Remember the night when Gordon Strachan was the toast of Tyneside?

By Lee Ryder on Mar 10, 10 10:10 PM

When Newcastle United head to the Riverside on Saturday it's safe to say that every Geordie who makes the journey down the A19 will be wishing Gordon Strachan the very worst in the Tees-Tyne tussle (I don't think many of us reckon it's a derby).

But to some of us, it doesn't seem like that long ago, that we were all singing his name in the Bigg Market.

Let me take you back to May 1997...

Newcastle had finished the season on a high under Kenny Dalglish, albeit with Kevin Keegan's team and after thrashing Nottingham Forest in a 5-0 win, United earned a place in the Champions League as the first ever qualifiers in England not to have won the league to get there.

Surely it doesn't get any better than that?

Well, yes, it did actually.

For as the goals flew in against Forest and results went our way elsewhere with Arsenal and Liverpool also vying for a top two spot, Sunderland and Boro were struggling to stay afloat.

And at Elland Road, Boro failed to beat Leeds and at Selhurst Park, Sunderland slipped up to a loss against Wimbledon.

Those results coupled with Coventry (playing 15 minutes behind everybody else at Spurs due to crowd congestion) winning at White Hart Lane sent Boro and Sunderland crashing down.

In charge of the Sky Blues that day was the wee man Gordon Strachan and as Toon fans celebrated in style the chant of "There's only one Gordon Strachan" boomed around the Bigg Market.

Quite whether Mr Strachan can play a significant part in Newcastle finishing the season covered in glory this time around remains to be seen.

Comments (4)

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4 Comments

brian hewitson said:

It obviously is a derby game, other wise you wouldnÃ¢ÂÂt have written this piece. Anyway Middlesbrough is a going to be a tough test and I would take a point now. I think we are all getting a bit carried away. Pride cometh before a fall. Maybe itÃ¢ÂÂs this arrogant attitude that has made us a laughing stock throughout the country. I have to admit that the Boro fans on their Blog Ã¢ÂÂUntypical BoroÃ¢ÂÂ are making some very intelligent comments about Saturdays match. Not to mention putting players names into Spell check.

Best Regards

Brian the Pooly Toon

March 11, 2010 10:55 AM

Ted Trimly said:

"Time on my hands..."

March 11, 2010 12:43 PM

Ginola said:

1997?!?!?

Wow we are getting slighly closer to 2010 Lee, you really are getting up to speed aren't you.

FFS!

Ryder's reply: I think you need to lighten up!

March 11, 2010 1:36 PM