Following a disastrous start to the 1999/2000 campaign which saw Newcastle lose four of their first five matches including the Tyne/Wear derby, Ruud Gullit parted company with the club. Sir Bobby Robson, from County Durham, came home to the north east to manage Newcastle United in what became his final spell in football management.
Chelsea (a), 11/09/1999, Premier League: Lost 0-1
Robson's first game was the first match after the first international break of the season which saw Newcastle take a trip to Stamford Bridge, a place where the Magpies often fail to come away with a positive result.
A difficult match became harder when Chelsea were given a controversial penalty which Frank Leboeuf duly converted. A lacklustre Chelsea then held on for the win which kept Newcastle in the relegation zone going into their next match at home to Sheffield Wednesday.
Here is the line-up from that Chelsea match and how far they have come since that day.
Tommy Wright: Wright was one of four goalkeepers used in the 1999/2000 season with Shay Given and Steve Harper injured and third choice keeper John Karelse dropped following his poor performances.
Wright actually made 73 appearances in his previous spell at Newcastle in 1988-1993. Wright retired in 2001, his final club being Manchester City. Wright then returned to his native Northern Ireland to begin his managerial career with spells at Limavady United, Ballymena United and Lisburn Distillery before heading to Scotland to manage St. Johnstone in 2013 where he has been eversince.
Warren Barton: Newcastle fans will have many fond memories of Warren Barton, a consistent right back that spent seven years at the club (his longest spell at any club).
After leaving Newcastle in 2002, he played for three more years as he notched up 450 career league appearances. He has then moved to the other side of the Atlantic and made his name in the USA. He had a brief stint as manager of San Diego Flash and is now a well esteemed pundit on Fox Sports.
Nikos Dabizas: An experienced international footballer for Greece and a highly rated high-scoring defender for Newcastle United. He then left Newcastle when chances to play in the first team came few and far between and managed to secure a move to Leicester in January 2004. The Foxes were relegated later that season. In 2005, Dabizas then finished the final years of his career at Greek side, Larissa. He now works as the Technical Director at Panathinaikos.
Alain Goma: Goma had a rather quiet time in a Newcastle shirt. The Frenchman is more well known for the five years he spent at Fulham. He finished his career at Al-Wakrah in Qatar.
Didier Domi: Domi bears some similarities to Alain Goma in that they were both signed for Newcastle in the late 1990s from PSG. Just like Goma, he left St. James' Park in 2001 however he went back to PSG. He returned to the north of England a few years later for a loan spell at Leeds United. Spells at Espanyol, Olympiakos and New England Revolution concluded his playing career. Remarkably, the only three league goals he scored came in his 55 appearances Newcastle shirt. Domi now works for beIN Sports.
Kieron Dyer: Dyer was a highly promising young player when he arrived at Newcastle prior to the 1999/2000 season. Despite many injuries, undoubtedly, hindering his potential, he still managed to make 250 appearances for the club with 36 goals to go with it.
The most iconic moment during his time at the club is arguably his on-pitch brawl with teammate Lee Bowyer against Aston Villa on 2nd April 2005 (our friend, Mick Lowes' birthday). Dyer remained in England for the remainder of his career with spells at West Ham, QPR and Middlesbrough before retiring in 2013. During his career, he also made 33 appearances for England.
Gary Speed: A true legend of the game who sadly took his own life in November 2011. Speed was a master of heading the ball which was remarkable considering he was smaller than 6ft tall. He went on to make 285 appearances for Newcastle and has played more times in the Premier League than any other outfield player. In 2004, he left Tyneside to return to the north west of England to play for Bolton.
He finished his playing career with Sheffield United whilst in his 40s. He managed to go straight into the manager's hot-seat at Bramall Lane before he accepted the huge honour to manage his country, Wales whom he made 85 appearances for as a player. Speed sadly left us in November 2011. If you are experiencing any suicidal thoughts, please know you are not alone and there are people out there who will gladly help and there is no shame whatsoever in asking for help. You are NOT a burden.
Rob Lee: Similar to a number of players in this list, Rob Lee is another player who became a great veteran of the game. In a career spanning 23 years, Lee made 785 appearances, 379 of which coming for Newcastle.
Lee would have been incredibly grateful for the arrival of Sir Bobby Robson after falling out of favour under previous manager Ruud Gullit. The Dutch manager even refused to give Lee a squad number. Following the end of his playing career, he has had a few punditry jobs but most importantly, just last week, he was inducted into the Newcastle United Hall of Fame.
Nolberto Solano: Another true legend of the club started the first match that Sir Bobby Robson took charge for. Solano went on to make 314 appearances for the Magpies and scored 48 goals. He is one of the few midfielders in the top 10 of the club's highest scorers in the Premier League.
He left Newcastle (a second time) in 2007 to join West Ham for a season before his brief spels at Larissa in Greece and Universitario in his native Peru. He returned to England to play for Championship side Leicester City in the 2009/10 season and remarkably made his debut for the Foxes against Newcastle United. Following that season, he moved up north for spells at Hull City and Hartlepool United.
As far as his managerial career is concerned, he has had three brief managerial stints with Universitario, Jose Galvez and Internacional de Toronto.
Alan Shearer: A man who needs no introduction, a true legend of the footballing world. Shearer, would have been pleased about the arrival of Sir Bobby Robson. The frontman was controversially left out of the starting XI in Gullit's last game in charge which was the Tyne/Wear derby. Upon Robson's arrival, Shearer then went on to score 117 Newcastle goals until Robson's departure in August 2004.
Super Al went on to break the club's goalscoring record in February 2006 and his achievement has been marked with the club unveiling a statue of him in September 2016. His only stint in management came at the end of the 2008/09 relegation season where he was unable to work a miraculous recovery however it is safe to say that, despite his failure to keep Newcastle in the Premier League, it has not changed the fans' opinions of him.
Duncan Ferguson: A fiery Scottish international striker who was part of a formidable striking duo with Shearer in the 1999/2000 season. However his time on Tyneside was short-lived as he returned to Everton at the end of the 1999/2000 season.
Ferguson is regarded as a legend in the blue part of Merseyside. Over the course of his two spells at the club he managed to score 72 goals in 273 appearances for the Toffees. It could be argued that Ferguson was simply unable to find the home in Newcastle that he had at Everton.