The Entertainers Book Interview with Liam O'Brien. Buy Book from www.newcastlelegends.com
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NUFC Matters With Steve Wraith
December 31st 2024 - The Entertainers Book Interview with Liam O'Brien
OK Liam, great to have you on, and this really is just about Newcastle United and Liam O'Brien and Kevin Keegan. First of all, how did you move to Newcastle United come about Liam? Well, I was on playing for Manchester United at the time. I was on a week-to-week contract. Alex Ferguson, who was obviously the manager at the time, offered me a new two-year deal to stay at the club. And it was kind of financial reasons why I stayed on a week-to-week to contract the year he offered me. I wasn't happy with him. And it was the only talk in them days, 100 quid. That was all it was, right? So he left me on a week-to-week contract from, I think, the start of the 4th of July, all the way up to October. It was October, November, and I was still on a week-to-week. I wouldn't sign it. And he decided, obviously, when you don't sign a contract, Manus, I tend to measure you a bit a little bit, but I just got me head down, was playing well in reserves. And he knew I was doing so well that he put me back into the 4th team. We played against Wimbledon away. Ericsson, we played Aston Pillott, was my last game at Old Trafford, and I got Man of the Match, and I don't quite well in the game. And a few days later, Newcastle gave me a call and said, "Would you be willing to talk to us because you're on a week-to-week contract, we can actually speak to you?" And it would obviously go to a Tribune of them. So I said, "Yeah, no problem." He said, "What you want to do?" And I said, "Would you meet us between Newcastle and Manchester? Would you meet us in Leeds?" So I got into care, and I met them in Leeds, and I had a good shot. It was Colin Suga and Mick Martin were the caretakers at the time, and I can hear the chairman was in it. But there was a few people that met me at, would you believe, at a service station in Leeds? And they gave me a bit of security because my wife had just had her fourth child two or three weeks previous, so we had no security, and I was getting a bit panicky at the time. When Newcastle showed a little bit of interest, and I met them, I was really happy with what they said to me, where they were, and I was willing to sign, and they offered me a three-year contract, which was fantastic for myself and my family. So that's how it came about, and I signed the week after we played Aston Pillott, where I played for Manchester United or Old Trafford. So that's how it came about. Who was your first manager? The manager there at the time was Colin Suga, but the new Jim Smith was coming in at the time. Jim came in a couple of weeks later. I think they were just waiting for things to be ironed out with his contract and stuff, and he tried to sign me when he was at QPR, so he knew what was coming on board anyway. So then Jim came in, and things kind of took off a little bit then. Where were you training? It was at Benwell. Yeah, Benwell. It wasn't the prettiest place in the world. The facilities were very basic there at Benwell. It was always windy. It was a summer stay. When you get out of your house, when you look at Benwell, it was just windy city, we used to call it. The pitches were very poor, and there wasn't that much there for us, you know, but that was the time then for most clubs, I think the facilities weren't very good. What was Jim Smith like as a manager? Jim was very good. I actually enjoyed Jim. He knew the legs, you know. Jim was good. He's kind of old-school, you know, and, you know, he'd lose the head a little bit, and he'd see the redness coming on him, but he knew the legs, and he knew how to get us out of the leg. He was very close to doing that, you know, and he signed some good players to try and get us out of the vision. I know we got relegated to force here, but I mean, the second year when we need to go through when the players unfortunately got beaten by the guy across the road, unfortunately, but I did like the way Jim went away with his job and stuff, and he was quite good. It didn't work out for Jim Smith, and as your dealers came into the club, how did you find the transition from Jim to was he? Oh, as he was completely different, fella altogether. He was so placid. He was a really nice, nice guy to be all of. He's a very humble, quiet man, but I felt a little dishearty for us. I think the players loved playing for him, but we played some attacking football, but defensively we were very pure. I mean, he had to get rid of the experienced players, as he did, because I think he was told to cut the wage bill. So a lot of the experienced lads, he let go, the loyal Roy Aik and the American Guy and a few other lads, and he had to kind of stick to what he was given there, which was the young, and he nurtured them young players, and who came, who went on to be great players. We were just a little bit too inexperienced at the time. The looks of Steve Watson, Lee Clare, Steve Howie, Robbie Elliott, Alan Thompson, another one who was amazed at the club, let go, because he went on to have a fantastic career, and he was a very, very good player. But as he went and nurtured them alone, but they were too very young at the time, and as I say, very inexperienced, but they went on to become great players, and they were homegrown players as well. He went to be great players for the club and for the careers as well. So it was good to work for. I just felt a little bit sorry for him. He didn't get really the backing of the board. It was a boardroom struggle at the time, so he wasn't getting the funds that he needed to do to bring in the players he wanted to. I think he brought in David Kelly, which is probably the only maybe two or three others, but it was difficult for him. But I think if you ask most of the players, they did enjoy working for him. You're right about David Kelly. Did you realize that Ozzy R. Dealers actually paid to sign David Kelly? He actually gave the money to sign him? I didn't realize that, but that'd be typical of him. I remember Ozzy asked me about David Kelly, because I knew David through the International Squats with the Ireland Squats, and he asked me about him, him and obviously Tony Galvin would have known David too, but I know he said, "Yeah, he works really hard. He'd be a great sign for us." So it was the lawyer when he came on board, because he told him very, very well, because I don't know. Yeah, he did. Okay, so that sets out the early part of your time at Newcastle. When did you first hear a rumor that Kevin Keegan could be coming to the club? Well, when Ozzy obviously got sacked, everyone was disappointed, and then you heard rumors of different things. I mean, you heard that Kevin Keegan is rumored to come in. And if we're being honest, the players were saying, "Kevin Keegan, he's not experiencing management. He'd only be a novice." You know, they knew he was a fantastic player, great player, Ballindor, winner, England captain, England player, and great for new costume, you know, but as a manager, it was an absolute big gamble for the club to bring him in as manager, and it was a gamble for him to take the job, because if it didn't work out from his reputation, he would have gone a little bit. So, for him to come in, he was an icon. It was great. His man management was very, very good. He was very charismatic. He had a presence about him, and he had a vision for the club, Steve. That was a good thing. He remember him sitting us down in Benwell and having a chat with him, saying, "I'm starting with a clean slate. I'm going to give you all a chance, and I want this club. He loved the club. He loved the place. I think the whole city did need a lift." So, John Hall bringing him in. I think it did give the whole city a lift, because he was full of enthusiasm. He had his personality, and he was very driven, and he wanted the club to do so well, because he looked the club, as I said earlier, and that's what he wanted to do. He gradually dawned on slowly, but maybe quicker, but he thought we had a big job to do, because we were on our knees at the time, because we were really struggling, and we needed points badly to stay in that division, and him coming in. Obviously, he gave the whole city a lift. I remember the very first game against Bristol City. I was looking off the score. We won three. I think it was three. I think it was a full house, and there were so many fans locked out. So, I do want to get into the ground, but that just kicked on. After that was great. It was great for us. As I said, he was brilliant with the players. He made you feel on top of the world. He was one of those managers that he wanted to play for. What was the typical training session like with Kevin in those early days? In the early days, a training session, but to be honest with you, Derek was actually talking most of the sessions at the time. Kevin didn't do that. He thought he'd take a finishing session at the end of it. He might be joining in and stuff, but we might play again as a shadow player or something like that, a game against each other. But most of it was kind of far, Derek was like if he took most of the sessions, and Kevin wasn't mad, or he wouldn't be mad on it. I tell you, there's a technical level of manager trying to put confidence into the players to go out and play well and training and do well in games, and that's what it was really. It was not mad off the scale of training. It changed a bit. He just left fast, got on with it, to be honest with you. Can you remember any of his team talks? Was he the kind of person who would come in and give a team talk? The team talks would be more or less, would want you to just go out and express yourselves. He said, be confident. He wouldn't put any pressure on the players that we have to do this, and we have to do that, and we have to be confident, go and express yourself, and go and entertain the fans, go and play. I guess he just gave you confidence that way. He wouldn't be in your face. I want you to do this. I want you to do that. Just go out and express yourself and enjoy the game. Terry McDermott was his number tier, of course. What did Terry bring to the club? I was thinking, and then he had a good cup, bad cup. Terry was great with the lads, and he wouldn't put on a train in session, but he'd always be around, and he'd always be. Terry, when you think about it, Terry McDermott was a fantastic player himself, played for Liverpool, played for Newcastle, won so many trophies, European cups and stuff, and cups for England. He was a fantastic player, so he would know, especially mid-field players, where he played. He'd come off and have a chat with you, you know, and talk to you about the time they run, tuning in, and you know, if put the little things into your ear that would make you think about the game a little bit more, he wasn't just a joke around the place. You know, he did have a good interest in the players and the way they played, and I would help the team and win games. So he was all you enjoyed, Terry. I actually think he's a lovely guy and I have a lot of time for him. Kevin's arrival at the club, obviously coincided with, as you say, there was a power struggle for the club going on with the Magpie group who had wrestled control of the club, but you know, the previous chairman, I think Gordon McKeegan and George Forbes, who've been involved as well, that, you know, they hadn't left the club in a great financial position. And Newcastle were teetering on the brink of relegation at what was the old third division. Did Keegan's arrival give you all that kind of belief in yourselves that you could get out of that position? Oh yeah. I mean, as I said earlier, he had a vision for this, so he wanted, he didn't want that club to be going down. That's why they brought him in. And he had a vision, he gave belief to the players, and he had to bring in, obviously, when he talked to Joby, he wasn't going to take it to, I think it was promised some funds to strap and Discord. And he brought in Brian Hill Klein and Kevin Shady at the time, who were two brilliant players for his killer, was a great, very experienced, too. Kevin Shady had won legs with everything, won a cup with everything international with Ireland, because I won the cup with Coventry, so he's a good organizer. And they were really good sign, and you know, those two were very good around the place with the young lad. And I think bringing in those two was a masterstroke for Kevin, really, because it did settle as a little bit, and looking after it, it did bring them in because we needed them, really, because they had that experience, plus they were winners, you know, two of them, so it was cool that he brought in that type of player at the start. Yeah, and of course it went to the last game, didn't it, against Leicester City in 1992, down at the Old Philbert Street. You know, thousands of new castle fans travel down there as well, but I mean, you know, that in itself was just a remarkable day, you know, new new castle winning 2-1. Yeah, it's a game that we obviously, we didn't, in the end, we didn't really need to win the game, but we didn't know that at the time. So, it was great. I think we went one, they looked up and peacock scored, and then they got a goal in the last minute or so two minutes, two or three minutes ago, whatever it was, I think it was Steve Walsh's name, Steve Walsh's captain, but an OG, and I kind of cemented their airplanes in the division, which is what we were able to do, so it was relief, more than anything else that we stayed off, but I'll never forget that game, and the fans coming onto the pitch and at the end of that, but it was a great, it was a great relief to just to say that, okay, now we can kick on after this, this won't happen to us again, I think that's what Kevin instilled into the players at the end of that game. He said we went through an awful lot there, but we're about to stay open, this club won't go through that again, and it just kicked on after that, really. Yeah, the following season, of course, New Castle won on a wonderful run, I mean, do you have memories of the start of that season, the pre-season? Sorry, Steve, I didn't hear you there, I said again. Do you have memories of the pre-season, I mean, what was the talk about promotion going into that season, obviously? No, no, there wasn't talk about promotion, it was about what he said at the end of the season before, he knew, he knew he needed to strength the squad, right, and for any team to do well, and any leader, any division, you need good foundations, oh yeah, that means you need a good goalkeeper, a good back four. And to bring in the quality and the experience of Barry Venison, he brought in John Burtford, he brought in Paul Bracewell, and he converted Steve in Helly, which was a master stroke, into a centre-half, and he went on to play for England, and it was a fantastic play as a centre-half, so he brought in good plans, he could see the train and went up another few gears, so the team with the unit just told to express ourselves and be confident, so it was, I can't really remember much about pre-season games, to be honest with you, but I remember, obviously, I was always suspended for the first three games, because the three of us got sent off against their account, you'd remember. 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I guess the most memorable game, and probably the most memorable goal for you, was in that 11 consecutive victories run, when you got your players back in the team, we went to Roca Park, and tell us about that particular game and go. Okay, well, obviously it's a therapy game, as everyone knows, and you want to win the game, it's just to get the bragging rights for the weekend, so we went, we were obviously, we won the four 10 games, that was our 11th game, and they were obviously chilling in the wings, that they were going to stop us, and all this stuff that they won't beat us in their own patch, and we stopped to run, we stopped to win in the 11th, so we went one day look, as an OG, they got, and then they, he's qualified on that time, but it was Armstrong, wasn't it? I think he was on some Gordon Armstrong, yeah. Yeah, Gordon Armstrong scored, and we had a couple of chances, I think we were the better team on the day, but we had a couple of chances before, then we got a free kick, just outside the area, and I've been taking free kicks for the club, and I've scored a couple of goals, and again, I always say, even when I became a coach, if you're confident enough, when you get a free kick, if you're playing well enough, and you want to take it, take it, but if you don't want to take it, give it to someone else, but all I was enjoying the game was doing quite well in the game, and we got the free kick and said, "Right, Grant, this is, this is my area, you know, I'll have a shot." But all of a sudden, I just heard a voice saying, "I'm going to take this." I looked around, it was John Berzford, you know, and now he said to me, "No, in certain terms, I don't think you're aware, I know I'm taking this, so I can nominate you to take this." So he just said to me, "Where are you going to put it?" I know he said, "I'm going to put it where the goalkeeper stand, and hopefully he moves, and if he moves, I know he hit it the way I want to hit it, if I hit the target, we'll be trying to score, and I'm looking off everything well, I hit it, I couldn't hit it any better, I got good connection over the wall, and into the corner, and I was just thrilled, and of course the foremost that we wanted, we had made us win the game, but it was only after that I realized, you know, my pal said to me, "You don't realize what you've done?" I said, "Yeah, I scored a winner today," he said, "No, you won't be forgotten for that guy on there, because we're beating them in their own patch and you scored, and we'll always remember that." So, and to this day, he still did, so it was a great feeling for me, so. Now, it was fantastic, mate, and I think the best thing about that is the photograph of you, just from the clock stand, you're the only person on the photograph who knows the goal, is going in, you know the ball's going into the net, and you've got your hands up, celebrating before anybody else realizes. Yeah, I say unless I hit it, I just knew what was going in, straight away, and I just put my hands up, straight away. I say in that photograph, Steve, it's a fantastic photograph, I remember he sent it to me before, and he said, "You're the only one that knows before everyone else, you know, so it was kind of a special photograph." By Christmas, 17 wins in 23 games. New Castle were 12 points clear of second-class tramier, but in the new year, things did get a bit jittery, a run of five draws and one defeat, led to the lead being gradually whittled away, but we did get back on track with a 3-0 win at tramier, and promotion was finally secured with a win at Grimsby, mate. That's right. Unfortunately, I got injured for the last few games of the season. I got shin spins, never had them before in my life, I never again sensed, and I don't know what happened, I just, I was so much pain down the right side of my leg, and the inside of me took me to my car for my foot, it was killing me, so I actually missed the last few games of the season. I remember even the boss cabin saying to me, "With the evening coming down, I'm getting on for 10 minutes of the last game," and I tried to train, I was just in song with you, I couldn't, I couldn't, it was an injury that needed rest, so I had to kind of rest for the summer, but I missed the game at Grimsby, because I never even travelled with the team that time, because I missed the last few games, but it was great, obviously saying the footage of it and stuff, and it was great to get promotion, and all the hard work we put in that season has paid off, and our main aim was to get promotion back to the Premier League, but to win the league, and the story we did was credit to world, all involved, the staff, and the players, it was great. Were you there for the 7-1 against Leicester? Yeah, I was on the pitch that day, yeah, I was, as I say, he wanted me to play in that game, and play some part of it, because I'd done so well for him over the year, and he said it to me, "Which was brilliant from the manager to say that, he was still thinking about you, but I couldn't, obviously, saw it in so much acne, but I was there for all the celebrations, they got me medals at day, and all the celebrations after, and the bus tour after, and the form we had after, so it was all good, it was all good, yeah, enjoyed it." Thirty-three appearances, six goals, I think, in that season. A pivotal player in that promotion season, mate. What was your favourite moment, though? What was the best game you played in, as a Newcastle player in your time under Kevin Keegan? Under Kevin, the best game? Yeah, for you, personally. For me, well, obviously it has to go to the one in rocker practice, to win the dirty game. I know I've played in other games and scored some better goals and stuff, but to go to rocker-parach and to score against your main role, but to score the winner is something that I'll never be forgotten about, in my own eyes, and I'd probably have to put that up there just to get the winner, and to get all the three points, obviously to win the game was very important to me. Is the best goal the one at Sunderland as well? Oh, I don't know. If it's the best goal, I was looking up to score some good goals. The one at Middlesbrough in the Cup was quite good as well. I scored a volley against Oxford, even though we got hammered, or you never hit a ball of sweet and army life from outside the box. I scored a goal against Sunderland the year before, which probably Tekken gave us a better goal than the free kick, because I didn't have time to think about the free kick. Do you remember the one that tripped the caper? Yeah, I was looking up to score some really good goals for the club, but I suppose it scored in the winner against him. Yeah, a kid's going back to that game, but yeah, it was very special. Who was the best player you played with at Newcastle? New Council. I don't think I played with a few games with Peter Beers, even though he's been in these and training is great. The most consistent player that was tuned and the most consistent, the time I was there, that they were there, was Gavin Peacock and Robert Lee. I thought Gavin played really well in most games he played, and even in a poor sort, he'd always kind of dig out of a hole and catch a goal. I thought Gavin didn't get enough praise that he probably deserved, and Rob Lee, when he came in, was just one of the best I've seen. He got better and better as the years went on. For you, how important were the fans at Newcastle? The fans are always important, especially Newcastle. I don't say to people here where I live here in Ireland. What's it like at Newcastle? You have to live there to understand what it's about. Football is their religion. They're so passionate. It's like, and I know it's an old cliché. They're like the 12th man, but they really are, because they do get the team over the line, and when they're in full voice, there's no better stadium around anywhere with the way they get the team going and the way they're singing their songs before the game, which you're in the game, and help the team. For me, they're probably the best fans I've ever come across. I don't mean that because I play from, but a lot of people say to me, and on it, I really, truly believe it. Who was your closest friend at Newcastle? Which player did you get on with the best? To be honest with you, Steve, I got on with most of the players. I try to get on with all them, you know? I know you're not going to go on with everybody, but most of them, like we had great team spirit and all the teams that I played, and there was no one in particular that they say, but there was no clicks, which was good. You don't have any clicks at any club. So most of the players kind of get on together, you know? There was no really, but I was too old there. I'll pally and pally. And I was so like, I wouldn't say there was one particular friend that I'd hang around with mostly. I mean, tell me, Roy, who lived close by to me. We went there a bit more because we were a close boy, but that was no one really, we all got on quite well. So it wasn't really a pinpoint to anyone. And just looking at the, you know, the move away from Newcastle, how did the conversation go with Kevin when the team came to move onto tram? Yeah. Look, that's football. We are, though, like, he moved a lot of players on afterwards, winning. I remember someone saying to me, you get promotions, you lose your job. Someone's some players, but that's not the way you should think. He wanted to kick the club on. He wanted to bring obviously players in, and he was given more money to spend. He left Gavin Peacock out out here, David Kelly went, Kevin Scott went, killer went, myself, came about actually about six or seven months before I signed for trammer. They brought me down to, he asked me, would I be interested? He just obviously said, I don't know whether you're going to figure this year. It's about okay, fine. So obviously, if the manager says that you're going to speak to someone else, I was spent down, I spoke to John King. And I was very close to signing in the August of that year, but my wife was pregnant and I didn't really want to leave her up on her own with two other kids and pregnant with the toward one. So I said, oh, I'll wait, I'll have a go. I'm not getting back into the Premier League, I want to see can I play? And looking if I did, I played a few games for the club. And then the move came again, and in January, he rang me again, John King, and said, look, we're still interested if you want to come on board. So I didn't, I wasn't really getting it back. I didn't come back from energy, and I wasn't getting back in the team. I just said, I'll look, I think it's time for a fresh move. So, I've enjoyed my time down there, Steve, to be honest with you, we're a good side, we're unlucky, not, we're in three playoff finals in a row, and they get to the Premier League, and they were, they were good set allowed, and they were good players to lose to John Aldrich, and Pat Nevin, and Gary Stevens, they were, they were very close to getting into the Premier League. So, we had a good team. So I enjoyed my time down there, it was a good little family club, you know? We surprised Newcastle didn't win something on the Kevin Keegan. Yeah, very surprised, because, as I said here, they only had a vision for the club, you want to, it was so close to when, when, when they're so, but it was 12 points clear at one stage, the year was in '94, '96, after '96, '97, whatever year it was, and they most, as a player, you'd fear theirself, oh, we, oh, we have to just keep going here, we're gonna win this, but obviously it fell apart a little bit now, I don't know what, that, that was down to, but it was, I never wanted the team to win as much as I did that year, you know, but, unfortunately it wasn't to be, so hopefully there won't be too long before they do and something. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.
The Entertainers Book Interview with Liam O'Brien. Buy Book from www.newcastlelegends.com
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