Black and White Knight by Harry de Cosemo

Author:Harry de Cosemo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd
Published: 2021-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Magic In Milan

‘When you’re in your first campaign, you’re loving every minute; the press conferences, training and the feel before a game’ – Steven Caldwell

BOXING DAY, 2002. The Reebok Stadium is the venue, Sam Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers the opposition. Newcastle United are going for it again, trying to overpower their hosts in attack. The previous season, they had won 4-0, but Bolton were now streetwise and, after their first full campaign in the Premiership, a much tougher proposition. They ran out 4-3 winners, and a familiar pattern was emerging.

Newcastle had conceded four against Inter already, five against Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers, and three against Chelsea and Barcelona. While their attacking quality was unquestioned, these heavy defeats had been happening too many times over the course of the last few months. Defensive strength was a requirement heading into the very first January transfer window. Titus Bramble, Andy O’Brien, Aaron Hughes, Nikos Dabizas, Andy Griffin and Steven Caldwell were all able options for Sir Bobby Robson at the heart of the backline, but something was missing. Newcastle needed a top-class defender.

The new approach to the transfer market in England during the 2002/03 campaign meant everyone had to take a more nuanced view of their business. Newcastle’s recruitment drive lasted a month, until the very first Deadline Day. It seemed a near impossible task to get an elite defender in the middle of the season at a reasonable price, but in the shape of Jonathan Woodgate from Leeds United, they got their man.

Robson was among the very first managers to take advantage of the growing financial hardship at Elland Road. Leeds’ debts were mounting, just a couple of years after they reached the Champions League semi-finals; the previous season, Newcastle had just pipped them to fourth place in the league by five points. Leeds won at St James’ Park the previous August, but that busy afternoon the previous December was still at the forefront of everybody’s minds.

Any talk of European qualification was now just a pipe dream; avoiding relegation was the aim, as well as balancing the books. Rio Ferdinand, who formed a strong partnership at the back alongside Woodgate, had already departed for Manchester United in the summer. Robbie Fowler, Harry Kewell and Lee Bowyer would all follow them out of the door over the coming months as the crisis deepened.

It cost £9m to prise Woodgate away from Leeds; despite a rather troublesome injury record, it was nothing short of a bargain for the Magpies. At just 23, he fitted the profile of the type of player Newcastle had looked to sign under Robson.

Charlie Woods, Robson’s chief scout, had been watching Woodgate’s progress for a while and knew that he had everything to succeed at the club.

‘Bobby said he needed a good centre-half, so he and I went to watch him a couple of times,’ says Woods. ‘With Woodgate being a young player alongside Craig Bellamy and Kieron Dyer, Bobby was creating a good team.

‘I’d seen him, I liked him

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