Taken from Bez's diaries on the nufc.com site. I'm throwing this in not because of recent discussion of the plc side of things. Purely because the sale of Robbie Elliott just didn't make any sense to me at the time and is still quite sad I reckon.

"At the end of the season, I was approached by Colin Todd at Bolton who told me he was looking for a left back and asked me what the situation was at Newcastle. I was perfectly happy and told him so, but you never know what can go on so Toddy went to Newcastle and made an enquiry.

Newcastle came back and told him that I wasn't for sale, then the next thing I hear is that they've sold Robbie to Bolton and I was speechless. The fact that they'd let the younger of the two of us go and sold the local lad with the potential just seemed to show that the plc had told them to get money in.

Robbie was devastated and we all knew how much it meant to him. I never fathomed what Newcastle were trying to do, but almost overnight the spirit that had made it so special had just gone from the club."

-- Anonymous, December 07, 2000

Answers

How much did we get for Robbie? Not a huge amount I think. And what has he done since he left? Well, obviously he brolke his leg very soon after joining Monty Python's pallindrome. SO who knows what he'd have achieved at NUFC?

Don't get me wrong - I was a fan, mainly due to his being a local hero. But please don't let's just jump on the "the board are greedy money grabbing barstewards" without looking at Elliot's potential. Would he have been EPL standard today if (a) he'd stayed and (b) he hadn't had such a nasty injury.

-- Anonymous, December 08, 2000

>>How much did we get for Robbie?>> 3.5 million according to nufc.com. Yep, I was staggered at the figure too ! I thought the money we received back then had been good, but had completely forgotten just how ambitious/desperate Bolton were. Without wanting to draw the bbs into yet another 'cost' versus 'value' debate, it's maybe worth remembering that transfer fees were rising at a fair clip at the start of KD's reign. IMO the cost of his transfer is a red herring compared with the real issue of whether he should have been sold. By way of illustration, there's no point feeling cocky selling high in a buoyant market if you then have to go and buy an equally 'overpriced' replacement in the same market ...

>>And what has he done since he left?>> As you imply Screach, Robbie Elliott has suffered a shocking injury record since initially breaking his leg. Agreed, we'll never know what his record would've been like had he remained at Newcastle. But we can say with certainty that he would never have broken his leg in that particular match if he hadn't been sold ...

>>But please don't let's just jump on the "the board are greedy money grabbing barstewards" without looking at Elliot's potential>> Agreed, hence my comment at the top of the thread.

>>Would he have been EPL standard today if (a) he'd stayed and (b) he hadn't had such a nasty injury>> Obviously nobody can answer this - with the possible exception of Bobby Lee's distant relative Gypsy Rose. But for me the answer is a resounding YES. To my mind there's little doubt that Elliott had ALREADY proven he was EPL standard. The only remaining question was how much better he might become.

Hence my sadness at him being sold (regardless of the fee) when he should've stayed. And you'll note I haven't even needed to take account of the Geordie/British factor.

-- Anonymous, December 08, 2000

What you're all overlooking is that Robbie also a bad injury record when he with us, including at least one and I believe two, serious knee ligament injuries. I seem to recall that he also suffered a broken leg when he was a youngster.

Hindsight is great, but £3.5 million for an injury prone player - albeit a lovely local lad - probably looked pretty damned good business back then. Much as I liked him, I also have to conclude that if he'd been real top class he would have made it back to another PL Club by now.

-- Anonymous, December 08, 2000

At the Arsenal Cup Final, FF and I were staying in the Wembley Hilton, apologies to mates who have heard this before, and when we walked back in after the match in our shirts and bigh daft B/W hats, who should we be hailed by but Robbie, Alan Thomson and assorted family members. They made us promise to come down and join them for a drink after we had been upstairs to leave our stuff - which we did.

Had a great crack-on with them all, Robbie was gently on the way to getting plonked but lovely with it - Alan was the most sober of the lot. Got loads of interesting inside stuff but on the transfer - which YES, DID UPSET ROBBIE A LOT, he was rock solid. "It wasn't me, it wasn't Dalglish, he was all right, the gaffer - it was "them upstairs, the money men". No doubt in his mind, whatsoever.

All water under the bridge now but so sad at the time. And my friend Beth used to teach him at school. She rated him as a lovely lad, for what it's worth.

love from nowyouseehernowyoudon't.

-- Anonymous, December 08, 2000