David Kemp: four giants in the history of Newcastle United

Colin Veitch,

He was Captain of our beloved Toon during its Edwardian heyday, when we were champions three times and reached four FA cup finals in seven seasons between 1904 and 1911, sadly winning only once. He played for England, went to Rutherford College (Grammar School) was a keen socialist, helping to found the Peoples Theatre with George Bernard Shaw and was instrumental in creating the Professional Footballers Association. A giant of a man! A professional sportsman and an intellectual – not many of them!

Jackie Milburn

(Stretching a point here, as he was from Ashington, but any Geordie will forgive me).

A lad who came up from the pit to become the original ‘local hero’. He was a gentleman, a speed merchant, who won the Powderhall Sprint in Edinburgh ( a professional race), and a phenomenal goalscorer. His 200 goals were virtually all from open play, as he didn’t really have the nerve to take many penalties. He lit up the dark, austere, dank, cold post–war years in a unique manner. He was electrifying on the pitch and was always prepared to tackle back like a hero. Like Beardsley, he never seemed to score an ordinary goal and the whole of Tyneside adored him. When we won the cup three times in five years in the 50’s he was our talisman. So much so that when he was dropped for the 1955 final by a plonker of a manager, Stan Seymour the chairman over-ruled and put him in the team. He scored what was then the quickest goal seen in a Cup Final. The manager did not last! One of the first times I saw him was on August 18^th 1950 against Stoke whom we beat 6-0 and he scored a hat-trick. The crowds welcoming back the team on those cup winning occasions were immense. The team returned by train to the Central Station and wended their way up to the Shrine of St James mobbed by crowds of upwards of 300,000. I would imagine that this was when the Blaydon Races really became our signature tune, but I may be wrong. Usually only sung at cup matches mind, in those days. I went to his funeral and the Toon came to a halt. I was devastated when I heard the news that he had died. He was truly loved and he did once see me play, but that’s another story.

Peter Beardsley.

Born in Wallsend and in my view the most gifted player to don the black and white shirt. A low centre of gravity, amazingly quick feet, a wonderful dribbler of the ball and possessed of a dynamic shot in both feet, there was nothing he couldn’t do. His other great gift was the ability to work with other players and turn good strikers into world beaters, e.g. Lineker, Cole, Rush. His rapid ‘double- shuffle’ proved more than a match for defences world-wide. Lionel Messi is rightly lauded as the greatest, but in all honesty he does nothing that Beardsley didn’t do. Sadly he spent many years playing elsewhere, but he had two memorable spells at hyem.

Alan Shearer.

A marvellous, charismatic figure with a huge, strong personality as well as a powerful frame. He was another in the amazing list of captivating number 9’s who played for the Toon. He possessed the most determination of any player in the modern era. Frightened of no-one, a complete striker and like all of the above ‘black and white’ through and through. His misfortune and ours, was that he never won anything for the Toon, but if we had possessed 11 players with his heart and ‘never say die’ spirit, we would most certainly have been champions and not just second in successive seasons. Jackie Milburn was brilliant, but lacked self confidence; Shearer was a leader of men and carried the club on his shoulders through a succession of unsatisfactory managers, but at least he played under KK and SBR. I will never forget the ‘Black and White’ day for his testimonial match against Celtic or his performances against ManU or against the Mackems or the game against Inter in the San Siro. He was a colossus on whom we could depend absolutely.

David Kemp

Memory added on August 29, 2013

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