Warren's Memories Of "Magnificent Times"

By Tom Easterby - Newcastle United Club Reporter

Looking out on the St. James' Park pitch, the memories come flooding back to Warren Barton. It's been a decade since he last set foot in the stadium, but his recollections of his time at Newcastle United after his arrival some 21 years ago remain undiminished.

"The beginning was a fairytale, being part of the Entertainers," he tells nufc.co.uk. "Some of the football may never be seen here again, with the likes of Peter Beardsley, Les, Rob Lee, Ginola and Keith Gillespie on the wing - magnificent times."

Barton was a well-established member of the Crazy Gang at Wimbledon in the early to mid-1990s, while 300 miles further north, Kevin Keegan was building a Magpies team capable of challenging for the highest of domestic honours. The full back says the Keegan factor was a key element in his decision to move to the north east.

"I'd played non-league, and I knew coming to this club, I'd already had talks with Arsenal, Everton, Celtic as well, Sheffield Wednesday too," explains Barton, who now lives with his family in San Diego, California. "But Kevin made me want to come here, and I wanted to be here.

"I remember playing a game for Wimbledon here, a night game, and Newcastle won 1-0. Me and Robbie Earle were doing a cool-down on the pitch, and looked around the stadium - not what it is now, but when it held 36,000 - and said 'imagine playing here one day'.

"I bumped into Arthur Cox at the Gosforth Park Hotel and was sitting with him, having a chat about the club and then, four months later, Keegan came and signed me."

In his first season with the club, the Londoner became an Entertainer, a key cog in the swashbuckling United side that were famously pipped to the Premier League title by Manchester United, and further recognition with England followed.

He was still in the number two shirt six years on from that memorable campaign. In seven years of ups and down at St. James' Park, Barton played under four permanent managers and two caretakers. One stands out.

"I had great times at the beginning, a few difficult times when I wasn't playing well, but I realised that. I worked hard, I went back on the training ground, did what I had to do," he says.

"My time under Sir Bobby Robson - he was the best, on and off the field. It was a great time for the club, although we weren't winning things, we were getting respect. From there, Bobby got us back in the Champions League."

At 32, with Barton having lost his place in an upwardly-mobile United outfit, he arrived at a crossroads in his career.

"When it was time for me to move on (Sir Bobby Robson) said 'you can stay here'," he explains. "Aaron Hughes was coming through and doing really well, and Bobby said I could stay here and start working at the academy, but I said 'gaffer, I want to keep playing'. I went to Derby, I had two and a half years there and then I finished my career."

On reflection, Barton realises that he was played a big part in two separate yet equally iconic eras, both arriving at and leaving a club firmly on the up.

And he has a final word on Robson, his last boss on Tyneside, a man who - like Barton - embraced the spirit of the region and the Club he loved.

"He was a great man, and gentleman, he had a great sense of humour and he loved this club," says the 47-year-old, who now works as a television analyst for Fox.

"He loved the fans. Like me, every day he came into work, he loved being here. I think that's what that generation of players had.

"It gives me goosebumps talking about it because it was a great time, and I loved every minute of it."