1987-88 Season - Players

What a miserable lot the players were for much of the season and what did they have to complain about?

The redevelopment of the West Stand meant they had brand new changing facilities; portacabins behind the Leazes End. And the club had spent literally thousands on installing an underground piping system to make sure they never had to play on hard frosty pitches again.

But no the vast majority just seemed to complain.

You had the members of the FA Youth Cup winning side of 1985 such as Stephenson, Bogie, Scott and Tinnion who weren't happy about not getting a regular start.

You had senior players such as Andy Thomas, Paul Goddard, Neil McDonald, Peter Jackson and Glenn Roeder who all wanted away at one time or another .

Then you had Gazza who despite being offered 5 year and 3 year contracts which McFaul assured us would make him the highest paid player in the League decided he'd rather follow his mate Waddle to Tottenham.

Of course the players now had freedom of contract so that when their contract expired (as was the case with Neil McDonald) the club's were powerless to stop them going.

Some players couldn't even get on together with Mira and Gazza enjoying the tempestuous sort of relationship that you would normally only see in a marriage. They even let their tantrums spill onto the pitch were they were involved in heated altercations on more than one occasion. At one stage they wouldn't even pass to each other

After one of the set-tos during the friendly against Monaco McFaul had to publicly deny there was any particular problem between the two. "There are at least six other players that Gazza has had a row with on the pitch this season" he explained.

Some fans were more supportive. The manager of the Rupali promised the players a free meal if they could win their first home game before the end of October. The 4-1 League Cup victory over Blackpool got them their treat, however 6 of the players found parking tickets on their cars when they left.

Mira took terrace abuse in his stride; his command of English rendering any criticism as futile as the word "pass" from a team mate. He was less impressed when he was informed that former Sunderland manager Lawrie McMenemy had accused him of being bad for the team and suggesting that he wouldn't see the season out. Mira called a press conference to blast back and label the "affable Geordie" as an "unknown"

In fact the little Brazilian was a law unto himself and he caused a major stink when he failed to turn up for United's tour of the West Indies in May which had been arranged on the back of his presence in the team. He was also exceedingly lucky to get away with a flying kick on Wimbledon's Dave Beasant after the FA Cup tie defeat.

On a brighter note Lee Clark and Lee Makel were signed on as apprentice professionals in the summer of 1987; the first two products of the Centre of Excellence set up three years ago.