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24/02/01   Having bared his soul to us in Part 3 of this series, we now know all about how Bez felt when Man City kicked him out. We've now managed to tease a few more snippets from the lad, being ever so gentle...
	Bez (centre)  finally gets to wear  the blue shirt - of Newcastle

Brainstorming Bez on The Blues: 

Mike Jeffrey scored his only goal for United at Maine Road in a League Cup tie that Bez didn't play in. We couldn't come up with anything interesting about him so we turned our attention to the scorer of the City equaliser that night - Uwe Rosler:

"He was horrible to play against. His mannerisms on the pitch and the way he spouted off in the papers off the pitch made me think, 'I don't like you very much!', so you can imagine how I was dreading him arriving at Southampton while I was still there. However, first impressions were very wrong and he is a genuinely nice bloke. He said there were a lot of problems at Man City and that most of them were at board level. They seem to be preoccupied with being in the shadow of Man United all the time."

The replay at St.James' saw Rosler and Paul Walsh score as City went through 2-0.

"Paul Walsh is a player's agent now. He was the one who brought in Marian Pahars and he works with a lot of Latvian players. I played in his testimonial a few years ago. Walsh is a bit crackers and asking me to play against Portsmouth was a good idea for me - I got booed for the full 90 minutes despite being at Fratton Park for three years! Robbie Williams, Chris Evans, Gazza and a few other big names played in the game and the dressing room was a scream beforehand.

Robbie Williams was singing while we were getting changed and Gazza thought he recognised one of the songs. "Who sings that one then?" he said. It was Angels - Robbie's big hit.... Gazza was in a bit of a state. He was playing for Boro at the time and they had just got promoted the day before. He had a pint of Guinness in his hand just as we were about to go on the pitch. It ended up being poured over Robbie's head! Gazza was completely smashed and kept falling over the ball during the game. The crowd thought he was doing it on purpose but I spoke to Jimmy Fivebellies and he was certain that it was no act...! However, Gazza was brilliant and signed autographs for ages after the game."

We asked John if he could remember a 0-0 league game with City at St.James' when Ruel Fox missed a penalty. Peter Beardsley had returned from a three-match absence but Fox had scored against Norwich the week before from the spot.

"Usually penalty-takers are decided beforehand but I think for this one because Peter had returned it may have been overlooked. I think Foxy felt confident and knowing Peter he was more than happy to let Ruel take it."

During the game Bez almost scored with a towering header from a Fox cross that Andy Dibble tipped over the bar. We asked what the hell he was doing heading in the opposition's penalty area....

"That was typical Newcastle. The right winger crossing for the left-back! Mind, I would often push forward just for the sake of giving their winger someone to chase. Actually, I watched Nigel Winterburn the other day for West Ham against S*nderland and I swear he never went past the half-way line. I reckon I packed in a couple of years too early - I could do that!" 

Niall MacKenzie