“He said we’re selling you to Manchester United and you are going to become a better player,” Cole said. “It was disappointing at the time but I see what he means now.”Keegan said it had been hard on the fans too because Cole had a cult following in Newcastle and was known as “King Cole”.But if the parting of the ways at Newcastle, with Keegan memorably standing on the steps of St James’s Park asking supporters to back his judgement, led to any tension between the two men, it has long since slackened, and with good reason “I know he was disappointed,” Keegan said. “I said to him that he was going to the only club where he’d become a better player. Now he’s gone up a notch and playing for England is another notch again. When he went to United he realised he had to play differently.”Cole, a revelation with strike partner Yorke at United this season, said he is far better now than when he left Newcastle as a “half-decent player”.Of his new partnership with Shearer, he said: “It could be a hit or it could be a miss…

I’ll try my utmost to make sure it works.”You haven’t really got time to forge a partnership before the game On the day you just pray to God that it’s going to click. When Dwight first came in we’d never played together either and it just happened straight away.”In contrast, Keegan is sure that the two strikers will work well together and cited his own experiences with John Toshack in their club days at Liverpool, which taught him that similarity of character was not an essential ingredient “Tosh and myself, we were chalk and cheese,” he said. “I knew what he was about on a football pitch and he knew what I was about. And I knew what his strengths were.”Cole said he had a high respect for Keegan.

“He gave me my chance in the big time, told me to express myself and I did that. When I heard he’d got the [England] job, I was pleased but surprised as well because of Fulham, but really and truly you shouldn’t have been surprised because he’s capable of doing a lot of things.”When the inquisition was over, the man with the silver stud left the stage “Coley, well done mate,” Keegan said He was rewarded with a smile.. THE TOON ARMY can start packing. Tottenham’s Worthington Cup victory on Sunday did not just earn them a place in Europe, it also appears to have gained one for their FA Cup semi-final opponents Newcastle United – regardless of their progress in that competition. This is the extraordinary consequence of the European football union’s re-organisation of the European competitions and the successful seasons being enjoyed by Spurs and the other FA Cup semi-finalists, Arsenal and Manchester United.

It will provide an enormous boost to Ruud Gullit as he attempts to attract players to strengthen his team for a Premiership challenge next season.
The re-organisation of their competitions that Uefa instituted earlier this season to stave off a private super league has meant the expansion of the Champions’ League and Uefa Cup and the end of the Cup-Winners’ Cup.This is crucial to Newcastle as, in the past, a team which won the League (Worthington) Cup, but also qualified for the Cup-Winners’ Cup, had to enter the latter as it was regarded as the more senior competition. The Uefa Cup place allocated to the League Cup winner was then awarded to a high-placed Premiership club – Blackburn Rovers benefited in this way from Chelsea winning both the League (Coca-Cola) Cup and Cup-Winners’ Cup last season.Under Uefa’s new plans, which have to be ratified at an executive committee meeting in Tel Aviv on 22 April, the Worthington Cup winners take up a Uefa Cup place unless they qualify for the priority competition, the Champions’ League Likewise for the the FA Cup winner. With Arsenal and Manchester United set to qualify for the Champions’ League by finishing in the top three of the Premiership, and Tottenham already in the Uefa Cup after Sunday’s Wembley win, Newcastle would be the only FA Cup semi-finalist without a European place.It might be thought that, should Newcastle lose in the semi-final, that place might be given to the club finishing fifth in the Premiership (who, unlike last year, will not automatically gain a European place). But a Uefa spokeswoman, Tania Baima, told The Independent yesterday that, if the domestic cup winners and runners-up were qualified for Europe the semi-finalists would play off for the allocated place. If one of those teams were already qualified for Europe, as seems likely to be the case in England, the other team will qualify without need of a play-off.This means, unless the Football Association objects at Tel Aviv next month, that Newcastle will be in Europe. It will be the second year in a row they have qualified by the back-door, having entered the Cup-Winners’ Cup last year because Arsenal, who beat then in the FA Cup final, were in the Champions’ League.