Part 6 (1/2)

I screa to play like a woman all your life?'

He just stared at me, frozen to the spot, before I explained to him: 'That's exactly what the keeper wants you to do pull out of the challenge You are allowed to block-tackle in his chest' I went on: 'Don't be dirty, but don't juhtened because he was only a 16-year-old lad Seven or eight years later, that incident ca for Falkirk and ere playing a friendly against Blackburn Rovers, but as I dived at the feet of their forwardBANG, ot a couple of stitches in a face wound, and as I looked up after the incident the young fella froround was standing there, protesting: 'YOU told me to do it! You told me not to hold back!' You knoho the boy wasAlan Shearer! I nurtured him and coaxed a bit more out of him back then when he was 16, and as everyone knows he went on to have a nificent career

To be honest, Alan Shearer had lireatest player in the world, but my God that kid wanted it so bad to be a successful footballer At one stage, Southampton nearly released hier to learn and iame He was only 17 when Chris Nicholl called him up to play in the first team Alan used to babysit Thoht when o out for our dinner He became a friend and I had so round It was no surprise that he got called up by Chris at such a young age, because his dedication was unbelievable He was like me in that respect not the best, but he tried and tried and put asShearer ainst arsenal on 9 April, 1988 a daunting prospect for any kid because in those days Tony Adams and Martin Keown formed the rock of the arsenal defence

I went over to hiame and said to him: 'It's only arsenal, we can beat these!' And he was in front of ain I put my hands on his shoulders and said to hi, you've go nothing to worry about' I don't know if , but he was certainly not overawed He went out onto the field and scored with practically his first kick He then scored again with a great typical Shearer diving header His forte in his early these days was running on to a ball pinged between the centre-half and full-back He would chase paper on a windy day, he was so keen! Ten ainst arsenal; what a debut! We won that gaame, just to protect him a bit Chris looked after him very well in the early days because he could have been burnt out if he wasn't handled carefully, or the success could have gone to his head But Chris Nicholl did an absolutely brilliant job in keeping young Shearer's feet on the ground I've always considered hiood friend and we kept in touch

Another unbelievable incident that occurred at Southampton, which would come back to haunt me later in my career at Newcastle, was the tiue They had all the big stars at that ti Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa, who had been World Cup winners with Argentina It was a night gahts at The Dell weren't the best because they sat on top of the stand I think it affected their keeper, Bobby Mihtmare We went 1-0 in front when Glenn cockerill scored with a deflection that went up in the air and over Mimmsy, who probably should have had it

It was a real knife-edge gaot a corner in the last ot to the ball first and tried to waste a few precious seconds Little Ossie caive rasp I just said to him: 'In one minute you can have the ball and let your kids play with it for all I care, just not yet' I handed it over, slow as I could, and as he turned round I gave hies but he went down theatrically to the ground, holding his face and whining 'Referee, referee, he elbow et et up and get on with taking the corner

When the corner was eventually taken, Ossie was to find out that I had a beautiful little trick up my sleeve, purely in the interests of self-preservation Because people used to try to stand onthe metatarsal bone in the top of their foot I used to work onthem down so they were like arrowheads When the officials caame, nine tiers over the front studs and do the quickest of safety checks on boots But the back studs on mine were like bullets because I'd filed them down The reason was simple when people came up to me at a corner and tried to bully and inti to the ball first, I'd take matters into my own hands I wasn't stupid about it I'd have a look at the referee first, then the lines the other way then I'd seize the ht boot down on the striker's metatarsal BANG! It sounds cruel and dirty, but it was kick or be kicked, because the centre-forould do it to you first if you showed even the slightest weakness It was a necessary evil When Spurs eventually took their last-et in a sneaky sta for it I gave him the old two-studs coony Our defence cleared the ball upfield and we had won the game

When the final whistle went I did my usual ritual and ran to the Southaround But as I was clapping the: 'You ANIMAL!' It was an irate Ossie, and he was behind me all the way as I went down the tunnel At Southaht of 10 stairs on the way to the dressing roooing crackers behind e of Tottenhareatest of respect for, was nearby and I warned hiet him away from me, you knohat I'ot to the top of the stairs Ossie sneaked up behind me on my blind side and pushed ed to stop myself after I'd slid down three or four of the steps I tried to controloff at ht and away to the dressing rooentina over the Falklands, and I lost it at that stage, shouting: 'We've just beat you in the Falklands, now I've just beaten you here, now fuck off!' My head had coone I shouldn't have said it, but he'd pushed ame, a complaint was filed by Tottenhaame It was kept between the clubs, and the FA were not involved, but it annoyed ested that Ossie Ardiles was blameless in the whole incident I was later suer's office and when I told Chris that he had pushedto mind my own business, he accepted that That was the end of the ht My clash with Ossie would resurface later in my career in spectacular fashi+on

CHAPTER 16

HOWAY THE LAD

'Losing in the play-offs to Sunderland was one ofmoments in football'

I had three fantastic years at Southaest of clubs, and to me it seemed football would never come first in the city That irked me a bit, because I like cities that are as passionate about their football as they can possibly be After three years with Southampton, I started to hear rufrom that part of the world I knehat size of club it was and what football meant to the people there Newcastle were in the Second Division at the tiain, but that didn't bother et tea promoted At first it was just newspaper talk and I didn't hear anything further I kept waiting and waiting for a phone call, and all the while Chris justifiably arning ned a new contract at Southampton he couldn't play me and he'd play Tiut feeling the call would coent called Steve Wicks, who had been er Jim Smith very well He confirmed that Newcastle wanted me, so I jumped into my Porsche and drove up there on the Sunday By that time Thomas had taken up ice hockey, and because the kids had such a happy life down in Southampton, I had to s they enjoyed if we moved north I chose Durha ice hockey teae Tho, sprawling, industrial city, and I wanted to live somewhere neutral I met Jim Smith to talk over the potential move, but to be honest he didn't need to sell the club to e club Newcastle United were and I didn't hesitate for a second to sign Everything I asked for I got, and I saw the reat opportunity for arded theht up in Workington in the north-west, Newcastle was only about 60in the surrounding area

It was a great feeling to go to Newcastle; there was a vibe about the place that convinced me that this was one er, and like me he was a bit of an eccentric He was part of the reason the move was so attractive to e where I could take it when it was dished out When I had been at Villa and Ron Saunders was givingviolet and I couldn't take being shouted and screaers could say pretty h the ames, so it was easy to take water off a duck's back

My first season went unbelievably well and off the pitch everything was rosy too I had ed to find a lovely house in Durhah I had lost 75,000 onpaid 300,000 On the pitch, we had a tea Micky 'The Mighty' Quinn and Roy Aitken, the Scottish international, who I quickly becaood friends with Roy and I were the non-drinkers of the teaht away I think a lot of people saw ht Iand liked a laugh, but that was never ht Ibevvy merchant, but they were a millions miles away from the truth because I was totally dedicated to , becausetheYou do hear of a lot of players froht the best way for a teaether, but Roy Aitken and I were proof that you didn't have to drink to be respected and be part of the team

Roy was Captain Fantastic for us He was a hard boy and he kept the tea He was a terrific professional The first year I had at Newcastle was great, ere fighting for proot voted player of the season after a string of solid perforreat chance to go up We played Middlesbrough, and if we had ould have got promoted to the First Division Boro were in a bad way at that time Their existence was under threat and they had to win to stay up and have any hope of keeping the bank ame as much as they did, but for some reason they were more fired up than us on the day and they beat us 4-1 at Ayresorim place to play My memories of Ayresoround where fans would throw everything at you, including piss! I'; when you went to ask for the ball back frooal kick they would chuck plastic cups full of piss on you and saturate you

The defeat against Boro put us into play-offs in May 1990 and as fate would have it, we had to play Sunderland our greatest rivals You hear all about Celtic v Rangers, Manchester United v City and Liverpool v Man Utd, but this rivalry was every bit as fierce It's a huge game up there in the north east Geordies v Mackeainst Sunderland in the play-offs was one of the biggest garound, Roker Park, on the Saturday for the first leg and it was packed I had one of ames in a Newcastle shi+rt, and with the score at 0-0 in the 90th minute they won a penalty I'd seen the Sunderland left-back Paul Hardy I used to watch a lot of ga the week and I'd seen hiainst Torquay I had a funny feeling he was going to put it the saht and hts went out forthe penalty, he followed up by kickingthe ball All the Newcastle lads went crazy, and it turned into a free for all, while I lay oblivious to the battle going on around me as I stayed down on the turf Hardyseemed stacked in Newcastle's favour to beat theht to myself that it was all fated I was co at St James' Park It was a funny situation, because whoever ould be going up Swindon Toere about to be punished for alleged financial irregularities, so whoever got to the final at Wembley Newcastle or Sunderland would autoainst Swindon, as they were heading for the trapdoor anyway

The at, butto finish the job were proved sadly wrong Eric Gates and Marco Gabbiadini scored for Sunderland and they beat us 2-0 at St Jaa that because we lost I love derbies, but there was just too ly atmosphere The fans' frustration boiled over, and a pitch invasion after the second goal held the gaa moments for me in football, especially after I had stopped that penalty in the first leg fro happens for a reason If we'd gone up that season Newcastle ht not have enjoyed the revival they experienced under Kevin Keegan four or five years later, and seen their ground transfornificent stadiu for the club for 12 years as a player and a coach so I ell placed to judge a few years down the line In one up back in 1990, Newcastle would have remained the yo-yo side that they always had been We would have gone up in 1990 and straight back down again eren't well enough equipped for a sustained run in the top flight at that tiht Newcastle and brought Kevin Keegan in They bought guys like Les Ferdinand, Philippe Albert, Alan Shearer, Robert Lee all unbelievable players but I honestly think none of that would have happened had we gone up in 1990

The play-off disaster aside, I really enjoyedout of my skin at 39 years old Sadly, Jiot the sack towards the end of the following season There were three or four garound it was announced that the new ht to meet us nobody kneho it was, it was all hush-hush

We were all sitting there in the dressing roo causto: 'I want to introduce to you the new er of Newcastle United Football Club'

The door opened and in walkedpartner, Osvaldo Ardiles The incident at The Dell, where I had clocked hi hts My ed to convince myself that he wouldn't ree as far as I was concerned

He started going round the dressing roo hands with the players, and when he arrived in front of norant of the history we shared said: 'And this is John Burridge, our star goalkeeper' I extended my hand for him to shake, but he totally blanked ood,' I thought to ht I trained the next day, and began to think it would all just be a storm in a teacup The team were due to play West Ha Tuesday in two back-to-back away games, so the plan was for the squad to stay down in London for the duration of the two matches The day before ere due to head south, I was in my car when Janet phoned to say she'd just seen the local paper and it was reporting that I'd been dropped 'No chance,' I thought, as we'd just won 2-0 in our last garoundroom I asked the kit er had ordered hi roouts to tell h the ranks that he wanted me to train with the reserves

I still couldn't believe it I thought he was just trying to scare me, so when the team bus was about to leave for London I still turned up in my suit and club tie, ready to head doith the rest of the lads It hen I read the team-sheet and saw ot into hts all over the place as I tried to make some sense of it all With Osvaldo down in London with the teaet to speak to him face to face would be the Wednesday So I bided my time till the Wednesday, then headed in to St Ja in reception, ready to havecame down and said: 'Sorry John, the boss wants you out of here He doesn't want you on the training ground; he doesn't want to see your face in the club again'

I had two years left on my contract so it was a lot to take in It was obvious that he harboured grudges big tiuts to tell me himself

CHAPTER 17

HIB, HIB HOORAY

'A forward booted ht in the face and burst”Welcome tae Scotland, ya Sassenach”'

My treatment at the hands of Ossie Ardiles at Newcastle was difficult to take at the ti and for the better This cloud really did have a silver lining When Ardiles was appointed and froze me out, it was near the end of the season and there were only four or five games left I had won the player of the year award that year and even though it was traditionally presented to the winner on the pitch at the last hoame of the season, Ardiles wouldn't let me have it Micky Quinn and I were the best sellers at the time or merchandise in the Newcastle club shop, but when I popped in all the signed pictures of me had been taken off the shelves, and so had the No1 jerseys He was trying to obliterate every last trace of ht he et picked for the reserves, so I just trained and saw the season out In the su my future and what to do next My old club, Blackpool, ere in the Third Division, came in for me, which would have been a nice move, and Hartlepool also made an offer, which would have allowed ed by Jim Jefferies, had also been alerted that I was available, and I played a pre-season ga those possibilities I got a call frodifferent the Scottish Preue? Come up and see me, and have a look for yourself'

This was all happening a week before pre-season training was about to start, and there was no tiot on the train from Durham, and was first of all surprised at how short the journey was an hour and 20good vibes When you get off the train at the Waverley Station, Edinburgh is one of the most impressive cities you have ever seen in your life as you co castle on your left and Princes Street on your right I liked the cobbled streets and I thought to myself this is a nice place to be I took a taxi down to the Hibs ground, Easter Road, which was a nice little stadiuot a feel for what Scottish football is all about

When I met Alex Miller, he explained to ers for a ot a couple of kids, Chris Reid and Jason Gardiner, as keepers and I don't know if they are ready yet for playing week-in, week-out in the Preue' I was iive it a go We careee, but I was 39 and there was a good signing-on fee, so we shook hands on the deal

What I didn't realise when I signed was the trouble Hibs had been in at that ti about Scottish football as all lish football, and apart fro at Aberdeen's results froer, I hadn't paid ue

I had to report for pre-season training a few days later, so I caught the train up and headed down to their training ground at Wardie where I would meet up with my new team-mates To say it was a shock doesn't do it justice it was the worst training ground I'd ever seen in ed inside a hut and the showers didn't work properly At clubs like Aston Villa and Newcastle, I had been used to purpose-built training grounds where you would be well looked after I was used to being given breakfast and a cup of tea and having people fussing around you But at Hibs, we had a dive of a training ground, and the players started turning up looking down in the du stories that there was no one bankrupt, and that a fella called Wallace Mercer, the chairman of their rivals Hearts, had tried to put theh a one-club city I heard that people had been threatening to kill hi to do to Hibs I thought to ie?'

We started training and it was all very downbeat I took that for three or four days then said toto lift this place' I was reading the Edinburgh evening papers and all the talk was how the players were unsure of their futures The season before I arrived, 1990/91, Hibs caated as they'd finished ninth of the 10 teaer 12-teaue, and while they would have stayed up anyway as only one team went down, everyone knew Hibs had beaten the drop by the skin of their teeth

I didn't know any of that when I signed I hadn't donehonest, and all the eation; that was the chat frofight the year before and it was still preying on their ie, you have to work your ie antics around the dressing roo their spirits I reo out before ers They were all out on the pitch, kicking a ball about, when I ran out to join theloves!