Sir Les Of The Tyne

[Tooj 17]

 

[Jimbo 133]

a legendary video, well done Jonny.

[Jimbo 133]

Found this on the same page

 

Sir Les auditioning for James Bond.

 

[Craig 6328]

Criminal that we only got 2 seasons out of him before the money men sold him....

 

As Shearer says, his best striking partner of all and as KK pointed, undoubtedly the best header of the ball in the country at that time - with Gillespie on one wing and Ginola on the other, Ferdinand couldn't help but score.

 

Will probably get some stick from the pro-Shearer lot for this but IMO Sir Les is the best striker I've ever seen at the club.

[Jimbo 133]

Criminal that we only got 2 seasons out of him before the money men sold him....

 

As Shearer says, his best striking partner of all and as KK pointed, undoubtedly the best header of the ball in the country at that time - with Gillespie on one wing and Ginola on the other, Ferdinand couldn't help but score.

 

Will probably get some stick from the pro-Shearer lot for this but IMO Sir Les is the best striker I've ever seen at the club.

 

Agreed, I was gutted when we sold Sir Les but in hindsight he was never that good again, we definitely saw the best of Ferdinand.

[Guest Stevie]

Criminal that we only got 2 seasons out of him before the money men sold him....

 

As Shearer says, his best striking partner of all and as KK pointed, undoubtedly the best header of the ball in the country at that time - with Gillespie on one wing and Ginola on the other, Ferdinand couldn't help but score.

 

Will probably get some stick from the pro-Shearer lot for this but IMO Sir Les is the best striker I've ever seen at the club.

 

Agreed, I was gutted when we sold Sir Les but in hindsight he was never that good again, we definitely saw the best of Ferdinand.

You could class Beardsley as a striker, and for that reason he'll be the only one I'll give that accolade too. The best goalscorer I ever saw here was Andy Cole, Les was a better all round striker though, but Shearer for so many reasons was the daddy, we got 206 goals out of him and to think we only saw him for one season at his peak, after his injury at Goodison understandably effected him.

 

As far as finishing chances is concerned, and chances to goals ratio, you'd be hard pressed to find someone more natural than Mick Quinn, shame he was more appropriately built for Newcastle Labour Club, than Newcastle United Football Club.

[Craig 6328]

Beardsley was more of an all-rounder for me - a forward but never a striker.

 

Cole was great here because of Beardsley and had he not had Pedro laying on balls left right and centre, I doubt he'd ever have reached the greatness he did.

 

Les was the most gifted of all the strikers I've seen. Shearer was a great striker but as you say, we only caught a glimpse of him at his peak - much like Ferdinand. Those two should have been our strike force for a good 3-4 years and I reckon we'd have reaped the benefits.

[Fop 1]

Les was the most gifted of all the strikers I've seen. Shearer was a great striker but as you say, we only caught a glimpse of him at his peak - much like Ferdinand. Those two should have been our strike force for a good 3-4 years and I reckon we'd have reaped the benefits.

 

 

Could have been's.....

[Guest BigThompers]

I don't know about being better than Shearer, that's a bit far fetched imo. Certainly a great, great player and I was gutted when he left

[Tooj 17]

Beardsley was more of an all-rounder for me - a forward but never a striker.

 

Cole was great here because of Beardsley and had he not had Pedro laying on balls left right and centre, I doubt he'd ever have reached the greatness he did.

 

Les was the most gifted of all the strikers I've seen. Shearer was a great striker but as you say, we only caught a glimpse of him at his peak - much like Ferdinand. Those two should have been our strike force for a good 3-4 years and I reckon we'd have reaped the benefits.

Bit harsh on Cole there like Craig.

[Guest Stevie]

Beardsley was more of an all-rounder for me - a forward but never a striker.

 

Cole was great here because of Beardsley and had he not had Pedro laying on balls left right and centre, I doubt he'd ever have reached the greatness he did.

 

Les was the most gifted of all the strikers I've seen. Shearer was a great striker but as you say, we only caught a glimpse of him at his peak - much like Ferdinand. Those two should have been our strike force for a good 3-4 years and I reckon we'd have reaped the benefits.

Depends on your definition of striker. Cole undoubtedly benefitted from Peter, as did anyone who played with him, but if he had Kelly alongside him in the Premiership I'd still have fancied 20-25 goals from him, he was so sharp and lethal. I've argued with a few people and been ridiculed that Andy Cole was better than Lineker, I seen both hundreds of times, so I'm not someone who has only seen flashes from both, I think Cole was more explosive, and it's a myth to say Lineker never used to miss, he did, and he missed a lot. One of the worst striking performances in a tourament other than Totti .....enter any international tournament of the last 10 years......was Lineker in Euro 88, how many open goals did he miss???

 

Shearer and Ferdinand should've been the partnership for England in my opinion, it was used far too infrequently, Sheringham and Shearer were awesome, but I'm struggling to think of a better club partnership, of the last 20 years which was more potent and frightening than Shearer and Les, albeit for one season. England v Poland sticks out in my head.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Stevie

[Jusoda Kid 1]

It seemed every ball Cole touched at the time went in, unreal when you think back.

[Guest Stevie]

It seemed every ball Cole touched at the time went in, unreal when you think back.

You remember that game against Leicester when we went 7-1 up, literally the whole ground (including the East Stand, aye!) was jumping up and down singing Andy, Andy Cole. I loved Cole till I tried to have a chat with him in Eldon Sq and realised what a cunt he was, and when he sung "sad geordie bastards" walking round Wembley with the FA Cup in his hands in 96.

[Jusoda Kid 1]

It seemed every ball Cole touched at the time went in, unreal when you think back.

You remember that game against Leicester when we went 7-1 up, literally the whole ground (including the East Stand, aye!) was jumping up and down singing Andy, Andy Cole. I loved Cole till I tried to have a chat with him in Eldon Sq and realised what a cunt he was, and when he sung "sad geordie bastards" walking round Wembley with the FA Cup in his hands in 96.

 

Always remember his goal against Chelsea from the left, corker!!!

 

 

Could imagine him being a right arrogant twat in real life, to cool for school attitude

[Guest Stevie]

It seemed every ball Cole touched at the time went in, unreal when you think back.

You remember that game against Leicester when we went 7-1 up, literally the whole ground (including the East Stand, aye!) was jumping up and down singing Andy, Andy Cole. I loved Cole till I tried to have a chat with him in Eldon Sq and realised what a cunt he was, and when he sung "sad geordie bastards" walking round Wembley with the FA Cup in his hands in 96.

 

Always remember his goal against Chelsea from the left, corker!!!

Could imagine him being a right arrogant twat in real life, to cool for school attitude

He'd fit in well somewhere like LA or Brixton, you could imagine him having proper Malcolm X type patter, as opposed to someone like Les Ferdinand, who is an example to all ethnic races in this country, about how they should fit in and be as a person.

 

That Chelsea goal was a belta like, but my favourite Cole goal was his one against Villa when he beat the record, summed up his season and him as a player.

[Papa Lazaru 0]

For out and out strikers Shearer is the best of them, before all his injuries he was unstopabble and would have shattered every scoring record going for club and country. He could score any type of goal you can think of and was actually pretty fast as well, not Bellamy pace obviously, but you'd see him for Blackburn running through to score plenty.

 

Ferdinand is rightly loved up here (one of my favourite ever toon players) and was a top allround striker, but not as good as Big Al at his peak for Blackburn.

 

Beardsley is my alltime favourite toon player, but completely different to the Shearer's, Coles etc. so hard to judge him along with them.

[Hadrian 0]

mixed emotions , great to watch but annoying to think how far we have fell .

dont think there are strikers like les around anymore , was fantastic to watch , but hugely dissapointing when we sold him and ginola.

 

can never understand the lack of praise cole gets sometimes , beardsley or not , andy still put them all away.

 

one obvious thing about watching the videos of that time period , is all our lads gave a shit about each other , we had a propper team then , not just a group of players

Edited March 25, 2008 by Hadrian

[Craig 6328]

Beardsley was more of an all-rounder for me - a forward but never a striker.

 

Cole was great here because of Beardsley and had he not had Pedro laying on balls left right and centre, I doubt he'd ever have reached the greatness he did.

 

Les was the most gifted of all the strikers I've seen. Shearer was a great striker but as you say, we only caught a glimpse of him at his peak - much like Ferdinand. Those two should have been our strike force for a good 3-4 years and I reckon we'd have reaped the benefits.

Bit harsh on Cole there like Craig.

 

My own personal opinion - and thought that even back in the day when he did play for us. IMO he was awesome because of the team he was playing in more than the other way around.

 

A good striker with an awesome shot but when you think back, his 'god-like' status lives almost completely off the 93-94 season and could, harshly, be referred to as a bit of a one-season wonder.

 

He was a fantastic talent but, despite the initial horror of where he'd gone, I never doubted Keegan's decision to sell him.

[wykikitoon 17234]

Les, what a legend man. Used to shudder when we were playing QPR because 9 out of 10 times he was going to score against us, him and Sinclair. When we signed him I was delighted

 

btw I cant see the vid

[wykikitoon 17234]

Its ok got it wokring now.

 

Stonking Vid Jonny Whats the tune?

 

Will we ever have a threat like that again

[tinofbeans 91]

if we'd have got les a year earlier we'd have built on the great team we had a year before.

 

his strike rate was excellent and his all round team effort was good. we'd also have got 2 more years out of him, at his relative peak (27 to 32 are the players best years injury permitting).

 

for me he was a much better player up front than cole as he could act as a target man and flick on etc etc... as well as weigh in with goals.

[sweetleftpeg 0]

Probably the last NUFC player I hero worshipped before I became far too old for such nonsense. Hell of a strike rate, only staying two seasons and being pushed out while still at his peak mean he'll always be a cult hero here. Quite right too.

[Big TRon 0]

Criminal that we only got 2 seasons out of him before the money men sold him....

 

As Shearer says, his best striking partner of all and as KK pointed, undoubtedly the best header of the ball in the country at that time - with Gillespie on one wing and Ginola on the other, Ferdinand couldn't help but score.

 

Will probably get some stick from the pro-Shearer lot for this but IMO Sir Les is the best striker I've ever seen at the club.

 

If Shearer said that he was probably in MOTD mode. Ferdinand had to give up his #9 shirt when Shearer arrived. Shearer worked much better with Duncan Ferguson and Bellamy in my opinion.

[The Fish 9307]

Criminal that we only got 2 seasons out of him before the money men sold him....

 

As Shearer says, his best striking partner of all and as KK pointed, undoubtedly the best header of the ball in the country at that time - with Gillespie on one wing and Ginola on the other, Ferdinand couldn't help but score.

 

Will probably get some stick from the pro-Shearer lot for this but IMO Sir Les is the best striker I've ever seen at the club.

 

If Shearer said that he was probably in MOTD mode. Ferdinand had to give up his #9 shirt when Shearer arrived. Shearer worked much better with Duncan Ferguson and Bellamy in my opinion.

Shearer would probably prefer Ferdinand because he scored more goals with him, than he did with Ferguson or Bellamy, plus he fucking hated Bellamy, so it's unlikely he'd rate him highly.

[Neville Neville Neville 0]

Great video. Wish I'd been a bit older at the time as that was probably only my 2nd season properly watching the toon as a kiddy - and we didn't have sky, and pre-internet, it was pretty much taping MOTD or getting up early on the sunday (i think they did the sunday am repeat back then) and of course reading Match and Shoot.

Jonny, where do you get your clips from? Have you just got most of the official newcastle tapes/dvds, or are you more cunning than that?

 

To join the debate, although I wasn't really around for Cole and Beardsley, its a bit unfair to say that Cole relied lots on Beardsley when you could say that Ferdinand relied loads on Ginola and Gillespie, and Shearer (in his later years) relied loads on the pace around him in Robson's team.

 

I also think that Shearer suffers from the fact we saw him play on for us probably 2 years too long (as the main focus of our attack). It says a lot when I would have preferred to see Kluivert and Bellamy have an extended reign together up front even when Shearer was fit. The other strikers he's being compared with were pretty much at their peak throughout their time at newcastle in successful teams. For me, I just love the front 4 of gillespie, ginola, shearer, ferdinand, as I don't really think there's been another team whove played so well with 2 genuine wingers and 2 powerful strikers (plus they whooped united and spurs). But thats probably influenced by my age.

 

2 questions:

1/ with the caveat that it woudn't have made a big difference to our overall performance, are you guys glad that shearer played on and got the record, or would you rather he had less goals, but bowed out before we saw him struggle

2/ when asprilla came in, how did our team adapt to him coming in. were there injuries, or was someone who had been started dropped.

 

oh yeh, to whoever asked the song is 'my sacrifice' by creed. a much loved song by video makers, and rightly so

 

cheers