I am a lifelong Newcastle fan, and at 54 years of age, am lucky enough to remember our last major trophy success in 1969. Our family had a personal connection with the club at that time due to our friendship with Wyn Davies through my Welsh mother. I am a member of the Fairs Club, and keep in touch with Wyn and other players from that era.
Since then however, I wonder if I am something of a jinx, having attended every final and semi-final at Wembley or Cardiff, when we have sadly been on the losing side.
I remember the highs of the 1974/1976 cup runs as a teenager, followed by the terrible lows of the late 70’s sides, and then the first coming of Keegan – as a player.
During the 80’s I had further personal contact with players of NUFC – primarily through Kenny Warton and current First Team Coach John Carver. Kenny’s brother David played cricket with me during the summer, and he brought Kenny and John along when they were not in training, and therefore allowed to play. Both were excellent cricketers by the way, and John had a very interesting celebration when taking a wicket! I also have a scorebook in my possession from a friendly game we played against a NUFC Eleven, including the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Glen Roeder, John Bailey, Tony Cunningham and Paul Ferris. Somehow I seem to have top-scored that day, when traditionally I couldn’t bat for toffee!
With the second coming of Keegan and the assembly of “The Entertainers”, I really thought we were going to repeat the success of the 1969 team. I actually said to a friend at half time during a game in ‘that’ season, that we had just been watching the league champions for that season. I still hold myself to blame for it all going wrong!
Next, Sir Bobby. What a gentleman, and football worth watching again. A joy to behold, and again, I thought we might do it...
Most recently, I was invited to join the Fairs Club a couple of years ago, and renewed my friendship with Wyn after a number of years. Unfortunately the years have cost us both our parents, but we have lots of memories of old times. We still have photos taken at my parents house, and at Wyn’s Mam’s in Caernarvon. I remember playing football with him in his Mam’s garden when I was only 10. I also remember him picking me up from school one day, and being completely mobbed by all my mates. Happy days...
Lots and lots of memories of NUFC – I just hope there is another trophy winning memory to come... and that it won’t be too long in coming
David Moy
Newcastle United Foundation have a heritage project for fans of all ages called Toon Times.
Toon Times will culminate with a major Newcastle United exhibition at the Discovery Museum, Newcastle, although in the lead up to this event Toon Times wishes to reach out to all Newcastle United fans across the North East and further afield to get involved and share their memories, experiences, photos and memorabilia what people have collected over the years.
We are supporting the project by helping to collect NUFC memories online - fans can share their memories on the Replay Football website, simply select the Toon Times tag when submitting yours.
For more info contact the Toon Times Heritage Project Coordinator, Newcastle United Foundation, gavin.ferry@nufc.co.uk
Memory added on August 19, 2013
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