BEER WE GO Bull: I scored four against Newcastle and could have had more... if I’d been sober!
‘BENITEZ HAS TO STAY AND REIGN OVER
NEWCASTLE UNITED v WOLVES
It’s only now – almost three decades later – that, for the first time, he has admitted: “Imagine what might have happened if I was sober!”
At that time, Bull (right) was at his rampaging best, leading the Black Country club out of the doldrums as they attempted to reach the top flight.
He had just been plucked out of the Third Division to play for England.
And he was banging them in left, right and centre, as the feel-good factor returned to Molineux. He eventually retired as the club’s greatest goalscorer, with 306 strikes to his name.
The fixture, held on New Year’s Day 1990, went down in history after Wolves organised a huge airlift from Birmingham Airport, ferrying more than 1,000 fans to the North East on chartered planes.
Bull, now 53, said this week: “Of course, I remember it – it’s not every day you score four goals at St James’ Park.
“I’ve only watched it a few times since then – just less than 100,000, I reckon.
“But I’ve often wondered what would have happened if I’d been stone-cold sober the night before.
“Our gaffer Graham Turner had said to us in the hotel, ‘You can have a few halves to celebrate New Year’. Four of us looked at each other and thought, RAFA BENITEZ has got to be locked into a long-term deal at Newcastle by a new owner.
That’s the view of former club favourite Warren Barton, who was part of the Kevin ‘What does that mean? Two? Four? Eight? More than eight?’
“So, we cracked on. I remember ringing up my wife sometime after midnight and going all gooey, saying, ‘Happy New Year – I love you’. She was on to it straightaway. She said, ‘Have you been drinking?’. I mumbled something and just put the phone down.
“As with everything when you have a couple, we didn’t mean to do it, it just happened. At breakfast the next morning, we thought, ‘Oh no, what have we done here?’.
“There were 3,000 Wolves fans making their way up. Half on Monarch airlines, the rest by road.
“They were dressed up as reindeers, Santas, snowmen. They’d come to have a party – and we’d started it for them.
“We went out in the first-half – Mark Mcghee and Micky Quinn were playing up front for them – we were all over the place. They got a penalty and our keeper Mark Kendall, God rest his soul, saved Keegan side that came within a whisker of winning the title in 1995/96.
Now, with Mike Ashley finally looking as though he could sell the club, Barton (inset) is optimistic that the future could be far brighter – it. Thank heavens for that, or else it could have been a different story.
“The four of us were on the pitch, looking a bit sheepishly at one another. Somehow, it was goalless at half-time.
“But in the second half, it was as if someone had injected us with energy. We were all over them. Either that, or the effects of the drink had worn off. “We did say to the gaffer afterwards that we’d had a few and he looked at us and claimed that he knew we had, because we’d started so slowly.
“But I don’t know if we’d have been so honest if we hadn’t won 4-1 up there. And, I swear, it taught me a lesson, I never drank the night before a game for the rest of my career.”
The video is on Youtube, filed under the heading “Newcastle United 1 Steve Bull 4”.
Bull said: “I just did my job. Putting the ball in the net. I didn’t do it on my own. It was an unbelievable day.
“I scored 18 hattricks in my career and it’s one of the best. How many people go to St James’ Park and score four?
“The ground was rammed that day, too. Their fans are proper die-hard, down-to-earth, just like Wolves fans – and they gave me an ovation as I came off with the match ball.
“To be honest, it makes the hairs stand up on my neck talking about it now.” and he can’t wait to see what the Spaniard can produce, given proper financial backing.
Barton said: “Rafa proved last season what an asset he is.
“He got a team of very average players into a mid-table position. He hasn’t had any money, but they’re still in a respectable position. “If Rafa is given some money and some real backing then Newcastle can be very competitive.
“This is a huge club and the people here are so passionate about their football – if you’ve got some money, then why wouldn’t you buy it?
“It’s now over 20 years