Following Newcastle during the Keegan period was the happiest time of my life ... but as for "raised the bar so high" ... let's not forget that Keegan was the 'Nearly Man' who ALMOST won the title.
At the end of the day ... we blew it.
I think Keith Gillespie's injury at Old Trafford cost us the title that year, because we were never quite as balanced in the final period of the season as we had been before Christmas.
He was a massive loss to the team.
But we had not won anything since the Fairs Cup, and Keegan (sadly) didn't change that.
Keith Gillespie: “Even now we are still talking about the 95/96 season.
“People talk about it in the city now.
“That was credit to Kevin Keegan and everybody associated with Newcastle.
“Kevin’s team was packed with attacking flair.
“Myself and David Ginola worked very well together. It was easy at times.
“All we had to focus on was getting the ball into the box.
“We had big Les up there and it was the joy of playing with so many great players and Ginola was just one of those.
“It’s not been brilliant this season.
“You look at the first half against Everton, it was worrying. When you compare that to the team I played in it was concerning.
“There was nothing there at all really. They have improved since then. But hopefully Alan Pardew gets it right because it is a great club and they deserve success.
“You have got the responsibility of a city on your back when you wear that shirt.
"The fans will stick by you no matter what you do. So it is important that when you go out there you play the best you possibly can for that club.
“I have a lot of great memories playing for the club.”
Kinnear - Villain Or Hero For Keeping Cabaye?
PLEASE VOTE
Yohan Cabaye has suggested Newcastle United's director of football Joe Kinnear is the reason why his summer switch to Arsenal did not take place.
And let's clear this up - Cabaye was the subject of a £10m bid from the Gunners on the FRIDAY before the MONDAY Premier League opener at Manchester City. Not on the eve of the match as Alan Pardew claims.
The Frenchman not only refused to play in that fixture, but refused to play against Fulham and the Capital One Cup trip to Morecambe as he attempted to drive through a move to the Emirates.
Arsenal opted to break the British transfer record to land Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid instead of offering the £20m asking price Newcastle wanted.
Speaking yesterday ahead of France’s friendly with Australia on Friday, Cabaye refused to discuss his reasons for not playing for Newcastle – while hinting Kinnear knows more.
The Newcastle midfielder said: “I won’t explain about that today (strike in the summer at Newcastle), it is not for me to answer, I don’t want to talk about it. This is a press conference for the national team.
“It is already over, the only person who could talk about (what happened in the summer) is Joe Kinnear, it will never leave my mouth.”
PLEASE VOTE ON KINNEAR:
http://www.newcastleunited-mad.co.uk/interactive/voting_polls.asp
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NEWCASTLE UNITED 2013/14
PREMIER LEAGUE
CARDIFF CITY 1 NEWCASTLE 2 (Remy 2)
Krul, Debuchy, Williamson, Coloccini, Santon, Tiote, Cabaye (86' Ben Arfa), Gouffran, Sissoko, Remy (71' Gutierrez), Cisse
Subs: Anita, Yanga-Mbiwa, Elliot, Sammy Ameobi, Dummett
EVERTON 3 NEWCASTLE 2 (Cabaye, Remy)
Krul, Debuchy, Yanga-Mbiwa (46' Williamson), Coloccini, Santon, Tiote, Anita (69' Cisse), Ben Arfa (46' Cabaye), Sissoko, Gouffran, Remy
Subs: Elliot, Obertan, Sammy Ameobi, Dummett
NEWCASTLE 2 HULL CITY 3 (Remy 2)
Krul, Debuchy (86' Tiote), Yanga-Mbiwa, Coloccini, Santon, Cabaye (62' Gouffran), Anita, Sissoko, Ben Arfa, Cisse (73' Marveaux), Remy
Subs: Williamson, Elliot, Sammy Ameobi, Dummett
ASTON VILLA 1 NEWCASTLE 2 (Ben Arfra, Gouffran)
Krul, Debuchy, Coloccini, Yanga-Mbiwa, Santon, Anita (74' Tiote), Cabaye (88' Sammy Ameobi), Ben Arfa, Sissoko, Remy (63' Gouffran), Cisse
Subs: Elliot, Marveaux, S Taylor, Dummett
NEWCASTLE 1 FULHAM 0 (Ben Arfa)
Krul, Debuchy, Yanga-Mbiwa, Coloccini, Santon, Ben Arfa, Sissoko, Anita 65' (Cabaye), Marveaux 74' (Remy), Shola Ameobi 65' (Gouffran), Cisse
Subs: Gosling, Elliot, Sammy Ameobi, Dummett
NEWCASTLE 0 WEST HAM 0
Krul, Debuchy, Yanga-Mbiwa, Coloccini, Santon, Ben Arfa, Sissoko, Anita, Marveaux 66' (Sammy Ameobi), Shola Ameobi, Cisse 72'
Subs: Gosling, Bigirimana, Elliot, Vuckic, Dummett
MAN CITY 4 NEWCASTLE 0
Krul, Debuchy, Coloccini, S Taylor, Yanga-Mbiwa, Sissoko, Tiote, Gouffran 45+4' (Dummett), Ben Arfa 65' (Sammy Ameobi), Gutierrez 44' (Anita), Cisse
Subs: Elliot, Marveaux, Shola Ameobi, Obertan
LEAGUE CUP
NEWCASTLE 2 LEEDS UTD 0 (Cisse, Gouffran)
Krul, Debuchy, Williamson, Coloccini, Dummett, Gouffran (90' Vuckic), Anita (80' Gosling), Tiote, Marveaux, Sammy Ameobi, Cisse (71' Obertan).
Subs: Ben Arfa, Yanga-Mbiwa, Bigirimana, Alnwick
MORECAMBE 0 NEWCASTLE 2 (Shola Ameobi, Sammy Ameobi)
Elliot, Debuchy, Yanga-Mbiwa, Good, Dummett, Bigirimana, Gosling, Marveaux 88' (Sissoko), Vuckic 46' (Shola Ameobi), Sammy Ameobi, Gouffran 71' (Ben Arfa)
Subs: Santon, Anita, Alnwick, Streete