A wonderful weekend of nostalgia and a battling performance
Steve Wraith, John Gibson, Paul Gascoigne, Chris Waddle and Peter Beardsley at the Tyne Theatre
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When the going gets tough the tough get going. So the saying goes and you better believe it!
My pre-match column was headlined on the back page of the Chronicle under the banner: "We need to see the old Sandro, the one we all adored."
And, boy did we get it. With the midfield decimated by the loss of inspirational skipper Bruno to long term injury alongside the brute strength of Joelinton our Italian was restored to the starting line up, scored two absolutely critical goals, and deservedly lifted the man of the match award.
This from a player who while he has undoubted and unmatched ability has appeared to play in a fog recently. Welcome back to the sunny side of the street Sandro. We missed you my son.
United's 3-1 FA Cup victory at Aston Villa - a monumental result - is just what was ordered for so many. For Tonali of course, for Eddie Howe who now has two successive away wins in a blink of an eye, and for Nick Woltemade on his 24th birthday who despite dropping back into midfield ended a goal drought dating back 14 games. It was thoroughly deserved by all.
Let me nail right now the myth that United triumphed only because they were playing second-half against 10 men. They weren't - Newcastle beat 13 men, not 10. Villa's players on the pitch plus referee Chris Kavanagh and his two assistants Gary Beswick and Nick Greenhalgh. We had to overcome the worst officials I have encountered in many a year.
Really? Yes, yes and yes.
FACT: Villa's goal after just 13 minutes was blatantly offside. VAR would have killed it stone dead but the naked eye ought to have been enough. There was a yard in it which in football terms is a mile.
FACT: Lucas Digne's tackle on Jacob Murphy first-half was awful and deserved a red card not a yellow. Alan Shearer couldn't believe it and neither could we.
FACT: United ought to have been awarded a penalty on the hour mark when the handball was way inside the 18 yard box but it was inexplicably given outside. Even Lady Luck felt she had to intervene and Tonali equalised from the free-kick.
As for the sending off of Villa keeper Marco Bizot for cutting down Murphy even the Beeb's two experts representing the two clubs - Shearer (Newcastle) and Dion Dublin (Villa) - both agreed it was a shocking challenge deserving of what it got.
Fans hate VAR across the length and breadth of our land but do Geordies still dislike it given what we witnessed at Villa Park? Three blind mice could have done better. Are officials becoming so used to the safety first net of VAR making decisions for them that they really need to go to Specsavers?
United's season has been saved by the victories at Spurs and Villa. The climate has changed enormously, hope has been restored, and United are still chasing Wembley silverware as well as playing in the Champions League.
Eddie is always saying it is about fine margins and this last week the dice has fallen for us despite the Villa officials and in doing so has done much to rid us of an embarrassing away record.
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They had never appeared on the same stage together, three of the greatest Geordies ever to play for Newcastle United.
Paul Gascoigne and Chris Waddle had come home to join Peter Beardsley at a packed out Tyne Theatre boasting an audience of 1,200 for a show I felt privileged to host.
Beardo is always as entertaining as he was in football boots, the Waddler was razor sharp, and Gazza, bless him, was on top form which we were all glad to see. A throwback to the young scally I used to grapple with on stage back in the day. Irreverent, outrageous, but aye hysterically funny. Risque of course but that's why a nation loved him and forgave him and a Geordie crowd are still willing him all the luck he needs to look the world in the eye.
What would Gazza, Beardsley and Waddle be worth today given there are those who can command a fee north of £100m without ever possessing the twinkle toes of our trio?
Maybe Jack Grealish solicited such a transfer fee yet he cannot lace the boots of our Geordie boys nor collect as many England caps as each of them.
We finished the show with words of stirring support for Kevin Keegan, recently diagnosed with stomach cancer. All four of us know him well and worked with him at NUFC.
Beardsley called him simply "the best person ever in football" and Waddle labelled him the father of the modern Newcastle United while Gazza's tribute was inevitably wrapped in a laugh: "I was awestruck by him early doors. As an apprentice I had to clean his boots and I took them home this day in a brown paper parcel to show them off to my mates. When I got off the bus one boot was missing.
"I searched everywhere and even went to the bus depot with my dad. I asked if anyone had handed in 'one of Kevin Keegan's boots.' As if. . ."
King Kev's 75th birthday was the morning after the gig, St Valentine's Day. May you receive your best ever present mate.