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NEWCASTLE v MIDDLESBROUGH BLAST FROM THE PAST
This is not a local derby. Oh no. But it is a battle between a European giant - the last English team in a Euro semi-final - and a near neighbour but it's no local derby. Definitely not.
So let's just cut straight to the memories and let them do the talking. After all, it's better than listening to the dulcet dirge of an Alan Shearer-style post-match analysis, isn't it?
Bob End
Newcastle United 2-4 Middlesbrough, 14/01/1978
The game was memorable enough- with a great individual effort from little Stan and a header from outside the box by big Billy. The most memorable thing though, was the bloody violence.
We'd been parked in the players' stand RIGHT next to the Gallowgate End, where a finer bunch of absolute nutters were gathered at the fence. As each goal went in they got more and more uppity until they were tying knots in the ends of nylon scarves, lighting the other end and shotting them over the fence.
I am tall and had a good-idea-at-the-time cream padded jacket on (don't ask: I thought I was buck in that jacket). I therefore felt like I stuck out like a sore one and would be getting merrily hammered after the game. Having said that at least we'd be locked in whilst things quietened down.
The chief copper was obviously a prize bastard as we were let out at the same time as them. There was a flight of wide steps with three sections. One section was us (specifically, a spooked me in a cream jacket), middle section was a pack of police dogs going ballistic, and on the far side were the 'difficult' boys from Teenseed ('Heed ya scarves'). And all shit was breaking loose at the bottom of the stairs.
I'd heard major stories about the battles behind the Gallowgate, so I had a word with my mate, who was really jumpy as he'd not been away at all much, and we turned right instead of left. This led us into the Leazers End lads, who were hot-footing it to join in the fun. I told my mate to shut his fucking trap, keep his head down, and answer no questions at all. Plan worked a treat with a stream of well fired up merchants hurtling past us in the opposite direction.
Grand day had by all.
Ha!
Penguin Jack
Newcastle United 3-0 Middlesbrough, 26/10/1988
My first trip to Sid James' was in 1988 when we were both in the top flight. Newcastle had shocked the football world by signing a Brazilian called Miranda or somat, but he had failed to settle and looked way short at this level (sound familiar?). We took a good crowd to Sid James' and I was in the main stand which was now the brand spanking new "Jackie Milburn" stand. I wasn't really happy about this as I was an impressionable young teenage Holgate Ender at the time and I really enjoyed all the singing and the eio's that came from being one of the Holgate lads. But still, we had got free tickets somehow and I wasn't going to argue with that.
The game was a nightmare. We lost 3-0 with Gary Pallister scoring one of the best own goals I have ever seen and the Brazilian Misfit Miranda playing a blinder and scoring two goals, including a cracking twenty-five yard free kick. I just sat there, a 13 year old kid, listening to all the anti-Boro chants and the Jawdees going mad with delight and I was fuming. My dad had to be restrained at one point by my uncle and I am sure that my mental state today was brought on by that ninety minutes of sheer hell.
Steve Goldby
Middlesbrough 0-0 Newcastle United, 09/11/1974
Middlesbrough 3-3 Newcastle United, 31/01/1976
My first ever Boro v Newcastle match was at Ayresome Park. It was the first time that we had met for ages as it was our first season back in the top flight for twenty-odd years.
I was only seven years old and the history books tell me that the date was November 9th 1974.
We had season tickets at this time, so attended every home game for quite a few seasons, but this game stands out because of the atmosphere, which was very, very special.
It was the biggest crowd that we had had at Ayresome for many years- over 38,000- and the place was absolutely packed.
I had heard some noise at Ayresome before but never like this. It was pulsating and stirring all the way through the game, which was an exciting affair in itself, despite the 0-0 scoreline.
What stands out most from the match is Jim Platt's tip over the bar from a Newcastle power strike that actually won Match of the Day's 'Save of the Season' competition- a rare accolade for a largely ignored Boro back then.
Rolling on to January 31st 1976 and the same fixture, same result, but a very different set of circumstances.
Boro were 3-1 up with just a minute to play and people had already started to leave the ground. The Geordies had a very good striker called Alan Gowling who managed to pull one back at The Holgate End and fair enough, nobody really begrudged them a late consolation.
But they did twenty seconds later as Gowling raced past our defence and bagged the equaliser.
On our way back home, we walked past some Boro fans who were celebrating our glorious 3-1 win. They just didn't believe me when I broke the news to them and I don't think I really believed it myself...
Andrew Morgan
Middlesbrough 2-2 Newcastle United, 06/12/1998
Back now to the one and only season I have ever had a season ticket and this fixture against our modest northern brethren, memorable because it was the first time I ever saw a fight inside a football stadium. Indeed it was doubly memorable as this was my first experience of a streaker as well. What a special day!
We were doing quite well at this stage of the season- surprisingly sitting about 7th on our return to the top flight. I can't remember what Newcastle were doing and quite honestly I don't really care, suffice to say that we were confident we could do over our rivals and keep our strong league form going.
It was a televised game and so the kick-off time was ridiculous. I think it was 4pm so it was getting dark as we made our way to the stadium. This simply added to my sense of anticipation about my first ever derby fixture. The atmosphere was different, the banter was unique and the place felt charged with hatred. The crowd were up for it, we were confident and we were going to show the world what we could do (or at least Martin Tyler anyway). It was to be quite an interesting game.
The game ebbed and flowed in the first half and this was when all the goals were scored. I think we scored first through Townsend, a goal that came from about eighteen yards out. It was a screamer and the crowd went wild. Unfortunately so did a Newcastle supporter who took exception to a Boro fan's barracking and decided to lamp him one across the face.
Well, in that atmosphere and under those circumstances, the only option left for the Boro fan was to twat the bastard back and suddenly all hell broke loose at that end of the stadium. Fans and stewards went piling in as a full scale brawl ensued, with perhaps ten or so people at the centre of it. The New Holgaters chanted for more as the stewards separated the fans quickly and efficiently, allowing the game to proceed.
Sat in the SW Corner I had a good view of proceedings and was heartily entertained by what I saw, particularly when the antagonists were dragged out kicking and screaming like a couple of petulant five-year olds. Not that I support football violence- I don't- but at the age of 15 there is something immaturely fascinating about a good scrap. Immature I admit but there you go. But then I did go to a comprehensive so what do you expect- I was trained on this sort of thing.
Newcastle equalised pretty soon after but this did little to quell the noise. The Riverside was electric back then in the good old days, not like the mortuary it has since become, and we felt confident that we would quickly regain our lead. We didn't quite think it would be Cooper who would help us to do this but we took it anyway- 2-1 up against the Skunks and the momentum was with us. The game though was still end-to-end with both goals being threatened and the crowd was enwrapped and enthralled at the exciting contest that was being played out in front of us.
The streakers came during the first half and it was when Townsend was waiting to take a corner. I remember being a little frustrated by them as we still had the momentum and this was only having a distracting and detrimental effect- particularly to Townsend who found it hard to disguise his amusement.
One other thing I can't quite remember is whether these streakers were male or female. The problem is that I have seen two sets of streakers in my time. One was a corpulent male (who looked not too unlike Freddie Shepherd come to think of it, but obviously wasn't) whose tackle was flying about immodestly as he evaded, erm, being tackled. The other was two rather tasty looking girls in Santa hats, with sweet breasts a-bobbing as they languidly jogged around the stadium with erect nipples.
As this match was in December I will settle on it being the latter- if only because the memories (or should that be mammaries?) are more pleasant. This only fuelled the crowd some more (and induced wolf whistles- my favourite kind of whistles) although it did little to help the players who were distracted by the humorous titillation of it all. By the by, it was amusing watching the stewards try and grapple with the ladies in question, particularly when one slipped out of the stewards grasp and ran around some more to the delight of the watching public.
After that very little happened, but then I did have trouble concentrating. Newcastle equalised again, this time with an amazing long-range effort and the game petered out a bit. That's not to say the second half was bad mind, I still think it was reasonably end-to-end, just after a fight and some streakers, what more excitement could you hope for?
Still, the result was fair and the game was good so we all left the stadium very pleased indeed. That is all except the fighters and streakers I guess. They probably got community banning orders or something (after all, this was in the days before the ASBO). But then that's a sacrifice I am willing to pay for my own entertainment.
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