On this day in Newcastle United history...
IT’S July 13 - a date on which three contrasting figures from different eras in Newcastle United history were born. ■■CRAIG BELLAMY: Like Macdonald-Tudor, Cole Beardsley, and Shearer-Ferdinand, the Alan Shearer-Craig Bellamy attacking partnership was one of United’s most effective of recent decades.
That was until manager Graeme Souness got rid of Bellamy at the peak of the player’s powers. The departure of the whippet-like striker was noticeably detrimental to the team.
Cardiff-born Bellamy, who turns 38 today, played for United between 2001-2005, scoring 42 goals in 119 (9) appearances. ■■GORDON LEE: The manager who infamously sold Malcolm Macdonald 41 years ago held the reins at Gallowgate between 1975 and 1977.
Dour, pragmatic and with negligible PR skills, the irony was that Lee guided United to the 1976 League Cup final and, for all intents and purposes, assembled the team which would finish fifth in the league - their highest placing since 1951.
However, in late January 1977, Lee walked out to become manager of Everton, stunning players and fans alike, and leaving the club in chaos.
Born in Cannock, Staffordshire, in 1934, Gordon Lee celebrates his 83nd birthday today. ■■ALBERT STUBBINS:
Born in Wallsend on this day in 1919, Stubbins was on United’s books between 1936 and 1946.
The centre-forward boasted an incredible Wartime League record of 231 goals in 187 appearances and 237 goals in 217 appearances in total.
Come the end of the war, and with Newcastle United then in Division Two, Stubbins nicknamed the ‘smiling assassin’ - moved to league champions Liverpool for £12,000.
There he continued his goalscoring heroics and later, famously, appeared on the cover of The Beatles’ classic 1967 album - Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Returning to the North East after his playing days and working as a journalist, Albert died in 2002.