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Talking Newcastle with… Smoove & Turrell

Singer John Turrell discusses current goings on at, and past memories of, his beloved Magpies.

Smoove & Turrell - "Will You Be Mine"

To celebrate the impending release of Smoove & Turrell’s fresh ‘n’ funky new single “Will You Be Mine”, we caught up with singer John Turrell for a natter about his beloved Newcastle United, whose dreadful start to the season has led to calls for a change in direction…

I suppose we ought to start with your thoughts on the manager…

Mr Pardew? He’s just not the man for the job. In all my time as a Newcastle United fan I’ve never seen as big a shambles as we’re witnessing at the minute.

Who would you like to see replace him?

David Moyes for me – he’s a great manager, just look at what he did at Everton.

He’s someone who can win a dressing room round even at the worst of times – I remember Everton losing a fair few games in a row in the Premier League and people were talking about his job, but he spun them round and they finished well.

I wouldn’t like to see Tony Pulis, mind – he’s not my type of manager at all. Newcastle fans just want to see good football, at the end of the day. We’re happy enough not winning anything because we haven’t done so in a long time, so just witnessing good football is a start for us.

Moyes built a good footballing side at Everton, which is something that people tend to overlook.

Exactly. I think he’s someone that Newcastle fans would love to have but he’d have to get on with a chairman who isn’t in it for the football, who’s just there to promote his brand.

It’s a difficult position for any manager to be in, certainly Pardew’s struggled with it. It’s pretty untenable.

We were hoping Mike Ashley was going to buy into Rangers and sell Newcastle but he’s said he’s not going to do that for at least two seasons. The club’s been up for sale and no-one’s bought it, it’s just a horrible position to be in for a supporter.

Are there any glimmers of hope with any of the new signings?

I think Siem de Jong will be a great player when he recovers from injury. We’ve seen him in pre-season and he looked a class act.

Rémy Cabella could be a great player, but out of everyone he’s bought Jack Colback looks like the best signing – he’s got a great work ethic.

Would you be able to name the first, best and worst games you ever went to?

The first game I ever went to was against Liverpool at St James’s Park in the early ’80s. I think we lost, so that was a good opener!

The worst game was probably lost year against Sunderland when we just didn’t turn up. On paper the Sunderland team wasn’t as good but they had real heart and real fight.

The best game I’ve ever watched was against Barcelona when Tino Asprilla scored a hat-trick. That was amazing.

Going back to Sunderland, I just want to say a big thank you to their fans for raising that money for the two kids that died on the aeroplane. It’s calmed down something that hadn’t been very nice for the last few years.

Finally, if you had to select a five-a-side team out of all the Newcastle players you’ve seen in your time as a fan, who would you pick?

Shay Given, Alan Shearer, Peter Beardsley, Asprilla and David Ginola, with Rob Lee on the bench. Quite an attacking line-up there!

For more information, please visit the official Smoove & Turrell website.