Out of my Chair! - - The official of Warren Barton

Out of my Chair! - 14/11/2002

A Passionate man!

I watched the Newcastle – Feyenoord game last night, what a game! I jumped out of my chair when Craig Bellamy hit the winner. I spoke to Alan Shearer this morning and it’s fair to say that he’s absolutely made up. It’s great news for Newcastle and after Liverpool’s exit 24 hours earlier, it’s a boost in the arm for English football.

Talking about goal celebrations, I may have jumped out of my chair, but atleast I didn’t crash into a perimeter wall, as Lee Morris did after scoring his second goal against Sheffield Wednesday. I have never seen a celebration like it before, nor am I likely to again. The nearest I have seen to that was when Temuri Ketsbaia started kicking the advertising hoardings after scoring a winning goal for Newcastle United. He then took off his boots and shirt! I was in the Newcastle team that day and Temuri just lost his head. He had not been in the team for a few weeks but had scored what proved to be the winning goal for us after coming on as a substitute. Alessandro Pistone went over to congratulate him and Ketsbaia just pushed him away. Just as amusing was what happened shortly after that and those not at the game will probably not know about this. The game restarted and we soon had possession again. Obviously, Temuri was still wound up because, when the ball reached him, he just booted it as hard as he possibly could into the stand.

Temuri was a lovely man but very hot-headed and passionate. Getting back to Lee, we’ve told him to keep his celebration simple and just stick his hand in the air, like Alan Shearer does. It’s certainly less risky. Fortunately, Lee was not too badly hurt at Hillsborough and took his goals very well indeed. I am sure that being a Sheffield United fan and scoring two goals against Wednesday, softened his painful blow.