Champions League nights in person but even being at home the memory of that night has always stuck with me.

I didn’t have a tele in my room, so I listened to all my football on Radio 5 Live. I was supposed to be in bed so like I had done on many occasions I would have the volume as low and sit as close as I could to the Radio listening and hoping we would be able to pull off a miracle. My Football Magic comics/binders were all over the floor and I had tons of paper to hand as I would create football tournaments with paper and dices for the scores and I was very content with my radio and that as my entertainment. (I Got a ps1, a tele and Premier Manager 2000 for Christmas that year)

I was on edge all night hoping and praying we would be able to get the result nervously anticipating when Alan Green would announce an update from elsewhere and not being able to hold in my cheers when Craig Bellamy scored the winner.

It’s not a spectacular football memory in the grand scheme of things but it’s one I will always look back at fondly and tell in years to come as one of those moments where my love for Newcastle United was clear and although I wouldn’t get to a game in person for over 10 years after that for various reasons the love remained and remains to this day.

It also reminds of where I have come from and how much I would love to say to that lad that one day he would be travelling around the country and be part of a Newcastle United Community supporting the club in person. 

Howay the Lads