And among them is a shot of a youthful defender celebrating a goal.

The joyful image, however, was enough to send a shiver down any my spine.

It was of a young Marcelino, then sporting cropped back hair.

And the only surprise was that Mallorca didn't name their new stadium after Marcelino, as his £5m fee must have helped pay for at least one of it's stands.

However, at the club's old Chester-le-Street training HQ the injury-prone centre-half did deliver one of the most memorable attempted dressing downs of a journalist I've seen.

They say still waters run deep, and whatever anger that had welled up inside him exploded one afternoon.

He did a double take as he walked past one prominent local writer, before stopping and delivering a foul-mouthed tirade. He made a gagging gesture with his fingers, and told the stunned hack that he made him sick.

I was interviewing one of Marcelino's team-mates a few feet away at the time, and neither of us could keep a straight face.

Had it been Duncan Ferguson or Alan Shearer delivering the admonishment, then it might have been a different matter, but Marcelino wasn't the most intimidating of characters.

Incidentally, he now works in the media as a football commentator.

I just hope Jonas Gutierrez - also signed from Mallorca - has a better career at St James's Park.


JONAS Gutierrez found the net on his return to the ONO Estadi yesterday.

Gutierrez - signed from Real Mallorca last month - scored in a 10-a-side practice match held ahead of tonight's game against Hertha Berlin.

However, his neat strike was overshadowed by one from that well known goal machine Nicky Butt, who smashed the ball home from 25 yards.

Butt - who actually scored three goals last term - is starting his fifth season as a Newcastle United player.

In that time the midfielder - who won everything in the game during his time at Old Trafford - has played under five managers, or six if you include Steve Bruce at Birmingham City, where he had a year on loan.

Butt, of course, had been used to long-term stability, having played under just one manager - Sir Alex Ferguson - at his only other club, Manchester United.

And given the turmoil Butt has witnessed since arriving at St James's Park, is it any wonder that Newcastle have never come close to winning anything in that time?