Marlon Harewood reflects on his time at Newcastle ahead of meeting between two former clubs

A strong and pacy forward, Harewood played for both teams and while he only pulled on the black and white shirt 15 times and was generally deployed as a 'super sub' at Villa Park, he enjoyed success in the North East and the Midlands.

Now 40 and co-founder of thriving car modification business AC13, Harewood admits Monday's clash brings back happy memories for him.

"With both clubs," he smiled as he spoke to nufc.co.uk this week. "Both of them need points, so it's going to be an eventful game."

It's just over a decade since Harewood joined Newcastle, who were just starting to build up a head of steam in the Coca-Cola Championship after being relegated from the Premier League at Villa Park the previous season.

"It feels like yesterday to me, but obviously it's ten years ago," he said. "It's a long time in football but it was good times. It was enjoyable. 

"And I had some good times at Villa. I didn't play that much but the lads that I was there with, they were amazing and they achieved quite a lot, some of the players that have gone on in the game to do bigger and better things."

Harewood joined Villa from West Ham United in July 2007, for a reported fee of £4m. In each of his three seasons there, they finished sixth in the top flight.

His team mates included John Carew, Martin Laursen, Olof Mellberg, Gareth Barry, Ashley Young, Stiliyan Petrov and Gary Cahill - all part of an exciting team assembled by Martin O'Neill.

"He was a good manager in what he did, in what he achieved, in bringing players together and stuff," recalled Harewood.

"He had a big pool of players there to deal with so it was hard for me to get into the team at that time, but I understood when I was put in I had a job to do and I did it to the best of my ability.

"It didn't work out that much but I came to Newcastle which was amazing for me, to broaden my horizons with teams and players that I've met and the situation I came into, because you were fighting for promotion and you got promoted back to the Premier League, which was amazing to be part of."

Harewood arrived in September 2009 as Chris Hughton looked to add new impetus to his attack. 

"I came here on loan because I was getting back from injury and the gaffer here asked me to come and help them to get promoted, to play alongside Andy Carroll," Harewood explained.

"He told me what a great prospect he was going to be and I thrived on that situation, that I was going to be playing alongside him.

"I love Andy - he's had an amazing career and to come back to the place where he started is amazing. He is one of the best headers of a ball in the game today and to be part of his success in his career, to have been alongside him and helped him along the way, giving him whatever advice I could give him and whatever I learnt off him as a player, it was a privilege to be involved with that."

Harewood added: "To be fair, it was a good time that I came to Newcastle because you had Nobby (Kevin Nolan), Andy Carroll and Peter Løvenkrands that I was playing up front with. I've had some good teams I've played with and Newcastle was up there with the good teams I've played with, and players.

"It was quite a privilege to be in that situation to get promoted and how they went on to do - you'd gone down the season before, then to get back to the Premier League. It was a good time for me."

Harewood's debut came as a substitute in a 4-0 win at Ipswich Town - "I've still got that shirt," he revealed, describing the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation logo and fixture details which were stitched into each strip as a tribute to the legendary manager in the meeting between two of his former clubs shortly after he died at the age of 76. 

Harewood's first goal came in his next game, a 1-1 draw against Queens Park Rangers, before he scored a memorable brace against Swansea City. Further strikes against Barnsley and Middlesbrough took him to five goals for Newcastle, before he returned to Villa Park when his loan expired. 

But he made an important contribution as United went on to win the title, eventually racking up 102 points as they marched back into the Premier League at the first attempt.

"Sometimes it goes like that for players; when you go to different places, when you're playing with players," he said. "I was up front with Andy Carroll and we formed a good relationship. I did a lot of the running and he did the holding up, or flicking the ball on, and I was chasing his balls because I understood what he wanted. 

"We had a good relationship, the way we were talking, and it was nice. We went to places like Barnsley away... the fans came in their thousands and it was amazing to be part of that. We were scoring goals and stuff like that - it was nice, it was good."

Newcastle go into Monday's game on the back of two successive wins while newly-promoted Villa have lost their last three games - but two of those were against Liverpool and Manchester City.

The match is live on Sky Sports, but Harewood - who was back on Tyneside to catch up with old friends on Thursday - is likely to be in the stands at Villa Park as his former clubs go toe to toe. 

"I'll definitely be watching it - I'll try to get to the game to be fair, because I try to get to the majority of games, to see the lads and have a look around," he said. "It'll be nice to watch and support both sides!

"But it'll be a good game, an interesting game, because both sides need points and both teams have got some really good players.

"It's just who fancies it on the day, and who shines."