Fixtures between Liverpool and Newcastle United are often memorable. From the 1974 FA Cup final, to the two 4-3 classics in the 1990’s, and even December’s exhilarating 3-3 game at St. James’ Park. As well as sharing countless classic clashes, the two sides have shared several players over the years. Ahead of Wednesday’s league clash at Anfield, lets look at five players who have represented both Liverpool and Newcastle.
Albert Stubbins
You might not have heard of Albert Stubbins but I can almost guarantee you’ve seen him, albeit unknowingly. That’s because Stubbins can be spotted just to the right of George Harrison’s left shoulder on the cover of The Beatles’ 1967 album ‘Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’.
Born in Wallsend in 1919, Stubbins joined hometown club Newcastle United at the age of 18, but just as he began to make his way into the first team, competitive football was suspended with the onset of the Second World War. Stubbins played over 150 ‘unofficial’ games for The Magpies during the war, and would move to Liverpool FC in 1946.
After nine years with The Reds, Stubbins retired in 1954, but he is best remembered today for his appearance one of only two sportsmen on the cover of the iconic Beatles album. The other being former world heavyweight boxing champion, and Muhammad Ali opponent, Charles “Sonny” Liston.
In recent years Sir Paul McCartney has joked he has ‘special dispensation’ to support both Liverpool and Everton, but despite being the most famous exports from a football-mad city, The Fab Four never truly nailed their colours to the mast when it came to declaring their football allegiances, so how did Stubbins end up on the cover of Sgt. Peppers?
One theory is that he was John Lennon’s favourite player growing up, another story goes that it was McCartney requested his inclusion on the cover. Almost sixty years later, the true answer may never be known, but the Geordie who spent nine years at Anfield remains immortalised forever on the most famous album cover of them all.
Kevin Keegan
Kevin Keegan won three league titles, two UEFA cups, an FA cup and the first of Liverpool’s six European Cup’s during six incredibly successful years on Merseyside, but despite his trophy haul with Liverpool, he is arguably more synonymous for his first spell as a manager on Tyneside.
Keegan joined Liverpool in 1971, originally as a midfielder, before manager Bill Shankly moved the diminutive Yorkshireman upfront with John Toshack. The two would create a prolific goalscoring partnership and spearheaded The Reds to a period of unprecedented success for much of the seventies. Keegan swapped Anfield for Hamburg in 1977 and would go on to win two consecutive Ballon d’Ors during his time in Germany.
Towards the end of his playing career, Keegan signed for Newcastle United, his father’s hometown club, and quickly struck up a lasting bond with the Geordie faithful during his two years as a player. Keegan’s testimonial was held in 1984, against Liverpool, which saw him famously depart St. James Park in a helicopter.
Eight years later in February 1992, Keegan flew back into Newcastle tasked with saving The Magpies from relegation to the old third-division. He did just that, and over the next five years, backed by Sir John Hall’s millions and with the advent of the new ‘Premier League’, Keegan’s unapologetic brand of attacking football took Newcastle from relegation candidates to within a whisker of the Premier League title in 1996.
While Keegan’s Newcastle side ultimately came up empty handed, his time at the helm of “The Entertainers”, his transformative impact on both the club and the city, and his “I WOULD LOVE IT” rant aimed at Sir Alex Ferguson have ensured him hero status on Tyneside. They don’t call him “King Kev” for nothing!
Michael Owen
If ever there was a game that summed up Michael Owen, it came at St. James Park in August 1998. Two months after THAT goal at France ’98, the teenage hitman rocked up at St James’ Park intent on stealing the limelight from new Newcastle manager Ruud Gullit. He did just that. Owen hit a 15 minute first-half hattrick which was in many ways the hallmark of the man himself; fast, clinical, decisive.
Owen would spend the best years of his career with Liverpool, netting 158 times in 297 games between 1997 and 2004, and picking up the 2001 Ballon d’Or after helping Liverpool to win the ‘cup treble’ of the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2000/2001. After adding another League Cup success in 2003, Owen left Liverpool to join Real Madrid in the summer of 2004, missing out agonisingly on the miracle of Istanbul later that same season.
After just one year at the Bernabeu, and after a failed attempt to rejoin Liverpool, Owen made the move to Tyneside to partner former England teammate Alan Shearer during his final season. The dream partnership never quite materialised, with both Shearer and Owen suffering injuries during a frustrating season which saw Newcastle finish 7th.
Owen’s time on Tyneside was largely defined by injuries, but he returned a respectable goalscoring record of a goal every three games. Unfortunately for the Magpies, they were relegated to The Championship at the end of the 2008/09 season with Owen’s final appearance coming as a substitute at Villa Park on the final day of the season in a game that saw Aston Villa send Newcastle down.
Owen’s decision to join Manchester United in the summer of 2009 has, perhaps unfairly, earned him villain status amongst both Liverpool and Newcastle supporters, with his returns to Anfield and St James’ Park as a pundit being met with pantomime boos in recent years.
Andy Carroll
In December 2010, Andy Carroll fired an unstoppable 30 yard drive past Pepe Reina as Newcastle United ran out 3-1 winners against Liverpool at St James’ Park. Six weeks later, the 6’5 Geordie striker was a Liverpool player, signed by Kenny Dalglish to plug the gap left by Fernando Torres, Carroll swapped Tyneside for Merseyside to the tune of £35 Million.
Following Newcastle’s relegation in 2009, Carroll played a pivotal role in ensuring his boyhood club returned to the Premier League at the first time of asking. Notching up 19 Championship goals and forming a clinical partnership with Kevin Nolan, the Newcastle academy product was even bestowed with Newcastle’s converted number 9 shirt.
But just six months later, Carroll was Liverpool’s number nine, following a dramatic deadline day switch. Beset by injuries, Carroll’s Liverpool career never truly took off, and despite important goals against Everton and in the 2012 FA Cup final against Chelsea, he suffered a frustrating spell with Liverpool. In 2012, new Red’s boss Brendan Rogers deemed Carroll surplus to requirements, allowing him to join West Ham United on loan, and then on a permanent deal in 2013.
Carroll would go on to rejoin Newcastle in 2019, but he wasn’t the same player that left Tyneside almost a decade earlier, and he struggled to cement regular playing time under then-Newcastle boss Steve Bruce.
Gini Wijnaldum
Like Didi Hamann several years earlier, Gini Wijnaldum spent one season in Newcastle’s midfield before joining Liverpool in the summer transfer window. Unlike Hamann, Wijnaldum’s spell with Newcastle ended in disaster as the Magpies were relegated for the second time in seven years at the end of the 2015/16 season.
But the Dutch playmaker was often United’s star performer during their ill-fated season, and topped the goalscoring charts for The Magpies with 11 goals, one of them coming in a 2-0 home win against Liverpool in December 2015, which remains Newcastle’s last victory against Liverpool.
This form was enough to convince Jurgen Klopp to bring him to Anfield for £25m, where he quickly became an integral part of the German’s renaissance era. With Liverpool, Wijnaldum won the Champions League in 2018/19, famously scoring the third goal in the semi-final second leg vs. Barcelona. Twelve months later, Wijnaldum was part of the team that won the trophy Liverpool fans desired most of all, a first league title in 30 years.
Featured image courtesy of freemalaysiatoday.
