It was 1989. Newcastle United
had said goodbye to the top tier of league football for the time being, having
flirted with relegation a few times since Kevin Keegan, Peter Beardsley, Chris
Waddle and Terry McDermott guided them into the Promised Land just five years
previous. The already relegated side
that took to the field for the final top-flight game away at Manchester United
was unrecognisable from the one that ran out at St. James’ Park three months
later.
There was no John Anderson, Kenny
Sansom, David McCreery, Glenn Roeder or Michael O’Neill. Sunderland born Kevin Dillon had joined from
Portsmouth, John Gallacher took up the right wing spot with Wayne Fereday on
the left.
Most importantly of all
however, was the introduction of two now club legends up front. Mark McGhee had returned to Newcastle having
been sold after his first spell to Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen, winning several
leagues, Scottish cups and the European Cup Winners’ Cup; part of the side that
defeated Real Madrid 2-1 in the final.
He’d also won the European Super Cup, scoring against Hamburg in the
second leg. Lesser known to the fans at
the time was Mick Quinn. He’d recently
helped Portsmouth back into the top flight for the first time since the 1950’s. Pompey were relegated again after one season
and were almost relegated again but for Quinn’s 20 goals helping them to a safe
20th position. Newcastle
manager Jim Smith thankfully saw a lot more in Mick Quinn than he did in Frank
Pingel and signed him for £680,000.
What’s interesting
about this first game of the new season is how many of the Leeds United team were big name
players. Chris Fairclough had top
division pedigree, a young David Batty and Gary Speed were just finding their feet with
Vinnie Jones and Gordon Strachan alongside to assist. Leeds had signed John Hendrie from the
Magpies to play alongside another ex-Newcastle player, Imre Varadi. Lee Chapman added to the ‘combative’ edge
that Howard Wilkinson was trying to imbue in his team but sadly for the The
Whites, it was Newcastle who managed to make an explosive start to the season.
The mood on the
terraces was a gloomy one after the fans had watched their side slip meekly out
of the First Division amidst chants of ‘sack the board’. Any discontent soon turned to encouragement
as Newcastle flew out of the blocks, attacking from the first minute. Newcastle hit the bar within the first ten
minutes and a few minutes later, a long ball set John Gallacher away down the
Newcastle right. He completely outpaced
Jim Beglin and forced the former Liverpool full-back to bring the speedy Scot
down in the box for a penalty. Within
seconds of the offence, Mick Quinn was standing on the penalty spot gesturing
for the ball. Once the ball was placed,
Quinn made his way to the edge of the box, faced his own goal and then suddenly
turned, ran up to the ball and fired it into Mervyn Day’s bottom right-hand
corner. Away he ran to the Gallowgate end
to celebrate with sixteen fans jumping up and down with lots of space on the
terrace behind them. One fan just stood
there, hands in pockets, looking on for a moment before turning his back on
proceedings and wandering back up the terrace, decidedly unimpressed. Meanwhile, the Strawberry corner was a
bouncing sea of delirious Geordies who were about to witness more goals from
their team in one game than they’d witnessed in the last nine games of the
previous season.
Leeds hit back two
minutes later with Gordon Strachan slicing through the Newcastle midfield with
ease and releasing Baird who crossed for Bobby Davidson to fire into an empty
net. Parity then turned to disaster when
a long free-kick was headed on to Ian Baird who notched one of his seventeen
goals in seventy seven games for Leeds United to make it 2-1 after twenty nine
minutes. Fans and players alike thought
their team was level when a corner from the right was headed goalwards by Kevin
Scott. The final touch by McGhee sent it
past the Goalkeeper but the offside flag denied him. Jim Smith’s half-time words had their desired
effect and the comeback started with a corner from the left. Two minutes after the re-start, Fereday
floated the ball over and as McGhee flicked it on at the near post, the Leeds
defence seemed to completely lose track of it.
Quinn read it perfectly however and nodded the ball into the net for
2-2.
Twenty minutes
later, Tommy Wright launched the ball upfield where Quinn headed it into the
back of Mark McGhee who then turned and mesmerised a Leeds defender, leaving
him scrabbling on the floor before releasing John Gallacher down the
right. His first-time cross found Quinn
in the six yard box who claimed his hat-trick via Mervyn Day’s hand and Mel
Sterland’s leg before scampering off, pointing at the sky and punching the
air. Delight turned to ecstasy with four
minutes left when a throw down Newcastle’s left found McGhee who performed a
hopeful punt over his head. Peter
Haddock had no idea where he was and his delicate knockback in the direction of
his own goal found John Gallacher lurking behind. The winger teased Jim Beglin with a few
touches, taking the ball closer and closer to the centre of the goal before
firing in an angled shot into the bottom corner leaving the Goalkeeper
helpless. During the goal celebration,
Wayne Fereday paid Gallacher particular attention, speaking to him at
length. He was probably asking if
Gallacher could show him how to kick the ball in the general direction of the
opposition goal in training on Monday.
However, this is just a rumour.
The fifth glorious
goal came just one minute later when Kevin Scott stuck out a leg to thwart a
rare Leeds attack and the resultant interception set Mick Quinn through with a
clear run on goal. He took a couple of
touches and fired the ball goalwards from thirty yards, surprising the ‘keeper
who grasped at thin-air and could only watch as Newcastle went nap.
The success story that had
started on the opening day continued throughout the season with Quinn
scoring in each of the opening five games and going on to score fifteen league
goals in fourteen games. McGhee weighed
in with his fair share of goals and they ended the season with fifty one goals
between them. Unfortunately, neither
could find the net in the crucial final three games. The 4-1 defeat to Middlesbrough which
consigned Newcastle the Play-offs and the two Play-off games against Sunderland
when Newcastle failed to find the net at all.
However, for those who were there for Mick Quinn’s debut, they knew that
day that a new Number Nine legend had
been born.
Watch the highlights here
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