Tynesiders stand Oxford’cup hell in 92 paved the way for King Kev
OSSIE AXED AFTER WOEFUL DEFEAT
NEWCASTLE UNITED return to the scene of one of their most embarrassing defeats on Tuesday night – a 5-2 hammering by Oxford which changed their history.
Toon boss Steve Bruce will be hoping the events of February 1, 1992, don’t repeat themselves as once again the club appears to be preparing to move in another direction with a takeover on the cards.
Rewind 28 years and Newcastle were struggling to stay in football’s second tier following the recent purchase of the club by North East businessman Sir John Hall.
Argentinian World Cup winner Ossie Ardiles had been manager for 10 months but his youthful side were treading water.
Desperate
Hall and his fellow directors were in desperate need of a messiah and Kevin Keegan was summoned from his Spanish exile to begin work on what started out as a salvage job but quickly blossomed into a full-blooded assault on the Premier League title.
The crushing defeat at Oxford had been the catalyst to employ Keegan and chief executive Freddie Fletcher known as ‘The Rottweiler’ was despatched to
Ardiles’ house to inform him that his services were no longer required. But Ossie (below in the Newcastle dug-out) being Ossie, the perfect gentleman, offered his executioner a hearty breakfast once the news had been delivered.
“I had no hard feelings.”he said. “Sometimes things like this happen in football. Kevin then had oceans of money to spend which I didn’t.
“He was allowed to continually break the club record for signings and even smashed the world record when he brought in Alan Shearer.”
Douglas Hall, son of Sir John and a fellow Newcastle director, knew harsh action had to be taken quickly to save the future of the famous club.
“Ossie didn’t know how to stop the slide,” he maintained.
“We would have been relegated if he had stayed and if we had gone down (into the third tier) we would have gone bankrupt and Kevin Keegan would never have been our manager.
“The performance against Oxford had been shameful and one of the worst I had ever known as a supporter and director.” With Keegan’s arrival as manager interest on Tyneside soared and almost 30,000 witnessed Newcastle beat Bristol City 3-0 at St James’ Park in the former England skipper’s first game in charge.
“If it had been any other club I wouldn’t have been tempted,” said Keegan. The two seasons he had spent as a player with the hero worship and adulation had remained with him.
Adulation
It was still a tough call with Keegan adding: “I wanted to know what would happen if the club was relegated. Sir John (Hall) said, matter of factly, ‘We will fold’.”
Apart from a difference of opinion, which almost saw Keegan and his assistant Terry Mcdermott walking away, Newcastle began to gather momentum.
Relegation was avoided and the next season they gained promotion to the Premier League.
A third-place finish in their initial season back in the big time, complete with exciting football which saw them dubbed ‘The Entertainers’ saw a revived Newcastle just miss out on the league title under Keegan.
It’s those years which the Toon Army still crave for but a trip back to Oxford in the fourth round replay will bring back nightmarish memories for older supporters.