I often fondly look back at when I first started following Newcastle United in the 1995/1996 season. I was a teenage boy, new to football and the English Premier League was really just starting to push its brand to the overseas market. That season, Kevin Kegan had signed the talismanic French Winger, David Ginola from Paris St Germain for £2.5million.
Watching Ginola on TV, I was mesmerized by his technical ability. He weaved in and out of defenders with ease, never appearing to lack confidence in his own ability. Every time he touched the ball, a sense of expectation overcame me. I expected him to attack, dribble past defenders, whip in a cross, or take a long distance shot with his blistering right foot.
However, it was not only Ginola that had the ability to make defenders grasp at thin air. Players like Keith Gillespie, Peter Beardsley and the formidable striker Les Ferdinand (signed from QPR for the then club record of £6million) all made the world sit up and take notice. A team that would play gung-ho attacking football, suicidal defending at times with the attitude ‘if they score 2, we will score 3’. Kevin Keegan had assembled every neutral fans second favorite team; Newcastle United – The Entertainers. This was football, this was my team!
Fast forward to the current era, Newcastle United is a shadow of the side that was nicknamed ‘The Entertainers’. Watching the 3-0 loss to Liverpool on 1st May 2011, it was almost embarrassing to see how the club that had at one time gone to Anfield, and participated in what many people consider to be the best Premier League game ever (a 4-3 loss), put out such a disheartening and unimaginative display.
Newcastle hardly threatened, and resorted to unattractive ‘long ball’ football. Even with the large amount of set pieces that were presented to Newcastle, Pepe Reina was untroubled throughout the match. There was no penetrating approach, a few passes around the midfield, followed by a hopeful 50/50 ball lobbed up to Shola Ameobi, who more often than not, lost possession.
No inspiring runs from midfield at the heart of defense, followed by a through ball to an open attacker. No player that had confidence in his ability to take on a few defenders and play a defence splitting through ball, ala Peter Beardsley. This has been all too common with Newcastle United in the past decade.
So, if you ask me what is missing from Newcastle United at the moment – one of the things would be flair. Allen Pardew also recognizes this: “Newcastle are renowned for getting them [the fans] off their seats, and we know that’s probably what is missing and is going to take us beyond where we are at the moment.”
In all fairness, had Hatem Ben Arfa not missed most of this season, Newcastle fans may have had that player that can create something out of nothing, one that has the fans on the edge of their seat. However, one player alone is not able to change the manner in which the whole team plays football. This transfer window offers Newcastle United the opportunity the reignite their fan bases passion, and bring in some players that can capture the imagination of football fanatics around the world – just like ‘The Entertainers’ did.
