'A bit of fear' - Newcastle may have pulled off Kevin Keegan masterstroke after 'thug' advice

It may be hard to imagine 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'.

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