Temuri Ketsbaia wooed Newcastle United fans in the late nineties with his passionate displays in black and white on the hallowed turf of St James' Park - now his dream is to join them on from the stands and witness history. The former Georgia international celebrated the club's takeover last autumn from Cyprus, where he is now a club manager, and now feels the Magpies can push on and win the trophy he craved as a Toon player.
Back then Ketsbaia partnered Alan Shearer in attack in both 1998 and 1999 as Newcastle made it to back to back FA Cup finals losing to Arsenal and Man United. It meant Ketsbaia, agonisingly, only got to walk up the steps and past the famous trophy and the long wait for silverware dragged on.
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But the former Gallowgate End favourite does not believe he will be waiting much longer and this time he will make sure he is at Wembley sitting alongside fans. Ketsbaia told me: "When I have time I will try to visit Newcastle again. I'm happy for the team, and I know things are going well.
"One day I would love to be celebrating with the fans after watching Newcastle win a trophy. Every country I visit I bump into somebody who wants to talk about Newcastle. It's great. I love the club, the city and the fans.
"The fans were fantastic with me and supported me from the first day. I would love to stand with them and cheer the team on one day, hopefully to see a trophy lift."
Yet Ketsbaia knows that a little bit more patience could be required before that big date with history. Indeed if Manchester City's journey, after their Abu Dhabi United Group takeover in 2008, is anything to go by it could take two or three years. City's first trophy arrived in 2011 when they beat Stoke City in the FA Cup final. For now, it is about finishing the job this season.
Ketsbaia said: "They have got the results they need and are not in as much danger as they were. Relegation is not the threat it was and things are looking good so far.
"Things for the change for the better. I don't want to say the previous owner didn't care but the big difference is the new owners have money and are willing to spend. They want to spend money and bring new players into the team. We can look forward now and maybe the team will challenge to win something.
"This won't be easy, even getting to the Champions League, because you have six or seven teams that you need to jump over if you want to challenge to win a trophy. At this moment it is a good situation for the club and the team. The ambition is there and that is the most important thing."
The former Newcastle star is currently enjoying his own managerial adventure in Cyprus and now gets the best out of some of the younger players.
He said: "My team Anorthosis Famagusta played in the Europa Conference League this season. We are challenging for the title and the cup this year and we're going well. As a manager, I tell younger players this, you have to work hard. It doesn't matter how much talent you have if you don't work hard that talent disappears.
"You have to have passion and love the game. Unfortunately, it's not the same as when we were young, younger people now have so many opportunities and the numbers of kids playing sport are going down."
