I doubt whether David Edgar’s exploits against Manchester United will have pushed ice-hockey, bear wrestling or lumber tossing off the back pages in Canada, but I bet the teenager doesn’t have to buy a drink or struggles to pull on Tyneside in 2007.
“Hi my name is David Edgar, you can call me Dave, I’m from Canada and I play for Newcastle United. You may remember me as the guy who scored THAT great goal against Manchester United on New Year’s Day.
“Yes, that’s right, that was me. Forget the drink. Your place or mine?�
It’s amazing what a goal against the biggest team in the country can do for personal fortunes and it’s amazing how it can lift collective spirits.
I’ll be honest, after successive defeats at Bolton and Everton, I travelled to St James’s Park - well sort of stumbled, with a blinding pain in my head after NYE - believing it would be a damage limitation exercise. Newcastle had a defence straight out of the reserve team and Manchester United have been on rampant form as they look to rip the title from Chelsea’s Russian billionaire financed grasp.
Thankfully my negative thinking was not shared in the Newcastle dressing room as Mr Motivator - funny because I can’t see Glenn Roeder wearing an all in one leotard like that idiot who used to pop on GMTV a few years back - refused to allow his players to believe the were heading out to contest a lost cause.
When you think of motivational speeches two images come to mind. One is of the American college graduate talking crap about being a Tiger or a moustached, crew cut sporting Army Sergeant screaming down you ear as you navigate a Green Beret assault course.
Roeder looks more like a school teacher than an army sergeant but you don’t have to scream and shout to get your message across and you never judge a book by its cover - or a spot cream by the clean-skinned actor on a television advert, or a cake by the colour of the icing on top, or a team by its reputation.
Yes, Manchester United are a far better side than Newcastle, but on the day, several of their big name players under-performed and Newcastle’s played with resolve and determination. Yes, Manchester United probably should have won the game on the basis of goalscoring chances, but they didn’t take them and Newcastle scored with two excellent long range strikes.
Much has been made of Edgar’s strike for obvious reasons. He’s only 19, his Canadian, he’s a centre back playing at left back and it was his home debut. But it’s also worth pointing out that he did a magnificent job marking Cristiano Ronaldo and the Portuguese winger spent most of the second half on the opposite wing trying to test Nolberto Solano’s pace at right back.
I’d also like to mention James Milner. He has a brilliant attitude and has never sulked about the way he was treated in the summer when he was told he was sold to Aston Villa and then recalled when Newcastle couldn't get Mark Viduka.
His goal against Manchester United was even better than Edgar’s and it gave the team the belief that it could get something from the game.
For all of the encouragement they received in the dressing room, it’s sometimes only when you really hurt a team that you start to believe you can beat them. So well done James, a goal richly deserved.
As for Manchester United, they came to Tyneside with a swagger, but sloped off after the final whistle with Sir Alex Ferguson mumbling something about Newcastle deserving a point for their spirit and commitment.
Wayne Rooney was anonymous, Ronaldo was kept quiet by an ageing Peruvian and a teenage Canadian and Ryan Giggs - nice bald patch by the way - looked past it. As for Park Ji-Sung, I can only assume he was signed to make sure the Manchester United brand remains a popular one in the Far East!
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