Here’s the story of my love for Philippe Albert | OneFootball

Man United on the horizon, games against them always make me think of the 5-0 in October 1996, and Philippe Albert in particular.

Here’s the story of my love for Philippe Albert.

In the summer of 1994, a couple of Dads of friends-of-friends decided to set up a team based in Lemington for lads not good enough to play for West Denton/Westerhope, the two best sides in our age group in the area.

I was a decent-but-not-great player. I always made the school team but that summer when I went along for the series of summer training sessions/trials at West Denton, I was politely told I wasn’t going to make their squad.

I’d also been going along to the Saturday morning training/trials for Lemington Boys, after one of the sessions we all went back to one of the lads’ houses to play some Sensible Soccer on the Amiga and to watch Germany v Belgium at USA ’94.

It was a great game, Germany 3-1 up at half time, end-to-end stuff in the second half, but no further scoring until the last minute, when Belgium’s moustachioed, left-footed centre-half Albert knocked the ball towards the edge of the Germany box, went for the return pass, played it forward again, and took the second return pass through the last line of German defenders before caressing it with the outside of his right foot into the far corner. Incredible goal for an attacking player, never mind a big centre half.

Three things happened:

1. He immediately became my favourite non-Newcastle player [ousting Ruud Gullit from top spot], and

2. I decided that I was no longer a cultured left midfielder, I was a ball-playing centre half, and

3. I became convinced, using my rock-solid 14-year-old-boy’s logic, that he’d become a Newcastle player by the time the season started. He was obviously a Keegan player. Keegan was at the World Cup doing commentary for ITV. Keegan would have seen the game. Keegan would love Albert as much as I did. Dipso facto [Rodney], he’d get him.

I spent the next few weeks telling everyone who’d listen [and many who wouldn’t] of my theory. Away on holiday with my folks on 11th August, my Da held his paper up to me and I read in a small article in the sports section ‘Newcastle yesterday completed the signing of Belgium international defender Philippe Albert, 27, from Anderlecht for a fee of £2.65m’. I was right. I’m always right. [I repeated the trick about six months later, watching ITV’s late night Champions’ League highlights show, I saw a lad called Ginola score a pearler for PSG].

Issue 80 – August 1995

And that was that. He hit a rocket of a shot from about 30 yards, just over the bar, at Leicester on his debut. Not your usual centre half.

Our season tickets were in the then brand new all-seater Gallowgate for the visit of Coventry on the Wednesday of that week. It was a glorious view compared to what I’d previously had from next to the home dugout in the Milburn paddocks. It allowed us to see clearly Albert win the ball, knock it forward into midfield and then go hurtling forward after it. He’d do it often, still one of the most exciting sights I’ve enjoyed in football, the whole stand would see him start and bellow encouragement.

There were great goals, the Man United chip, obviously, but there were others, especially a superb flick with the outside of his left foot from the corner of the box in his comeback game v Wimbledon [he’d been out for months with a cruciate injury]. Vinnie Jones was in goal, but that didn’t make any difference, unstoppable.

So, my love for the big lad started before he signed, and grew the more we got to see him. I had a poster cut from Match or Shoot that went with me for many years, stuck on various walls in Newcastle, York, then London, way too far into adult life.

Me and a mate used to apply for Pointless and my dream final question would have been ‘Players who scored two or more goals at USA ’94’, but sadly it’s not to be. We never got an audition and they had that exact question on the show a few years back.

I don’t watch much football these days. Are there any players like him today? Do centre halves still hurtle forward demanding the ball during open play, even in the early stages of the game?