Happy Birthday....
Mar 19th 2009, 6:14 am
#1
why ayeeeee man!
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: Disco Gardens...
Posts: 11,370
Happy Birthday....
....Temuri Ketsbaia!
One of the maddest, most brilliant players ever to grace a Toon top:
1968 Temuri Ketsbaia born, Gale, Georgia. (1997-2000)
The popular madman/hoarding molester was signed on a free transfer from AEK Athens as Kenny Dalglish rebuilt the squad in advance of his first season in charge at SJP.
Things began well, with Ketsbaia's first goal ensuring qualification for the Group Stage of the Champions League - his extra time effort securing a 2-2 draw in Zagreb.
And his celebration after scoring against Bolton in January 1998 has gone down in history, his shirt going into the crowd and only the intervention of colleagues stopping his boots following. The Gallowgate End hoardings took a bit a kicking also....
That first season ended with an appearance at Wembley in the FA Cup Final but following the departure of Dalglish and arrival of Ruud Gullit, Ketsbaia gradually fell from favour as Silvio Maric and Duncan Ferguson arrived.
A second FA Cup appearance still followed though - with another loser's medal - and he remained at the club when Bobby Robson took over in September 1999.
Retaining a place in the squad although still often reduced to a cameo role from the bench, Ketsbaia had a third unsuccessful Wembley runout when a late substitute in the 2-1 FA Cup Semi Final defeat to Chelsea.
Never the most talented player and prone to being over excited when on the ball, he was sold to Wolves for £900K in August 2000.
Despite scored on his debut against Sheffield Wednesday he didn't have the best of times at Molineux, joining Dundee in October 2001.
Temuri ended his playing career at Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta and after taking over as manager, guided them into the Group Stage of the Champions League in 2008.
Summer 2008 had seen him make a popular return to the region, donning black and white once more to appear in the Masters Football, being voted as the player of the tournament.
Asked about his time at SJP, Ketsbaia said:
"Everyone thinks about the team, lives it, breathes it, people wait outside the shops at 2 o'clock after midnight to buy new shirts. Unbelievable. If nothing else, I wish we had won one Cup.
“When we got back , they brought an open -top bus to get us from the airport to the city. There were hundreds of thousands of people outside.
"It is 20 minutes maximum to the city centre, but that day it took three or four hours to get there. Incredible. I was asking Didi Hamann on the bus, ‘Did we win the Cup?' I could not imagine what would have happened if we had won it.”
One of the maddest, most brilliant players ever to grace a Toon top:
1968 Temuri Ketsbaia born, Gale, Georgia. (1997-2000)
The popular madman/hoarding molester was signed on a free transfer from AEK Athens as Kenny Dalglish rebuilt the squad in advance of his first season in charge at SJP.
Things began well, with Ketsbaia's first goal ensuring qualification for the Group Stage of the Champions League - his extra time effort securing a 2-2 draw in Zagreb.
And his celebration after scoring against Bolton in January 1998 has gone down in history, his shirt going into the crowd and only the intervention of colleagues stopping his boots following. The Gallowgate End hoardings took a bit a kicking also....
That first season ended with an appearance at Wembley in the FA Cup Final but following the departure of Dalglish and arrival of Ruud Gullit, Ketsbaia gradually fell from favour as Silvio Maric and Duncan Ferguson arrived.
A second FA Cup appearance still followed though - with another loser's medal - and he remained at the club when Bobby Robson took over in September 1999.
Retaining a place in the squad although still often reduced to a cameo role from the bench, Ketsbaia had a third unsuccessful Wembley runout when a late substitute in the 2-1 FA Cup Semi Final defeat to Chelsea.
Never the most talented player and prone to being over excited when on the ball, he was sold to Wolves for £900K in August 2000.
Despite scored on his debut against Sheffield Wednesday he didn't have the best of times at Molineux, joining Dundee in October 2001.
Temuri ended his playing career at Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta and after taking over as manager, guided them into the Group Stage of the Champions League in 2008.
Summer 2008 had seen him make a popular return to the region, donning black and white once more to appear in the Masters Football, being voted as the player of the tournament.
Asked about his time at SJP, Ketsbaia said:
"Everyone thinks about the team, lives it, breathes it, people wait outside the shops at 2 o'clock after midnight to buy new shirts. Unbelievable. If nothing else, I wish we had won one Cup.
“When we got back , they brought an open -top bus to get us from the airport to the city. There were hundreds of thousands of people outside.
"It is 20 minutes maximum to the city centre, but that day it took three or four hours to get there. Incredible. I was asking Didi Hamann on the bus, ‘Did we win the Cup?' I could not imagine what would have happened if we had won it.”
Mar 19th 2009, 1:02 pm
#2
Concierge
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 29,625
Re: Happy Birthday....
Happy Birthday 
Mar 20th 2009, 2:52 pm
#3
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 13,553
Re: Happy Birthday....
....Temuri Ketsbaia!
One of the maddest, most brilliant players ever to grace a Toon top:
1968 Temuri Ketsbaia born, Gale, Georgia. (1997-2000)
The popular madman/hoarding molester was signed on a free transfer from AEK Athens as Kenny Dalglish rebuilt the squad in advance of his first season in charge at SJP.
Things began well, with Ketsbaia's first goal ensuring qualification for the Group Stage of the Champions League - his extra time effort securing a 2-2 draw in Zagreb.
And his celebration after scoring against Bolton in January 1998 has gone down in history, his shirt going into the crowd and only the intervention of colleagues stopping his boots following. The Gallowgate End hoardings took a bit a kicking also....
That first season ended with an appearance at Wembley in the FA Cup Final but following the departure of Dalglish and arrival of Ruud Gullit, Ketsbaia gradually fell from favour as Silvio Maric and Duncan Ferguson arrived.
A second FA Cup appearance still followed though - with another loser's medal - and he remained at the club when Bobby Robson took over in September 1999.
Retaining a place in the squad although still often reduced to a cameo role from the bench, Ketsbaia had a third unsuccessful Wembley runout when a late substitute in the 2-1 FA Cup Semi Final defeat to Chelsea.
Never the most talented player and prone to being over excited when on the ball, he was sold to Wolves for £900K in August 2000.
Despite scored on his debut against Sheffield Wednesday he didn't have the best of times at Molineux, joining Dundee in October 2001.
Temuri ended his playing career at Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta and after taking over as manager, guided them into the Group Stage of the Champions League in 2008.
Summer 2008 had seen him make a popular return to the region, donning black and white once more to appear in the Masters Football, being voted as the player of the tournament.
Asked about his time at SJP, Ketsbaia said:
"Everyone thinks about the team, lives it, breathes it, people wait outside the shops at 2 o'clock after midnight to buy new shirts. Unbelievable. If nothing else, I wish we had won one Cup.
“When we got back , they brought an open -top bus to get us from the airport to the city. There were hundreds of thousands of people outside.
"It is 20 minutes maximum to the city centre, but that day it took three or four hours to get there. Incredible. I was asking Didi Hamann on the bus, ‘Did we win the Cup?' I could not imagine what would have happened if we had won it.”
One of the maddest, most brilliant players ever to grace a Toon top:
1968 Temuri Ketsbaia born, Gale, Georgia. (1997-2000)
The popular madman/hoarding molester was signed on a free transfer from AEK Athens as Kenny Dalglish rebuilt the squad in advance of his first season in charge at SJP.
Things began well, with Ketsbaia's first goal ensuring qualification for the Group Stage of the Champions League - his extra time effort securing a 2-2 draw in Zagreb.
And his celebration after scoring against Bolton in January 1998 has gone down in history, his shirt going into the crowd and only the intervention of colleagues stopping his boots following. The Gallowgate End hoardings took a bit a kicking also....
That first season ended with an appearance at Wembley in the FA Cup Final but following the departure of Dalglish and arrival of Ruud Gullit, Ketsbaia gradually fell from favour as Silvio Maric and Duncan Ferguson arrived.
A second FA Cup appearance still followed though - with another loser's medal - and he remained at the club when Bobby Robson took over in September 1999.
Retaining a place in the squad although still often reduced to a cameo role from the bench, Ketsbaia had a third unsuccessful Wembley runout when a late substitute in the 2-1 FA Cup Semi Final defeat to Chelsea.
Never the most talented player and prone to being over excited when on the ball, he was sold to Wolves for £900K in August 2000.
Despite scored on his debut against Sheffield Wednesday he didn't have the best of times at Molineux, joining Dundee in October 2001.
Temuri ended his playing career at Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta and after taking over as manager, guided them into the Group Stage of the Champions League in 2008.
Summer 2008 had seen him make a popular return to the region, donning black and white once more to appear in the Masters Football, being voted as the player of the tournament.
Asked about his time at SJP, Ketsbaia said:
"Everyone thinks about the team, lives it, breathes it, people wait outside the shops at 2 o'clock after midnight to buy new shirts. Unbelievable. If nothing else, I wish we had won one Cup.
“When we got back , they brought an open -top bus to get us from the airport to the city. There were hundreds of thousands of people outside.
"It is 20 minutes maximum to the city centre, but that day it took three or four hours to get there. Incredible. I was asking Didi Hamann on the bus, ‘Did we win the Cup?' I could not imagine what would have happened if we had won it.”
......... but I remember him well as a player.
Sad thing was, he didn't seem to realise how incredibly average he was. That explains the celebration - one of the few times he actually made a worthwhile contribution (and even then he was almost too late to finish off the chance).
Mind you, anyone who can coach a Cypriot team to the CL group stages must have something going for him.............
Mar 20th 2009, 3:16 pm
#4
Account Closed
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 820
Re: Happy Birthday....
My hubby says that your birthday boy was not a patch on another Georgian wonder, a certain Georgie Kinkladze, apparently the best player since Colin Bell to pull on a Man City shirt.
Mar 20th 2009, 3:20 pm
#5
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 13,553
Re: Happy Birthday....
I've never forgiven him for completely disappearing on the night England lost 1-3 at home to West Germany (Netzer's Match). Gutless..........
Actually my dad used to say Bell had "deceptive pace"............
............ he was actually even slower than he looked............
Mar 20th 2009, 4:14 pm
#6
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 2008
Location: Far from home!
Posts: 1,024
Re: Happy Birthday....
Since Colin "Totally Overrated" Bell???
I've never forgiven him for completely disappearing on the night England lost 1-3 at home to West Germany (Netzer's Match). Gutless..........
Actually my dad used to say Bell had "deceptive pace"............
............ he was actually even slower than he looked............
I've never forgiven him for completely disappearing on the night England lost 1-3 at home to West Germany (Netzer's Match). Gutless..........
Actually my dad used to say Bell had "deceptive pace"............
............ he was actually even slower than he looked............
