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Your support makes all the difference."Stranger things have happened," said Kevin Keegan, sitting opposite a picture of himself; broad grin, crinkle perm, thumbs aloft, arriving on Tyneside in the summer of 1982. "There are worse sides than this Newcastle team to have won the league over the past 20 years."
All they had to do was maintain their home record, which stands at 10 successive victories, win a few away and maybe the grail will be theirs. Like many of Keegan's statements, it was positive, seductive and unlikely to happen, although not since his own giddy days as Newcastle manager has St James' Park been such an intimidating venue.
Seven seasons ago, Newcastle won 13 successive matches at home, a record in top-flight English football and, had they won the 14th, against Manchester United, they would have been champions. Instead, waves of black-and-white attacks were kept at bay by an inspired Peter Schmeichel and the match was snatched by Eric Cantona. Keegan, arguably, never recovered.
Had Schmeichel been fit to play on Saturday, City would probably not have lost this match in the time it takes to win an Olympic 100 metres.
A back-pass from Steve Howey to Carlo Nash was drilled straight into Alan Shearer's body and the ricochet fell perfectly for the Newcastle captain. It may have been the quickest goal in Premiership history, it was certainly the fastest by a team only one of whose members had touched the ball. Asked if he had learned anything from his return to St James', Keegan replied that in future all City kick-offs would be belted into the opposition half.
It capped a week which had seen relations between Keegan and his chairman, David Bernstein, badly strained over the collapse of Robbie Fowler's transfer. An hour and a quarter after the final whistle, Keegan was still standing by the team bus signing autographs for Newcastle fans, but, for Freddy Shepherd, Sir John Hall and his son Douglas, with whom he ran the club, there has been scarcely a word since he quit. Bernstein should remember that Keegan bears grudges.
Even had Fowler, Eyal Berkovic, Schmeichel or Colin Bell played, City would still probably have lost, since Newcastle delivered arguably their most complete performance of the season.
It was driven from midfield by Jermaine Jenas, in whom Sir Bobby Robson saw shades of Paul Gascoigne or Kevin Beattie, while Kieron Dyer thought we might be seeing Bobby Moore. "He's not just an England player but a future England captain.When I was 19, everybody was saying how brilliant I was, but I was not nearly as good as JJ."
It should be said that even Alf Ramsey took some persuading that Moore was captaincy material, but Robson believes that, unlike Gascoigne and maybe Wayne Rooney, there is a basic trustworthy maturity about Jenas. "The kid cost £5m; it would have been a lot of money down the drain for someone that doesn't come through," he said. "We had to know him before we bought him; we had to buy the character as well as the ability and we had to ensure that what we were buying was rock solid."
Rock solid is hardly an adjective you would use of either Olivier Bernard or Laurent Robert. The former had been humiliated at Maine Road in August, delivering a display which Robson called "pretty useless".
On Saturday, Bernard, a defender who does not always relish a tackle, showed an impressive commitment to inspire his fellow Frenchman a few yards in front of him.
The Mag, Newcastle's leading fanzine, published a front cover photograph of Robert with the caption "Tortured Genius or Just Plain Torture?" On Saturday, he was the former, charging down the left flank to send over the low cross which Craig Bellamy slid in to seal Newcastle's victory. He was also twice denied goals of his own by Nash.
"Laurent has got his happiness in his own hands," Robson reflected. "He has given us today what we saw when we bought him. When he does that there is nothing better in the Premiership."
Goals: Shearer (1) 1-0; Bellamy (65) 2-0.
Newcastle United: (4-4-2) Given 7, Hughes 5, Dabizas 6, S Caldwell 6, Bernard 8, Solano 6, Dyer 6, Jenas 8, Robert 7, Bellamy 7, Shearer 7. Substitutes not used: Elliott, LuaLua, Ameobi, Harper (gk).
Manchester City: (3-5-2) Nash 5, Dunne 7, Howey 6, Distin 8, Sun Jihai 4 (Macken 4, 70), Foé 5, Horlock 6, Bernabia 7, Jensen 5, Goater 4 (Belmadi 5, 60), Anelka 4. Substitutes not used: Wiekens, Ritchie, Murphy (gk).
Referee: G Poll (Tring) 8.
Booking: Manchester City: Sun Jihai.
Man of the match: Jenas.
Attendance: 52,152.
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