It’s Saturday, October 29, 1983… Once again a sliding tackle from John Anderson takes Man City’s Scottish left winger Jim Tolmie over the touchline and onto the cinder track. No wonder the victim appears to have a concussion.
I had a season ticket in the old iron shed that was the West Stand at the time.
In the seats around me, “Ando” was known as “The Fridge.” Any winger who dared to dribble past the Leazes paddock down the left wing was hit by the weight of a refrigerator – one of those American jobs with the big double doors.
Ando wasn’t bad going forward either; he had the build and strength of a sprinter.
We also had Waddle, Beardsley and Keegan in attack and won 5-0 against Manchester City that day. Ando was our regular right-back in that promotion-winning season.
Time passes, thirty-one years later. It is Saturday January 17, 2015…
We are 0-1 down and Southampton defender Florin Gardos tries to clear the ball on the edge of his eighteen yard area. He is ‘put under pressure’ by our French attacker Yoan Gouffran. As Gardos tries to clear the ball to safety, it bounces off Gouffran’s shin and flies into the top of the Leazes net. A bizarre goal! The crowd goes crazy, as does Radio Newcastle’s Mick Lowes in the commentary box. And listening at home, I jump out of my chair and run up and down twice (that old adrenaline rush again).
Sitting next to Mick Lowes that day was none other than John Anderson. And his reaction? Well, regardless of Gouffran’s press or the joy of a surprise goal, his main concern was defense. “Terrible defending, he can’t be proud of that.” I remember feeling a little deflated for Gouffran. And also deflated at the end of the match, because we lost 1-2. It was a tough season that year. Under John Carver we finished fifteenth,
Time passes, eleven years later – it is the 2025-2026 season…
I still listen to Radio Newcastle’s match commentary, often in the car. Ando sits next to Matthew Raisbeck, and it’s a good joke. As befits a former professional footballer, Ando has a healthy skepticism about the modern game, especially when it comes to referees limiting any physical contact.
However, I do not share his position on a number of issues.
For example, he regularly makes comments about the ‘quality’ of the match. He speaks as if he is a neutral person with no vested interests, who just wants a sporting spectacle to celebrate the beautiful game itself. For me, if the game is bad and we win 1-0, I am very entertained and satisfied. Of course I love it when we win in style, but I would accept horrible games and lonely goal wins all season long.
And just like eleven years ago, Ando gets a little upset when the opposition doesn’t defend well – “he can’t be proud of that”. On the other hand, I’m quite happy when their defenders are the most clumsy, slow, dizzy and unfit bunch of misfits to ever walk on a field – please bring them again and again!
But hey, I’m just a fan, while Ando is a paid, loyal member of ‘The Defenders’ Union’, to which he first paid his subs forty years ago, when wingers played at St James’ Park in fear of ‘The Fridge’.
#tribute #Ando