28 November 2023 , 07:00
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It was the interview that torpedoed a Newcastle United European campaign.
Graeme Souness’s side were preparing for the last eight of the UEFA Cup second leg against Sporting Lisbon with a 1-0 first leg lead. It was massive Thursday night game, followed by an equally epic challenge, an FA Cup semi final against Manchester United on the Sunday.
French winger Laurent Robert walked out of the Newcastle training ground, and it was time to bowl him a nice easy question to get the chat off to a positive start! It’s a basic journalistic technique. Throw in a couple of easy ones, no curve balls or controversies straight away, so everyone gets settled.
So, I said, Laurent, you must surely feel Newcastle are better equipped this season to go all the way, than last year - when Sir Bobby Robson’s team has exited to Marseille at the semi final stage. We paused. Waited for what was expected to be a stock, diplomatic answer saying yes, the team is indeed confident and ready to go….bring it on. Only maverick Robert had other ideas!
"Are we better this year than last year? No, I don't think so..” Oh, ok. Well, is the team just as good as last year? “No, probably worse,” said the left winger! "I don't think we are playing as well this season as last. We have not played well in the last three games. We have been very, very bad. We were awful against Aston Villa and we lost at Tottenham and we were not good playing football. It is difficult to explain why we are playing so badly, but we have to get out of it quickly."
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Robert had a habit of stripping down to his underwear (Getty Images)
The Frenchman was also a superb striker of the ball (Getty Images Sport)Wow. Robert had just given an explosive interview, hammering his own team, and implicitly burying boss Souness, who he didn’t see eye to eye with. Then the journalist’s dilemma. It's Monday lunchtime. The game, three days away, isn’t yet on the news agenda. It will be a waste to do it immediately. But can we sit on such disruptive quotes that will cause ructions in the camp, and widen a rift in the dressing room?
We decided, rather guiltily, and with a cringe I still feel, to go for impact. As close to the game as possible. Bang. The Robert story dropped the day of the game, on the back page. Grenade detonated. Uncomfortable feelings all round, because professionally we also wanted Newcastle to win. But this was a row of Robert’s making.
Robert was a fans' favourite on Tyneside (Getty Images Sport)Souness issued a statement to the Evening Chronicle and he didn’t hold back. “Once again, we have had to take our eyes off the ball because of the selfish attitude of one of our own players," he said. "We have been sidetracked by a selfish player at a time when this club is playing its two most important games for 35 years, and that is totally unacceptable, not only for the management team of Newcastle United and its players, but also the supporters These two games are not about Laurent Robert, they are not about Alan Shearer or Graeme Souness either, they are about the cause, and that cause is Newcastle United."
Robert was left out of the match day squad. Even so, had it not been for injuries Newcastle would have won the game. Jermaine Jenas, Titus Bramble and Kieron Dyer were forced off at the Jose Alvalade Stadium before the hour mark and they collapsed to a 4-1 loss.
Graeme Souness didn't take too kindly to the interview (PA)Never have I seen a squad so low, knowing a huge opportunity had been missed. The hangover continued, with a 4-0 loss to Man Utd in the cup semi final. Newcastle won once in the next nine games as the season disintegrated.
Robert, a free-kick magician on his day, still wouldn’t let his rift with Souness lie. The next season Robert said: "We would have won the Uefa Cup last season if Souness had possessed the intelligence, but we lost in the quarter-finals to Sporting Lisbon and in my opinion he has never been a great manager. If he keeps going like this he'll quite simply get fired and he'll deserve it. We finished last season so badly that towards the end I just laughed at him." He was fined two weeks wages and sent on loan to Portsmouth.
Robert, signed from this week's Champions League opponents PSG for £10m, created one of the funniest moments in Toon history, stripping down to his underpants to celebrate at the end of an early successful season. He also held a reporter up against the wall - also while wearing only his underpants - as he confronted him about past slight. These were the days pre-mobile phone cameras, unfortunately.
But Robert was also a quiet, thoughtful character. I played in a team with him at a golf day with John Carver and he was inexperienced, but enthusiastic at the game, with a habit for a slice. When on the green and close to the hole, we’d generously say: “Laurent, you can have that putt, no need to take it, we have confidence in you.”
Newcastle were well beaten by Sporting Lisbon as their season fell apart (Getty Images Sport)When shouting out our scores for those holes we realised that Robert wasn’t adding the concession onto his total! A mere misunderstanding. But what a fantastic left foot, and giver of jaw dropping Euro interviews!