‘Tino was a real character, a lunatic, but a nice one’
When he finally left and gave up the house, the owners discovered he had turned it into a disco
Terry McDermott
DESPITE missing out on the title, we were still the best team in the country at that time.
We were exciting and were quickly dubbed “The Entertainers.”
I don’t think there has been a side since who have played the brand of buccaneering football we provided during this incredible season.
Every day, I could not wait to get to training and work with this group of players Kevin had assembled. It was just phenomenal.
The camaraderie showed out on the pitch. Anfield aside, if the opposition scored two, we would get three; if they scored three, we would get four – it was magnificent to watch.
We had great players. I look back now at some of the goals we scored during this period and some of them are beyond belief.
I know when some people try to dissect the reasons why we did not win the league they will point to the signing of Tino Asprilla, and to some extent that of David Batty, in February, 1996.
100%, Asprilla did not cost us the league title and it was the same with Batty.
Some people were saying he was not the type of player we needed. Without a shadow of a doubt they were our best two players at the time.
Maybe after that Liverpool defeat some players started having doubts about themselves for the first time because, remember, we did not have many players with the experience of winning a league title – perhaps just Batty at Leeds.
Tino was a real character, a lunatic, but a nice one. He was a fantastic addition to the dressing room. He was very funny, mad as a hatter. You just did not know what he was going to do next. He used to rent a house in the Newcastle area and had parties almost every night.
When he finally left Newcastle and gave up the house the owners discovered he had turned it into a disco – fluorescent lights, the lot.
We also found loads of his wage slips around the place. There was blood from cuts from parties. We had to send people to clean the place up.
The lads loved him. I saw him on TV recently. He is a lot bigger than he was.
He was always a bit different. Kevin and I knew what he got up to. We knew what all the players were doing.
Anyway, after what I had done over the years, who was I to say you cannot do this, you cannot do that?