Part 7 (1/2)

One thing I do owe Alex Miller a debt of gratitude for is that he encouraged e, then A badge, advanced-A, and then full licence, and the Scottish Football association paid 75 per cent of the costs He encouraged me to start s and passed it Roy Aitken was also there, and we drove each other on, and I ood friends there Even after I left Hibs I would head up to Largs in the su qualifications Persevering with the coaching badges got ained those licences and qualifications, I wouldn't be doing the job that I' at 58 years old While I knew plenty about football, and understood the game, I learned more from teachers than coaches, because what I didn't knoas to how to portray myself positively and speak confidently in public I had left school with no qualifications and only knew day-to-day football They taught e over All kinds of people went to Largs froes around the same time as me, but no one knew him because in those days he was just an interpreter for Bobby Robson Everyone knew Budgie, though!

CHAPTER 20

GOALIE FOR HIRE

'I would turn up at Newcastle on a Friday not knohat the weekend held for '

They say that variety is the spice of life and after I'dI already had a good career underit quits After I'd been freed by Hibernian, Ito do next at the age of 42?'

I had spent two or three days agonising over what I should do when the telephone rang, and it was Kevin Keegan, who had been a breath of fresh air as n by Ardiles 'Budgie? It's Kevin Keegan' 'Hi Kev, what's on your ie, I need a player-coach I want you to train oalkeepers' And that was that I was back in business!

Newcastle trained in Durham, where I lived, so I said I would coood talk, and he asked if I was intending to play on The ht about it, theloves I still had that itch to play 'Well, why don't you ith our goalkeepers here during the week and sit on the bench if we need you?' Kevin suggested

At that time, Newcastle only had Pavel Srnicek and Mike Hooper as senior goalkeepers, with Steve Harper cooalkeeper Kevin gave ue bonuses, so I was earning twice as much money as I had been at Hibernian and I didn't have to travel I could walk down and walk back to training every day It was a bloody good deal, so I didn't hesitate and signed a three-year contract with Newcastle as player-goalkeeping coach Arthur cox was part of Kevin's backrooh I still wasn't flavour of the month with him after our incident at Derby, et on with our jobs and not let it becooalkeepers out at 9am and train them until 1030, and then ould join in with the rest of the tea ht into the five-a-sides There was never a lot of technical stuff involved, just high-tempo five-a-sides, which the teao at the saoalkeepers and thatfor the reserves during the week, so nobody could accusea cushy little nuht it would be I would train hard on a Monday, sa for the reserves on a Wednesday If it was a 7pm kick-off, often I wouldn't return to Newcastle until one in theagain with the keepers on a Friday Then on a Friday night I ith the team, so Sunday was h working week I wasn't coh; it orth it We had an excellent tea under Kevin I thought he was fantastic

I was enjoying the reserve ga like first-teah a series of loan deals I just took it week by week, and at that stage I had no idea that I would end upthe nu head tennis with Kevin and his assistant Terry McDerround one Friday, when Arthur ca h, then it was Lincoln, and before I knew it I was turning out for a different club everylist of clubs came from I played for 14 clubs between 1993 and 1997

It becae that I was available to help clubs out at short notice Friends of Kevin or Arthur would call up and see if they could get ues a first-team keeper would break a thumb or twist an ankle, and a club would be desperate for an experienced goalkeeper at short notice The deal was simple I would ask for a couple of thousand pounds and for Janet and me to be put up in a hotel We used to make a weekend of it If Newcastle didn't want n short-term loan deals elsewhere I would take a month's loan, and the club would have to pay e of scenery, driving down to Scarborough, or going to Aberdeen or Falkirk to play two or three gao back to Newcastle

I enjoyed , but I still had a good rapport with all the fans up there froainst old sparring partners like Hearts and Rangers Their Dutch keeper, Theo Snelders, was injured and Willie Miller knehat I was capable of fromers in front of 40,000 at Ibrox I liked Aberdeen as a city too, although it did ht have been had I chosen to go there earlier infor Southampton

I would turn up at Newcastle on a Friday not knohat the weekend held forBut never in o on loan to another Pre towards ain

'What have you got for me this time, Arthur?' I asked 'Manchester City want you to sit on the bench,' he told er'

Francis Lee, the ex-England international, was the City chair ot wind of the fact I ht be free to play for them I went to Kevin and pointed out to hiuethe saet your arse down there'

I was quite happy to go to Man City on loan, but fro up the nuoal and I was there as the back-up o down to Manchester on a Thursday night, train with City, then stay in the Copthorne Hotel I enjoyed going to City's old Maine Road ground and putting on my strip I think I drove theh I couldn't keep still in the dressing roo about in the tunnel I had all that natural energy pent up, and no proper way of releasing it I pity whoever had to sit next to h 90that 1994/95 season and we started to fear we o down as ere sucked into the botto for a European place, but they too started dropping points at an alar rate towards the business end of the season It was a bizarre feeling, being torn between the two clubs, and I wanted them both to do as well as possible I was only at Newcastle 75 per cent of the time, but would still train like a donkey and put in every effort I could when I was on the Newcastle training ground I orking just as hard when I went down to City and that was nowell, but then in April, an aard situation arose when Newcastle were due to play City at Maine Road Newcastle needed every point to nail down a European place and they had coers to five I had a strange feeling about potentially stopping Newcastle winning points, even if it was highly unlikely I'd be playing, so I thought it was only right to go and see Kevin the Monday ame

'You know that we play City this week?' I said to Kevin 'Yeah' 'I'll be on the bench' 'Yeah' 'Funny things happen in football, Kevin, what if I have to play?' 'Budgie,' he said, 'it's a one-in-a-hundred chance that you'll come on and play' I replied: 'If you want, I'll ask the boy on the bench because it would be terrible if I had to play' But Kevin said: 'It's not a probleie'

I trained all ith Newcastle and I went back to see hiain on the Thursday and asked if he was sure he was okay withon his nerves, because he said 'Budgie, it's you that's got the fuckin' probleot to Maine Road at 1pm, and when the Newcastle teareet them I had a bit of banter as I ushered them into Maine Road, like I owned the place, and they were all asking if I was playing and saying they hoped I got on I went to the away dressing roo a cup of tea with the lads I had trained with all week, but who I'd be playing against, even if it was just to sit on the bench I went back to the Manchester City dressing roo next to Tony Coton and I said to hiahing and joking, thinking the sa

But as I sat watching the ga over to the bench about 10 minutes before half-time Tony was a bit of a character and enjoyed a piss-take, so I assu or just wanted water or soet war the piss But then at the end of the first half he collapsed to the ground and was taken off on a stretcher I looked at his knee and it ollen up like a football It was a really nasty one

I was the natural replaceainst the team who employed me and paid my salary I was also about to becoue at the tender age of 43 years, 4on hit me at half-tier, said: 'C'ie, keep them out' That was all I needed to hear My competitive spirit kicked in

As I've explained, otten the time I'd climbed out of theat Derby, and when I came to Newcastle he always reminded me of how much of a traitor I'd been and how I'd let him down Incidents like that always co to be introduced to the crowd at Maine Road I was nearly 44 years old but I was buzzing socrowd of around 30,000, so when the stadiue on for Coton', I ran on, and Arthur cox was shouting behindyou!'

Well that fired me up As I ran on, I shouted back to hi there next to Arthur, and I could see the anger in his face He was shi+fting from foot to foot and I could see he looked very uncomfortable with the situation He knew questions would be asked if I had a good game and cost Newcastle any points But I was determined not to let one in I owed it to Manchester City I re an unbelievable reception from the Newcastle supporters I'd been a popular player and they knew I'd had a raw deal with Ossie, and they still held reat support from them and the same fro forthe freakish 100-1 shot that had just come in I didn't knohether to clap the Manchester City fans or clap the Newcastle fans so I just clapped theame restarted and I remember in the first five minutes Ruel Fox broke away, one-on-one with ainst hi to do he would feint to go left, and take it on the right side So I went doorked out what he was going to do and took it clean off his feet The Man City fans went daft, rising to cheer aain I knehat he was going to do he'd coht-footed into ht it It was a spectacular save and again the City fans ild Then Shearer headed one and I kept it out I ame finished 0-0 All the Newcastle lads caie' They were really good sportsainst a team near the bottom of the table Thanks toalready as going to be said After all, one of Newcastle's own coaches had just cost the team two points I'd been invited up to the press room to speak to journalists, who I kneould be desperate to speak to me as I was headline news on two counts the oldest ue and the an comes across brilliantly to the press with his relaxed manner apart frouson's ames but he's one of the worst losers you've ever seen in your life I only have good things to say about Kevin, but that's just the way he is he hates losing I know he hadn't lost that ga one upstairs to the press roo his ht 'I don't fancy this, I'm off' and was about to beat a hasty retreat down the stairs, when Kevin spotted ie, come here' He sat me down next to hihe knew exactly how I'd perfor s aboutall his charm to handle an aard situation But I knew Kevin inside out, I saw him every day in the coaches' room In front of the press and public he would be very careful hat he said, he was always politically correct, but in the coaches' rooe and not hold back

The outcome of it was that when I turned up on the Monday I was still feeling really uneasy and worried about how Kevin would react When I walked into the training ground, all the Newcastle lads had so I was a traitor it was ato ie, fantastique!' while others were not so kind, calling ! I didn't knohat the coaches were all going to say, so I stuck my head round the door and asked if I could coht I would be okay, but you could cut the atmosphere with a knife I don't know if it was etting a hard ti he'd been naive to let me play an experienced player who knew his opponents inside out Froarded as a bit of a traitor, because it was true if I hadn't played, Newcastle a, and bad for Newcastle, but it was great for Manchester City I said to Kevin: 'I's happen in football' When it started to get splashed all over the local papers it was getting even , and I went to hin, Kevin?' He said: 'No way'

Kevin was getting it in the neck for playing me, but the newspapers were full of kind words for my performance In Newcastle, Simon Turnbull's report in the Northern Echo after the Manchester City game said: It boded ill for Newcastle United's European aolden oldie who appeared for the second half ended the afternoon as the unchallenged star of the show When Tony Coton li bird known as Budgie becaue perch That he did so as, sioalkeeper and Newcastle's part-ti coach ht have featured, alongside the feathered, talking Budgies, on That's Life

CHAPTER 21

WONDERWALL

'I couldn't fault Noel and Liarateful I had helped play a part in saving Manchester City froation'

It was an unco around Newcastle after the 0-0 draw at Maine Road and I was quite happy when I got the chance again for my end-of-the-week escape to Manchester

The point City had earned against had Newcastle had lifted theiven the club a renewed sense of belief that they could beat the drop Our next gaainst Aston Villa, another one of my former clubs, and because Tony was in hospital and out for the season I was in line to play again

Before we got on the coach down to Birratulated us on the point we had won against Newcastle on the Saturday He reminded us that if on and Leeds beat Crystal Palace on the saht then ould stay up it would be e pile of boxes every one of thene and he said that they would all be cracked open if we stayed in the Preave a really passionate talk and left us in no doubt that this was a a us under pressure, but he really roused us and we headed down there in a determined frame of mind

I had played at Villa Park countless times before, but there were none of my old team-mates left from that era it was a coed, but a lot of the Villa fans re that I had done well for the club They were tense as well, because they were in relegation trouble too and just a couple of points above us

I was buzzing for that ga it well just feeling great My confidence soared again when Dean Saunders hit a rasping shot and I tipped it over the bar But we suffered a oalu actually punched the ball into the net with his hand, but the referee hadn't seen it and he gave the goal City didn't panic, though, and Uwe Rosler equalised just before half-time Then, with 10 minutes left, Paul Walsh scored for us and on it 2-1 We'd shown a lot of guts, and e learned that Palace had been beaten 3-1 at Leeds, it was an absolutely brilliant feeling We were staying in the Preames to spare, and I'd played a part in it no ne, as proan

I played the two reham Forest at the City Ground, then 3-2 to QPR at Maine Road As it turned out, it proved to be ame ever The record stands to this day the oldest player to have played in the Preue because when I faced QPR on 14 May, 1995, I was 43 and 162 days There's been a few threatening to take the record over the years, Brad Friedel and David James especially, and I dare say it will tu