THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOON
Rob Lee’s family album shows he and his sons are steeped in St James’ Park folklore. Today, Luton Town’s Olly and Elliot are out to shock Newcastle in the Cup...
ST JAMES’ PARK?’ asks Olly Lee rhetorically, ‘it’s all of our childhood. St James’ Park is special.’ It is a special answer, too. The FA Cup has been called that a few times, of course, and it has thrown up one of those thirdround ties that justifies the description. When the ball showing Newcastle’s number was drawn and Luton Town followed, Olly Lee and his family had their greatest wish granted.
For the first time since 1994, Olly’s club Luton will play at St James’, where his father Rob was captain of Kevin Keegan’s entertainers. To add another layer, Rob Lee played in that game in 1994, which was in the FA Cup, and to add one more, Rob’s second son Elliot also plays for Luton.
Elliot, born in Durham in 1994, has already played at St James’ for West Ham and Barnsley. So Olly is the Lee who has not and there will be lots and lots of Lees in the crowd on Saturday.
‘As boys,’ he says of himself and Elliot, ‘we used to go to every game. Maybe we didn’t pay as much attention as we should have, we were messing around.
‘But for me, as a Newcastle United fan, to run out at St James’ Park, that’s a dream come true. It just keeps going up and up and up. That’s one of my memories from that picture (Pic 4). That’s why I can’t wait to walk out there and just look up.
‘The fans are crazy, real, diehard fans. It changes slightly when you play for someone else but Newcastle is still the first result I look for. I’ve always been a Newcastle fan.’
Once Rob had finished playing, he and the boys would still go to watch Newcastle and they were in the away end at Villa Park when their club were relegated in 2009.
These days Rob is a home-andaway Luton Town fan, and that has already brought one trip to St James Park this season — Exeter City’s. But it was the other St James’ where Rob sustained midfield excellence over a decade — he reached two FA Cup finals in 1998 and 1999 — and where his sons spent their early play days.
As Rob, 51, Olly, 26, and Elliot, 23, go through their family album at Rob’s home in Essex, all three are transported back to the North East.
ELLIOT: That was my seventh birthday (Pic 2). We always had the kits, we were Newcastle-mad. That was one of my last birthdays up there. That was before Mum and Dad ripped our world apart, taking us away from our beloved Newcastle.
OLLY: We were Nobby Solano and Laurent Robert then (Pic 3). That season we loved them. We had some random players we loved to be fair — Temur Ketsbaia, I liked him too, especially after his celebration, this crazy bald bloke. It wasn’t often a ‘Lee 7’ shirt running about.
ELLIOT: Obviously there’s Alan (Shearer). I love scoring goals and I grew up watching Alan. Dad too. My main memories are of Alan and Dad. It’s the ones who came over to the house and played in the garden, got pissed.
ROB: Yeah, there’d be parties, usually at our house. Quite a few parties. Shay (Given), Alan, Warren (Barton), Gary Speed, others. We used to have big parties and play five-a-side. The kids had first pick. Alan was left til the end.
OLLY: My first game for Luton, it went to penalties and I scored against Shay. It was Stoke in the League Cup. He gave me a bit of banter at the end of that. I’ve great memories of Shay and a few of the other players coming round to our house for parties and having kickabouts in the garden.
ELLIOT: And we had kickabouts at the ground. We’d be outside the players’ lounge slide-tackling players in the hallway. The stewards are still the same, they remembered me when I went back with West Ham and Barnsley. ‘I can’t believe how big you’ve got,’ they’d say. I’m fortunate to have played there twice. It’s brilliant. To me it’s not a stadium, it’s a colosseum, massive, a really special place and special to all in our family. I can’t wait to be back.
ROB: We lived in Pity Me (Pic 1). Then we moved to Chester-le-Street, we bought Kenny Dalglish’s house when he got sacked. Then when I went, Bobby Robson was going to buy our house. He came to look but he didn’t buy it.
OLLY: I remember that! He came to our house and we were playing football. ‘Maybe one day you’ll play for Newcastle,’ he said. I remember that so well. Surreal. We were on holiday once and I ended up making paper aeroplanes with Kevin Keegan. I’d no idea who Kevin Keegan was, he was ‘Dad’s boss’.
ELLIOT: My favourite memories are of my dad’s last goal. But also just the way it was after games — they’d all gather in the bar and we’d play around, Nobby Solano would scratch our heads. They would stay for ages, I don’t think that happens now. That’s what made it special, a family club.’
ROB: My last goal for Newcastle, it was at the Leazes End against Man United. That was the game we won 4-3 (2001). I first played there for Charlton in the 1980s, when it was the old, open stadium. I always used to do well there, and at Sunderland. My debut was at home against Middlesbrough, who I’d just turned down.
ELLIOT: What I remember is Dad skipping by (David) Beckham and letting one rip. It bobbled in front of (Fabien) Barthez and went up into the roof of the net. I remember going mad.
OLLY: The main game I remember is the first FA Cup final, ’98. I remember walking up the stairs at Wembley into this stadium, seeing everything, and Dad leading the team out. That was a really proud day for us. Apart from the result.
AUGUST 2001, Rob’s testimonial against Athletic Bilbao saw Olly and Elliot on the pitch with him for the first time — as ballboys (Pic 5).
OLLY: By then I was 11, 12. It had just become normal, Dad running out for Newcastle in front of 50,000. It might sound weird to say that. That day we were really close to the fans because we were ballboys. It was a really good day.
ELLIOT: I was at the Gallowgate End, it was really good. I remember us walking around the pitch at the end, then there was a big party afterwards, Ant ‘n’ Dec were there. We were thinking: ‘Oh, wow’.
OLLY: Jimmy Nail was there. I was a bit scared of him. so to today. When Newcastle hosted Luton in 1994, Luton secured a draw and a replay at Kenilworth Road. Luton won and as Rob says: ‘Kevin Keegan wasn’t happy. A young John Hartson — with hair — scored for Luton.’
His sons would relish a similar outcome because, as Olly says: ‘Kenilworth Road’s an old-school ground, and it gets rocking when it’s full. Last season against Blackpool in the play-offs, it was.’
Given Luton have scored 62 goals in League Two already, they will not travel with inhibition. They scored five at Gateshead in the previous round.
Gateshead Stadium is a long shot from St James’ Park, but then Olly has scored from inside his own half this season. The claim was that his effort was so far out it crossed postcodes. On Saturday the Lees are back in the one they grew up in — NE1.