Falling Behind the Pack – C1

“This painting represents the 1997-98 season. I decided to paint it as a horse race as is often referred to in football terms, as a four horse race for the title etc. In this case Newcastle are shown by our seahorse finishing in 13th position. The bottom half circle again illustrates an FA Cup runners up place, but this time I have painted it on the winning horse which is Arsenal who won the league that year and also beat us in the FA Cup Final”

Kenny Dalglish 1997 – 1999

Keegan’s replacement as manager was Kenny Dalglish who it was felt would help solidify the team defensively. In their first season under his guidance Newcastle entered the Champions League, and reached the FA Cup final only to fall to a defeat by Arsenal. However, Dalglish’s cautious brand of football proved unpopular with supporters used to Newcastle’s previous swashbuckling style; more importantly this cautious style was not producing results. Several unsuccessful transfer deals along with a poor start to the 1998 / 1999 season led to Dalglish being sacked.

Ruud Gullit 1997 – 1999

Ruud Gullit A trophy winning manager with Chelsea a few years previously, was put in charge promising to bring back ‘sexy football’ to Newcastle. The team again started promisingly, and reached the FA Cup final that season. Unfortunately this time around they were to lose to Manchester United. Gullit also made some high profile mistakes in the transfer market (notably, Spanish defender Marcelino and forward Silvio Maric bore the brunt of supporters frustrations). Less forgivably, he also fell out with several senior players, including Alan Shearer, and the club captain Rob Lee, who had been the heartbeat of the team for the previous half decade. A humiliating loss to arch-rivals Sunderland, and a dreadful start to the 1999 / 00 season prompted his resignation.