What Steve Diamond remembers first is the revolver wedged into the pocket of the driver on the team bus. Oh, and the machine gun in the overhead locker.
In the warm-up, balls sailed into the crowd from goal kickers getting their eye in. None came back that hadn’t been punctured by knife-wielding opposition fans.
Then came the national anthem, and the sight of the entire stadium turning its back on the pitch and starting to wolf whistle.
At Kingston Park this Friday the boss of winless Newcastle sends his team out against play-off chasing Bath, less than three weeks after Falcons were hammered out of sight, 85-14, by Bristol.
Extraordinary day
The potential for the scoreline to again turn ugly is obvious yet Diamond is not about to quake in his boots. Not when he has seen what he has.
“That game against Georgia when I was coach of Russia,” he says, casting his mind back to what unfolded in the ‘neutral’ Turkish city of Trabzon only months after the two nations had been at war.
“30 of the players found another route, as did coaches, but the cleaners, the ticket office, those people were left high and dry. That for me was the sad bit.”
For all the talk of Newcastle being the club most likely to follow Worcester, Wasps and London Irish down the road to nowhere, Diamond has welcome news.
Revealing ‘deep conversations’ he has had with owner Semore Kurdi, the Mancunian reveals: “I’ve convinced him it can be a good product.
“I’ve convinced him that with the investment he and I have agreed, which is under the salary cap, we can have a highly competitive team and go back to having nights like they’ve had at Kingston Park in the past.”
