Franz Carr reflects on his time at Newcastle United with a mix of fondness and regret, recalling how the £250,000 move from Nottingham Forest in 1991 was one that Brian Clough later lamented. Carr quickly became a fan favourite at St James’ Park, dazzling supporters as the club sought to make its mark in the old Second Division.
Despite only spending two seasons with the Magpies and turning down a switch to Crystal Palace to stay on Tyneside, Carr found himself on the way out under Kevin Keegan, even as the team approached their ‘Entertainers’ era. Carr joined Sheffield United on loan, before making the move a permanent one in 1993.
“When Newcastle won 10 out of 10 in 1992, I got seven man of the match awards. But Kevin Keegan was powerful,” Carr told ChronicleLive in April. “When you talk about managers and personalities at clubs, Kevin was as big as the club at that time. It’s rare because it’s usually the other way, the club is bigger. But he’d came back as a player and manager and was classed as the Messiah. Basically, it was Kevin Keegan United not Newcastle United.
“I was one of them who if I wasn’t playing, I wasn’t going to sit on the bench. Kevin had said there’s 11 shirts and 11 numbers, if you do well you keep the shirt but I did well and was dropped.
“After game 10 or 11 I was dropped and the rest was history. At the end of the day, Rob Lee came in and it was justified from Kevin’s point of view.
“Looking back should I have stayed? It was just one of those things, he wanted to do something different. He was good to me when I left Kevin, it was just the fact if I’d I have known what was going to happen I’d have stayed a lot longer! I was only two league games short of getting a winner’s medal in the old First Division. So it’s hindsight as well and the agents were also knocking on doors because they get paid. But fantastic times for me still.”
United, under then manager Ossie Ardiles, had paid £250,000 to land Carr from Nottingham Forest in 1991 – although he revealed he thought news of the bid was a hoax!
“When Ossie signed me I thought it was a wind-up,” he said. “I thought it was one of the lads calling me taking the p***.”
“I put the phone down twice as I thought it was a prank, and somebody pretending to be Ossie Ardiles. One of the coaches at Forest then approached me and said: ‘You’ve insulted Ossie Ardiles twice now’. I thought somebody was putting his voice on. I had to say sorry to Ossie but I came up and spoke and signed for him.
“Newcastle was isolated in some ways because they’d been in the Second Division but I felt the place was ready for success. When I’d played up there with Forest it was always a big atmosphere.”
“The fans up there would annoy the opposition but if a player did something well they would applaud good play, they weren’t biased. If players do well they get a clap or pat on the back.
“They were a sleeping giant then. We had some great young players at that time, Lee Clark, Steve Watson, Robbie Elliott, Alan Thompson and Andy Hunt. You saw they all went on to have great careers. The only problem was with Ossie at the time it was always ending 4-3 or 5-4!
“We had the diamond formation, it wasn’t diamond in terms of good to look at because we could not defend! At the same time, it was worth the entrance fee for entertainment, saying that some were probably traumatised by the end result sometimes.
“I enjoyed my time at Newcastle. It was a challenge going up there for me coming from Nottingham Forest, but I loved it. It was just the start at Newcastle and the place was ready to take off under Kevin. It was sad for Ossie but it needed a change with Sir John Hall being there.”
Carr, now 58 and working in finance, enjoyed his time so much he even turned down a chance to leave Tyneside as the cash-strapped board attempted to sell their prize asset just months after his arrival.
Carr revealed: “I got injured in my first season and we stayed up. Before I was injured, I was actually getting sold to Crystal Palace. The deal was on, but I played against Leicester and my old mate Steve Walsh, also from Preston, cracked my kneecap. I’d had talks on the Friday night with Steve Coppell.
“I didn’t want to go. Palace offered me all sorts at the time but Newcastle were in all sorts of financial difficulties, and the club said we need to take this deal. But I said: ‘I love it here’. In the end I got the injury and it was never on the cards after that. It was an interesting time for me.”
Carr recalled his disbelief when his manager at Forest, the legedary Brian Clough informed him he’d accepted Newcastle’s bid in 1991. However, he later discovered how much Clough truly appreciated him in the ex-Forest manager’s book.
“At the time I could have killed him,” he admitted. “It was difficult. I saw him before he passed away, he mentioned it, and he does in his book, that he should never have sold me which was good.
“I think my time had run out and he was coming towards the end of his time. I was at Sheff United when we played Forest and we won 2-0 and it sent Forest down. I ended up leaving Forest and going to Sheff United and sending them down. But these guys are legends, it’s always worth talking to them over a cup of tea, and I am glad I saw Cloughie.
“I never knew anything other than working from Brian Clough when I signed for Newcastle so it was different. Looking back now Cloughie was a one-off, there are comparisons with today’s managers. But what Cloughie did winning the European Cup twice with what he had and winning the title with Derby, to achieve that status at that time is unbelievable. Would he have survived today’s game? I think he probably would, he was that sort of personality!”
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/thought-newcastle-united-transfer-wind-30649021
