Eddie Howe (left) and Kevin Keegan
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe (left) and former boss Kevin Keegan
I'm hosting a chat show within a corner kick of St James' Park, the place of worship for the faithful Geordie.
Three of the Entertainers are on stage with me . . . two North East lads who survived the parade of champions brought in by and one of those spectacularly imported.
The two Steves - Howey and Watson - are joined by John Beresford and the night is a barrel load of laughs as the good old days are recalled with fun story upon fun story. Somehow it reflects the way United played sunshine football as they barnstormed from the brink of the old Third Division to successive seasons as Premier League runners-up.
Everything was done with a smile on the face . . . training, team bonding on nights out, and the matches themselves.
"There will never be another Entertainers ever," smiles Howey who blossomed into an England international while both Bez and Watto were also picked in the full squad without ever getting the cap they deserved.
The audience spends much time wiping away tears of laughter yet this is not a gathering of the self-indulgent. When I steer the conversation round to the current team and desire to emulate the Entertainers the praise is fulsome and all consuming.
While Howey says we will never see the likes of the Entertainers again he emphasises he means in their flamboyant off-the-cuff approach to the game of football and is quick to add that United 2025 have all the potential to be great with a little help from the transfer market and live in Geordie memories for ever. Bez and Watto are in full agreement. What we now see are the Entertainers under a certain guise.
There are many similarities, the trio of old-time greats agree, but equally many differences.
The similarities are the way the two teams play - front foot attacking football, easy on the eye, attractive to the Geordie faithful and the neutrals watching from the sidelines. KK and Eddie share the same trait of great man management. Players will run through a brick wall for them and then do it again. They buy into the plan. Both managers also possess an expert eye when it comes to shopping in the transfer market.
Where the two teams differ, say our experts, is that the Entertainers made it up as they went along with players given license to go where they wanted and felt they could do the most damage whereas Howe plays to a tactical plan with everyone given a specific job with little encouragement to stray far from its effectiveness.
Howe is a master tactician whereas King Kev paid scant regard to such organisation.
"If you have good players you don't have to tell them how to play," he would say. His trusty assistant Terry McDermott lived by the same doctrine and so it was left to coach Derek Fazackerley to try and bring some semblance of planning to play.
Where Keegan encouraged nights out on the Quayside to build camaraderie with the Geordie kids showing the foreign stars how much the Mags mean to the fans by mixing with them United's bonding sessions these days aren't done on mass nights out in the clubs but on the training field and in the dressing-room where photos of sweating stars joined by staff are taken after every victory. All for one and one for all.
However the esteemed trio who sit alongside me, mikes in hand and tales to tell, don't live exclusively in yesteryear but also very much in today's world. Howey works in the media including a weekly stint on BBC Radio Newcastle's nightly sports programme, Bez is an ambassador doing the lounges on match days talking to the fans, while Watto is a coach at Newcastle's academy working with 13-year-olds.
John Gibson with former Newcastle stars Steve Howey, John Beresford and Steve Watson
They know that the likes of Sandro Tonali, Bruno, Big Joe and Tino Livramento bring a splash of Entertainers panache to SJP three decades after they did the very same thing.
Steve Watson tells a tale which amply demonstrates modern bonding when he regales fans with the day Dan Burn, working on his coaching badges, turned up at the academy to do a session with schoolkids and was watched from the touchline by several other first-teamers who had gone along simply to support the big man.
All three who share the platform have great Newcastle street cred. Watson made 263 appearances, Howey 242, and Beresford 232. Each played in the double PL runners-up teams and the two locals stayed on for the 1998 FA Cup final.
Howe's Heroes have already taken a step beyond the Entertainers of course. They have actually WON something - the United's first domestic trophy in 70 years.
However as yet they have not managed to top what KK's boys achieved in the league. Their two PL runners-up finishes remain Newcastle's best league placing for almost a century, since Hughie Gallacher won the title in 1927.
United have made the as did the Entertainers, but from finishing fourth and fifth top not second. That is the next target.
When I eventually bring the evening to an end Howey, Watto and Bez receive a standing ovation. It's a recognition of what they did on behalf of Newcastle United, for entertaining yet again with tales from inside a world of wonder, and for their backing of the current crusade.
Me? I find it all a joy after the decade and a half of living within the stifling confines of Mike Ashley's regime where ambition was judged by how much it cost.
Newcastle United Carabao Cup Winners 24/25 - Official club magazine