🙌 Newcastle cult heroes: Temuri Ketsbaia | OneFootball

Temuri Ketsbaia is responsible for perhaps the most memorable celebration in Premier League history.

For those unaware of his unhinged moment of madness, the Newcastle man marked his last minute winner against Bolton in 1998 by, frankly, completely losing the plot.

He tore his jersey off in frenzied fashion before proceeding to aim wild and repeated kicks at an advertising board in front of the Gallowgate end – even trying to remove his boot before team-mates managed to stop things getting any further out of hand.

That alone is worthy of inclusion on this list even if it is a moment which makes the Georgian cringe to this day.

“It was a bad time for me because I was disappointed about how the team was being selected,” Ketsbaia told the Chronicle last year.

“So when I scored the goal, it all came out but it is something that I’d never like to see again and to be honest, I’ve never watched it back.

“Even when it happened, I regretted it and couldn’t look. I didn’t really want to do it but I was just disappointed about not playing and the emotion came out.”

In an interview with Sportsmail, he went further and claimed that he doesn’t deserve to be remembered on Tyneside as some advertising board-hating madman.

“I’m upset that people remember me because of this,” he insisted. “That’s a great shame because I did so much more for the club.”

He’s not wrong there either. From 1997 until 2000, the former midfielder made 114 appearances and scored 14 goals for the Magpies.

The first of those goals remains one of the most important in club history – another reason for his inclusion in our pantheon of cult heroes.

That came in the summer of 1997 when he hadn’t long arrived from AEK Athens and was involved in Newcastle’s second leg tie against Croatia Zagreb in the Champions League.

His 119th minute goal in extra-time sent his side into the competition proper for the first time, spawning books and DVDS off the back of it.

That strike also ensured that each Newcastle player received a £100,000 bonus for making it into the group stages for the first time ever.

However, when it later transpired that Ketsbaia didn’t have the bonus payment written into his contract, the club took the money back from the man whose goal sent them there!

Now that is definitely reason for kicking an advertising board or two.

The attacker’s goal return may have been rather modest as he didn’t build too much on that memorable debut strike but it was his hard work and commitment to the cause that went over a treat with fans.

He lacked the explosiveness of a Faustino Asprilla or lethal finishing of an Alan Shearer but nobody could ever fault the effort from Ketsbaia, who simply seemed so thankful for the opportunity he had received at St James’ Park.

That much was clear when he popped up at a sports store in the north east’s MetroCentre to buy himself some new football boots – much to the bemusement of both the staff and his team-mates.

They may have laughed and explained that sponsors would take care of that for the ‘Mad Monk’ but even today, he still purchases his own boots.

Those in the Gateshead or Newcastle may even see him back in the area to this day if they keep their eyes peeled.

The 51-year-old still retains close ties to the city and is a regular visitor to his favourite old haunt as his daughter now studies criminology on Tyneside.

If you do see him, we’d advise discussing his Zagreb goal rather than the one against Bolton.

For your own safety if nothing else!