The Five Greatest Newcastle Players of the Premier League Era

  1. Rob LeeRobert Lee

Rob Lee might be one of the most underrated players of the Premiership era. He was certainly far too often overlooked at international level in favour of more household names. At club level Lee was magnificent, a driving force from midfield with an extraordinary ability to score and create goals. You may not partner Lee with the technical skill of Ben Arfa or the range of passing of Cabaye but Rob Lee was an all-round midfielder who did everything to a very high standard. His passing was excellent because he hardly ever gave the ball away. He knew when to release a pass and when to hold on to it, possessing that brilliant turn with the outside of his right foot to change direction in an instant. He was a supremely intelligent footballer who had tremendous consistency.

He also developed his game beautifully evolving from attacking midfield to holding, forming a great partnership with Gary Speed in the Robson days. Previous to that, Lee also had a run in with Gullet who disgracefully refused to give him a squad number. Robson instantly reinstated him to the squad when he took over from the disillusioned Dutchman. But Lee’s greatest days for the club undoubtedly came under the guidance of Keegan as United drove towards the top of the Premier League in the early to mid 90s. In the ‘So Close’ season many praised Ferdinand and Ginola in the early months, and rightly so, but Lee was in incredible form. Keegan described Lee as ‘the best midfielder in England’ half way through that season, and his performances cemented that. For some reason the media never really embellished Lee’s ability in the same way they did with other players of the era. And so, Rob was left as the nation’s understudy to players with bigger names, if not superior talent.

But for Newcastle, Lee continued to be an instrumental player. His link up with his pal Shearer was clearly evident in some of Shearer’s greatest goals as Lee laid on some superb assists for our record scorer. He was an adopted Georgie too, with a clear affinity with the club and the people of Tyneside as he did more than his fair share for the community.

A great player, Newcastle stalwart and a gentleman, Rob Lee comfortably makes my top five.

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95 thoughts on “The Five Greatest Newcastle Players of the Premier League Era

  1. So we have signed a keeper who is supposed to be very good and look like signing Gayle and Ritchie. Now can anyone explain to me who Ritchie is as I am assuming he can’t get in the Bournemouth team which might bother me if that is the case…

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  2. https://youtu.be/I2i-z2sUIGc

    Stu – Matt Ritchie did that against the scum mate. He plays week in week out for Bmouth and I believe recently signed a new deal with them – so I was surprised that they would let him go. West Ham recently went in for him too, but obviously didn’t meet Bmouths valuation.

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  3. Just reading that the Gayle fee is £8.5m as well. There will be a further million paid if he scores 20 plus goals and a further million if we get promoted.
    I reckon that’s a pretty decent deal personally.

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  4. W/Ham wanted to sign two of their players but got knocked back,so bid a maximum 8mil for Richie which was knocked back,looks like toon bid up to 12 mil which was accepted

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  5. Sharpy17:
    Ice – I read that Grant Hanley is close to a done deal as well mate.

    Haven’t seen much of him,do you rate him?? mate

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  6. Ice – I think our central defence has missed a physical presence for a long time now – Hanley would certainly provide that. He’s far from technically gifted, but then neither is the likes of Huth & Morgan and they haven’t done too bad.
    Id take him mate, coz at 24 I think he’s young enough to develop a bit as well.

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  7. I think there’s still a chance Townsend will stay – unless he fancies playing left back. Would love pardew getting the england job.
    Watched the vids of the new goalie – seems like he never catches the ball, it’s all parries and push outs. Not sure on that one but looks like Rafa fancies him as No1. Richie’s a decent alternative to Townsend.

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  8. I know we have signed a goal keeper and looking like gayle from palace and townsend likely going the other way but our problem last season was defending so when are we going to see defeners come through the door

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  9. Well I for one will miffed if Pards gets his mitts on Andros. Why would Andros wanna play under him instead of Rafa, especially considering how much their form dropped off last season under Pards.

    Not sure about Gayle or Richie, will reserve judgement on them until I have seen them 5 or 6 games in. Got to agree with Billy, we need defenders in.

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  10. Sharpy , that Farage link you posted, saw bit of it on the news. How to win friends and influence people lesson obviously passed him by. #******

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  11. Sharpy17: Andy – I’m amazed his dad hasn’t featured on the shortlist yet to be honest mate.

    I’ve defo heard Jamie raving about Roy’s credentials as England manager over the last 4 years though.Then he fails & pretty boy jumps all over him.

    Sharpy: they all did it man. I know they could have been accused of being unpatriotic if they had said too much but they never questioned any of his stupid decisions. They all approved of him taking out of form and injured players, not taking any wingers, trying untested formations in the tournament and allowing Rooney to dictate where he played. Some, like Keown, actively supported these decisions and wrote columns explaining why it was better to take Wilshere and Henderson rather than Drinkwater and Barkley rather than Townsend. Now they are all acting like they never said it.

    The tabloids are even worse. They all have their knives out now. They are a bunch of winps. They all saw the writing on the wall but said nothing. Maybe it is editorial policy but there are all these stories about discontent within the camp coming out now.

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  12. Big Dave:
    SRF Good read mate and I would have them all in my top team, the only thing that annoys me about this type article is that it makes you think back to how good we were.
    I don’t think we’ll ever get back to there, but I think under Rafa with proper backing we could get close.
    As for Townsend I would be amazed if he even thought about going to Palace , I think he will be playing for us this season.

    Cheers Big Dave, I think Palace may well be relegation candidates next season and that might put Andros off as he won’t want to go through that again. Thanks for your comments Icedog too, you can go back a bit can’t you? Hopefully we’ll have a great season to look forward to.

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