Rob Elliot has revealed even the heartache of being told his time was up at Newcastle United will never break his bond with his beloved North-East.
Born in Greenwich and starting his youth career with Erith Town before signing for Charlton Athletic, Elliot had barely ventured past Hartlepool on day trips in the EFL before deciding to make the bold move to Tyneside in 2011. But he admits that he fell in love with the area soon after signing for Alan Pardew and, even now, would never consider living anywhere else.
Given that the region has endured a spate of attacks over the years, with Troy Deeney the latest to put the area down, Elliot – who once joked that Geordies lie about how good the area is to keep it to themselves – has dismissed any such comments as “b*******s”.
Elliot, now manager of Crawley, commutes from the south as he juggles keeping the Red Devils in League One with family life. He told Chronicle Live: “Anybody putting the area down here, it’s just a cheap shot when people say that. They want a reaction. Anybody who has been here will tell you that the North East is beautiful. I walk along the beach and the coastline next to my house.
“I am 15 minutes from the city and Northumberland and some National Parks. Anybody saying otherwise is talking b******s and you can quote me on that. It’s uninformed and ignorant.
“It is a special place, not just because of the football but because of the people; the community is one in which people care about each other. That’s why you see so many ex-players still here. Even some of the lads from abroad stay in Newcastle! It’s just a lovely place. This will be my home for a very long time; I know that.”
Elliot spent nine seasons at Newcastle and tasted European qualification in his first year under Pardew. He played in the Europa League, helped fight off relegation, went down in 2016, was promoted in 2017 and then helped the club stabilise ahead of a different era.
The ex-Republic of Ireland stopper worked under Pardew, his manager at Charlton, Steve McClaren, Rafa Benitez and Steve Bruce – taking something from all of them. As Elliot, who did an amazing job at Gateshead after winning the FA Trophy and leading the Tynesiders to the National League play-off spot, attempts to steer Crawley Town to third flight safety he is digging deep into his experiences at Newcastle.
The Greenwich-born former Toon goalkeeper told me: “You actually take learnings retrospectively, you know. So you look at who I worked with at Newcastle, Alan Pardew, Steve McClaren, Rafa Benitez and Steve Bruce, and they all have so many strengths.
“And you have to use them when you get the opportunity. It is important that we learn and adapt by looking back at what you did in your career. They all helped me. The way you manage situations with all the managers I had.
“And then you throw in it was at a massive club like Newcastle with a massive fanbase and expectations, you see the strength of the man in charge. We had tough times, difficult moments and good times with promotion and getting into Europe. It is good to take that on now at Crawley. You know that some of this is a situation you have been through before.”
Leading Gateshead to glory in the FA Trophy after being thrust into the manager’s chair following a stint as technical director is up there on Elliot’s CV. But if he can guide Crawley to safety in League One it will be cause of celebration of a different type.
The odds were stacked against Crawley to stay up when he took over as they scrap it out with bigger and wealthier clubs like Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic, Peterborough and Wrexham to name a few.
As we motion from the past into the present and future Elliot said: “It is tough, we know at Crawley we are in league full of juggernauts, this is the toughest League One has been. So we are having to adapt to that.
“We have picked up some results recently so we need to crack on with that and put our identity in. We are trying to play good football with young and inexperienced players a bit like we did at Gateshead. It is a good learning curve for me, it is a great experience and I am trying to put in all my coaching from all of my experience.
“I am obviously a young manager and a young coach still as well, this is a mash of everything, trying to learn, trying to avoid relegation and trying to push on. This is not where I expected to be (given he started a role as technical director at Gateshead) but it is also something we can actually be excited about and a good challenge.”
Elliot looks back on his time at St James’ Park with affection, and even after finally moving closer to his southern roots in football terms, he could not bear to leave Tyneside behind.
The ex-Gateshead boss said: “I experienced it all at Newcastle, it was a roller-coaster. But I genuinely loved the club. I still love it now. All my kids are Geordies and I still live here now.
“Sometimes, when you play football, people think you are just saying it for effect and being generic. But I genuinely love the club, I am still in the North East and travel back from Crawley. We had Europe, a couple of relegation scraps, getting promoted again after injury and playing the last few games to get us promoted. It’s all there.”
Elliot can look back on keeping clean sheets in Europe for Newcastle, winning big Premier League games and also picking up player of the season in 2016. His last game for Newcastle came in 2017 against Man City, but he remained on the books until 2019/20 after returning from a back injury to work his way back to the bench.
The talented stopper always had a connection with the fans and would throw his gloves into away ends after matches. But he was not granted a tearful farwell appearances.
Elliot told me: “Sadly, my Newcastle career faded out a bit at the end, which was frustrating. It was not how I envisioned it. When I played against Man City that final time, I did not expect it to be my last game. For all that, I probably would not have changed my nine years there because I genuinely loved it. Especially the people I met up there as well.”
The end game for Elliot at Newcastle was also tough, and amid the panic of Covid and “Project Restart”, the keeper was told he was to be released. Looking back on the moment, Elliot reflected: “It was really tough the day I was told it was going to end. I was told during Covid I would get an extension for the rest of the season.
“Then, on the day I was supposed to get it, I was pulled into the office and told I wasn’t getting it – and that was it; it was over. That was how my time ended. That was really disappointing, considering how long I’d been there.
“It was a bit of a shock in some ways. I knew I wasn’t going to get a new contract (long-term), which was fine, but I was disappointed with the way it panned out because there were a lot of people there I knew and had worked with, once you get told that you find it really hard to be around, you feel like you are not supposed to be there.
“I actually got pulled just before I was walking out to train when I had my boots on ready to train. It wasn’t a great moment for me, and I don’t think the club covered themselves in glory.
“It is what it is. I don’t have any animosity or frustration, that is just football sometimes. It is the ruthless side of it. I will always be grateful I had the time there and I still keep in touch with people. There are still fantastic people at the club who are still there and that’s the things I hold on to.
“Brucey had to tell me, but it wasn’t just him; there are multiple facets to it. Steve was always brilliant to me. I was disappointed the way I was let go. In football, decisions are made that aren’t based on being personal. I hadn’t played and I was on a first team keeper’s wage, Covid muddled things too, I just wish I’d had more time to see it out.”
The story for Elliot on Tyneside did not end there after a wonderful stint at Gateshead. But the long-serving Newcastle star decided long before his last day that he wanted to leave something behind in the city.
(Image: Lee Ryder)
It was back in 2017 that Elliot, Matt Ritchie, Dwight Gayle and Paul Dummett set up their own coaching programme for local youngsters. And eight years on it’s still going strong.
Elliot said: “It is ticking along nicely, we have our courses for youngsters. It is nice to be able to do something for the community and put something back. It’s good and while I don’t have an every day input, the interest is still massive. It is easy to come to a place, play and then leave.
“But we wanted to leave something. We developed coaches and developed young players who have been to America. There are some really nice stories from it.”
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