Spanish lessons from Rafa, Steve Bruce's 'presence' and debunking 'pessimistic Ando' theory - Matthew Raisbeck behind the Newcastle United mic

We're rolling back the years in a special three-part series telling tales from Newcastle United’s past from behind the microphone.

And the voices telling those stories, albeit this time in print, which no doubt prove to be familiar to Newcastle United fans.

First up we had Radio Newcastle and Metro Radio commentator, Mick Lowes, who was the voice of Newcastle United on the radio for the best part of 25 years. Then it was tales of the Sir Bobby Robson era with Justin Lockwood.

Today it’s the turn of current BBC Radio Newcastle Magpies presenter Matthew Raisbeck.

Raisbeck has been the voice of Newcastle United commentary since 2016. Now in his fourth year as commentator for BBC Radio Newcastle, Matthew shares some stories from his time reporting on the club from replacing a legend to Spanish lessons from the manager…

Although Raisbeck is relatively new to the commentary role, he actually joined the station in 2006 as a summer job before university.

He explained: “I just came in during one summer before I went to university to help out on sport and luckily, I’ve never left. I’ve worked on all sorts of programmes on the radio, off air, answering phones, operating the studio desk and equipment but always wanted to be on air doing sport. Gradually over time I was able to do that.”

During that time frame, the landscape at Newcastle United changed dramatically. No fewer than 12 different managers have taken charge of a match and there’s even been a change in the boardroom.

“When I started, Glenn Roeder was in charge of Newcastle, they were signing Damien Duff. That even pre-dates Mike Ashley’s arrival at Newcastle,” said Raisbeck.

After covering non-league football for the station and taking care of the post-match phone in on Saturdays, Raisbeck was given his chance to cover the first-team when deputising for Lowes on an away trip to Arsenal in 2010.

“I remember getting the phone call on the Wednesday before the game asking me to do it. It was our last and so far, only win at the Emirates Stadium,” he recalls.

“We won 1-0, Andy Carroll scored a header. It was quite something, a great result and a brilliant ground. The Emirates was only about 4 years old then and it was my first trip to a stadium like that other than St James’s Park.”

When Lowes decided to stand down in November 2016, Raisbeck was offered the chance to become the voice of Newcastle United for the station.

Having grown up listening to Lowes describing Newcastle’s ‘Entertainers’ era of the 1990s, he was honoured to help organise the on-air tributes for his now-colleague.

“I was able to speak to quite a few people in football and everyone wanted to talk and say nice things about him because he was so respected by not just listeners but everybody in football,” said Raisbeck.

“People like Alan Shearer came on the radio live to say great things about him. There was a lot of sadness that he was leaving.”

Whilst it might have been daunting stepping into to replace a legendary figure, Lowes has always been on hand to offer advice and encouragement to ensure the handover has been a seamless one.

“I was grateful for all of it,” said Raisbeck.

“He would even text if we were at a ground where there perhaps wasn’t a great view or even multiple camera angles on the monitors to help explain to us what had happened. Sometimes he’d even just text to say ‘well done’. Since he decided to step down, I’m still in regular contact with him and he’s always been incredibly supportive.”

John Anderson has continued in his role as match summariser and studio panellist and has become a good friend of Raisbeck. After 10 years as a player at Newcastle, ‘Ando’ certainly knows the club and the fans, not to mention a useful knowledge of the broadcast equipment the pair need to set up on a match day.

“Ando’s great. I couldn’t ask for anybody better to travel the country with. Sometimes people when they listen to him on the radio will get the impression that is a bit grumpy, and a bit pessimistic,” jokes Raisbeck.

“He’s not really like that; I’d describe him as realistic about Newcastle United and the way the club has been over the past 15 years or so. He takes a lot of pride in what we do and doing it well.

“He doesn’t just turn up and expect to talk, he’s really bothered about the phone-in and his analysis during the game, which can only help me. It’s a real team effort.”

Although a commentator’s work is largely only seen on a match day, the preparation for the weekend begins on a Tuesday for Raisbeck, picking through stats and making notes on the opposition before sitting down with the manager on a Friday.

“Rafa Benitez couldn’t have been more generous with his time,” he said.

“He is every bit as brilliant as the supporters who haven’t met him would hope he would be. I can’t say enough great things about him. To get to know him a little bit and to spend time speaking to him one on one was a real privilege. People would always ask me, ‘what do you say to somebody like Rafa Benitez?’ and the answer is, nothing. You just listen.

“Mick started a tradition of greeting Rafa with a Spanish phrase every week and suggested I carried it on. I would try every week with a phrase or a question in Spanish and he would usually laugh and explain how I could do it better. Sometimes we’d have ten minutes before recording an interview on the Spanish language and I’m thinking ‘this is someone who won the Champions League and he’s teaching me Spanish!’.

“Steve Bruce has a real presence too, similar to Rafa. He can really carry the room, I love working with him - he is so nice. Steve’s great with the media, I didn’t know him before he came to Newcastle but we have built a good relationship, he’s always happy to answer any questions and will front up. I know sometimes supporters won’t like the answers given or the questions I ask but he is very good to deal with from a media perspective.”

There’s already been a lot of memorable games from both managerial eras Raisbeck has seen from the commentary position. Two wins over Manchester United, the comebacks against Everton and the final day win at Fulham all rank highly, but there is a clear winner when picking his favourite game

“The Barnsley game on the last day of the 2016/17 season, particularly the last few minutes which were unforgettable,” recalls Raisbeck.

“We had a reporter at Villa Park where Brighton were playing Aston Villa. Newcastle had scored to make it 3-0 and I got a message in my headphones from the studio saying there was a goal at Villa Park.

“Brighton were winning and Villa were down to 10 men, I just thought it was 2-0 and we’d go up in second. I introduced the reporter expecting the worst but Ando and I just looked at each other opened mouthed, we couldn’t believe what we were hearing – 1-1, last minute.

“I didn’t know what to do and just kept holding up two index fingers to the fans around us and trying to mouth one-one. I couldn’t say anything as my mic was still on but it was a great moment how it turned so quickly in our favour, so that’s unforgettable.”

Supporters will hope there are many more days like that to come in the future and Raisbeck plans to be around to describe those moments.

“When Newcastle score a goal at home there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. The result isn’t always brilliant but going to the games is still hugely exciting and I don’t think that will ever change.”