It may be hard to believe now, but Brian Kilcline was so nervous about joining Newcastle United that the fearsome centre-back was as 'white as a ghost' by the time he reached Washington Services. It was not the scale of the task that frightened Kilcline as Newcastle fought for their lives in the old First Division in 1992. Rather, it was the fact the veteran was going to be playing for Kevin Keegan in front of those fans in that stadium.
He need not have worried. Kilcline may have only made 45 appearances for the club following his move from Oldham Athletic, but the defender's priceless contribution has never been forgotten after he lifted the dressing room, kept Newcastle up and left with the Magpies flying high in the Premier League.
It goes without saying, then, that the journey from Kilcline's home in Holmfirth to his old stomping ground at St James' Park is not so daunting these days. The 59-year-old certainly did not need a second invitation to cross the Tyne Bridge when he was asked back to the stadium in January to 'sing for my supper'.
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There was just one problem: Newcastle ended up being dumped out of the FA Cup by League One side Cambridge United that day and it fell to Kicline to address supporters in the hospitality suite after the game. There is not much you can say after a defeat like that - heads were even down in the home dressing room as Kieran Trippier stood up and told his team-mates to forget about it - but Kilcline soon drew on his own experience at the club.
"I said, 'To be fair, they need another one like myself,'" Kilcline recalled to ChronicleLive. "They've got a lot of very nice footballers, but they need a thug there. They need somebody to rattle up the other teams, to put a bit of fear into the other teams. They can get all the nice players, but they're all too nice. There's no presence about the Newcastle side.'
"Now you look at it several months down the line and they bought this lad called Dan Burn, a big unit and a local lad, who has probably got half of one stand with his family in it. When I went to that football club, there was a lot of young, homegrown Newcastle-supporting players and they're very infectious.
"I've seen him play and he can instil that Geordie passion and magnify it on the pitch. They've got another big unit, [Chris] Wood, up front. They've bought these two lads in to do a job and, my God, they are doing a job.
"They're ramming through there and putting their weight about. Newcastle have got a presence on the football pitch. These two lads can play as well, but they are giving the team a presence."
You can already tell that Kilcline has continued to keep a close eye on Newcastle's fortunes and the former defender was as shocked as supporters after Trevoh Chalobah's foul on Jacob Murphy went unpunished against Chelsea earlier this month. Even a tough tackler like 'Killer' admitted he would 'never pull someone down like that' during his playing days because he knew a penalty would be given.
That 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge ended a nine-game unbeaten streak in the Premier League, which was an unimaginable run of form not so long ago. Indeed, Kilcline noticed how the fans 'couldn't see any light' following the 1-1 draw against Leeds in what proved to be one of the final fixtures of the Ashley era last September.
In contrast, Kilcline could not help but sense that 'something was about to happen' when he returned to St James' once more for the sell-out against Cambridge several months later. That particular game may have ended in defeat, but the supporters still applauded the players who saluted the Gallowgate End at full-time. These fans were one of the many reasons why the owners and, indeed, Kilcline quickly realised the club was a bit special.
"If you like an atmosphere, if you want to spend your money and hear it being spent really well, you can't do better than go to Newcastle because, Jesus, that sounds good," he said.
"Newcastle have got the people with the money and the passion for the game of football and they've got a young man who's the manager of the football club that wants to do it the right way. He's got the tools there now.
"Joy can be infectious and good humour and good habits, too. That's what Kevin Keegan tried to instil at the football club. These are all infectious things and that's what Eddie Howe is doing now at Newcastle.
"There's good habits and players like Trippier are good pros. That's what he's bringing into the football club. That's probably why the rest of them are starting to play better because it rubs off."
Kilcline is far too modest to do so, but the 59-year-old could just so easily have been referring to himself when he was discussing Trippier's impact. Newcastle desperately needed a leader when Keegan reached out to the former Coventry City captain in 1992 and it was Kilcline, with that 'wild look in his eye', who helped inspire his side to safety following a final day win against Leicester City.
Those around him perhaps got the headlines for scoring the goals that kept Newcastle up and helped the Magpies win promotion a year later, but so many of Kilcline's former team-mates have described the former centre-back as a 'catalyst' while Keegan famously rated the £250,000 buy as his most important signing. It is a team game, of course, but it is not an exaggeration to say that without Kilcline, Newcastle may have been relegated, gone bust and never been in a position to sign Rob Lee, Andy Cole, Peter Beardsley, Philippe Albert, David Ginola, Les Ferdinand, Alan Shearer and co.
"They probably wondered why the hell is he buying that big galoot?" Kilcline admitted. "It was quite a lot of money as well, but Kevin Keegan fought for me to go to the club.
"Even though I didn't play that many games, I did a job that he wanted doing and they saw what he wanted to do worked. From then on, when Kevin wanted someone, I don't think they had qualms about it.
"I've always said Kevin treated his money like it was his own. If you buy a bad tin of fruit, you're not going to be too happy about it, are you? He always tried to buy the best for what he wanted to do and, to be fair, Sir John Hall backed him to do that."
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