Ranking All NUFC Premier League Goalkeepers - Worst To Best
7. Mike Hooper - 25 Appearances - 1993-1995
Arriving at Newcastle from Liverpool with an English Literature degree and a reputation as a dependable back-up on his CV it appeared that Kevin Keegan had acquired an intelligent and rock-steady challenger for the increasingly erratic Pavel Srniceck in the salad days of our Premier League existence. Two days after arriving at St James' Park Hooper debuted with a solid display in the 0-0 draw with West Ham. It proved to be the high-point of a less-than-memorable two-year stay on Tyneside. It soon became apparent why he spent much of his time warming the bench at Anfield and the chants of of "we want Pavel back" soon became deafening after a string of costly gaffes forced Keegan's hand and led to the popular Czech being reinstated as first-choice. Quite why Keegan saw fit to splurge £550,000 on a player, who just a week before joining the club had riled the crowd by responding to taunts of dodgy keeper prior to a pre-season friendly against Liverpool, remains unsolved. He even went to the lengths of threatening to quit unless the relentless torrent of abuse was quelled. Luckily for us, Hooper walked the plank and was never to be seen between our posts again.
