I was there. Toon had gone 3-0 up and I remember thinking 'If we could get a goal back before half-time..." Then Barness scored to make it 3-1 at the break. Charlton got better thereafter and Walshie got us level. It was complete pandemonium on the away terrace when Pardew scored the winner. Quite by chance, I met John Bumstead the following day and thanked him for his part in a wonderful day for the club.
Went with my grandad on the coach, we sat along the side. Absolutely ridiculous comeback and absolutely no segregation in the seats between home and away fans. My grandad got pushed over by some Geordie meat head tosser at full time.
Luckily it wasn't 15 years earlier as he would have knocked the northern monkey out of St James.
I was at college in Newcastle, so this was a long weekend for me and a mate of mine. I remember standing in the rain in the corner at 3-0, with small Geordie kids making rude finger signs at us through the railings and my mate saying it was a shame we were so badly beaten already we could'nt make them eat their signs. Even when we pulled the first goal back, (wonder strike), it seemed irrelevant. However, the second half, while terrible football, was one of those days that glues you to being an Addick, and when the fourth goal went in, mayhem (in our corner of the ground).
I actually owed my mate a good match in geordieland. There was one saturday I was torn between Newcastle v Leicester or Newcastle BS v Spennymoor. I opted for Newcastle Blue Star which was a top of the table clash, and for a student, much cheaper than the real Geordies, despite the fact my mate refused to go to watch non league football. And rightly so, the match I saw finished 0-0 in fronty of about 150 equally tightfisted gits as me. Meanwhile, we listened to the goals roar in at St James where Newcastle lost, either 5-4 or 6-5, but some bizarre score line. My mate did'nt talk to me for a week.
There's only one corner we havent been in at St James cos we've done the other three.
Newcastle had a very young team out and a useless manager but it was still a brilliant comeback. We took our first three goals well and the 4th was probably helped in by Liam O'Brien.
A brilliant match and day out - in my top three games of all time. However the 4th goal was a Liam O'Brien own goal, Pardew puts the ball across the box but its deflected in off the Newcastle player. Ardiles lasted one more game as Newcastle manager - a 3rd round FA Cup replay against Bournemouth which they lost on 22 Jan - the previous attempt to play the game on 14 Jan had been abandoned after 17 mins (taken from the programme not my memory!) Paul Bacon played instead of Robert Lee.
Charlton connection in the Newcastle line up too. Gavin Peacock is easy to pick out, but that bloke Hunt that scored for Newcastle...... did he 'play up front' ???
There is also a third future Charlton player in the Geordies line up that day in Kevin Scott.
Interesting attendance also.The passionate Geordies really did lose interest before Keegan appeared,I think there was another time we went to St James's Park in the 80's and it was even lower below 10,000.
One of my favourite games too. Was at college at Birmingham, going out with a Geordie girl so we stayed at hers and went to the match. Can't remember much of the game except Barness goal and going mad at the equaliser. It was my girlfriends first match - second was at Sunderland, maybe the same year I think we won 1-0. Was Robert Lee (before he changed his name to Rob), out of the squad cos he was in transfer talks?
I was there too. We stayed at a Newcastle-supporting friends guesthouse and were able to sit with him in the Newcastle stand. When the fourth goal went in I just had to stand up and cheer, then a Geordie voice from behind said "Siddown man" which I did. Geordies very friendly despite the result and we had a great night, part of which spent on "The Boat". In those days we also went to a bar in Whitley Bay called Idols. We would go up once every year, if Newcastle weren't in the right division we would go to Middlesborough or Sunderland. Got told by a policeman to "act your age, not your shoe size" at another Newcastle game, as I was going mad when Colin Walsh broke his leg at the other end of the ground and was getting a lot of stick from the Newcastle fans. Great days.
Great and very rare Barness goal before Chelsea heard we had a very good young left back and snapped him up. Rumour was they meant to buy Minto but bought Barness by mistake. Arsenal and Solly spring to mind !! Of course, they came back for Minto...
Great and very rare Barness goal before Chelsea heard we had a very good young left back and snapped him up. Rumour was they meant to buy Minto but bought Barness by mistake. Arsenal and Solly spring to mind !! Of course, they came back for Minto...
Not quite.
They wanted Minto but we wanted a lot more dough for him so they took Barney for $350,000.
They ended up taking Minto a bit later for $700,000.
That was the weekend that my dad died. I remember listening to the reports whilst driving down to West Wales in my in-law's Fiat 126 lawnmower, hoping that we'd get there in time to still see him.
Whatever anyone thinks of Pardew, I will always be grateful to him for getting the winner that day so that I had something positive to share with my dad in his last hours. What made it sweeter was that he had several Geordie friends.
Comments
Luckily it wasn't 15 years earlier as he would have knocked the northern monkey out of St James.
A great day though
Days that live forever.
My mate did'nt talk to me for a week.
Newcastle had a very young team out and a useless manager but it was still a brilliant comeback. We took our first three goals well and the 4th was probably helped in by Liam O'Brien.
Paul Bacon played instead of Robert Lee.
There is also a third future Charlton player in the Geordies line up that day in Kevin Scott.
Interesting attendance also.The passionate Geordies really did lose interest before Keegan appeared,I think there was another time we went to St James's Park in the 80's and it was even lower below 10,000.
They wanted Minto but we wanted a lot more dough for him so they took Barney for $350,000.
They ended up taking Minto a bit later for $700,000.
Whatever anyone thinks of Pardew, I will always be grateful to him for getting the winner that day so that I had something positive to share with my dad in his last hours. What made it sweeter was that he had several Geordie friends.