December 12 – Nobby Blows His Own Trumpet

BACK in his native Peru Nolberto Albino Solano Todcois so revered he even appears on a postage stamp, and not even Beckham can say that.

Today is Nobby’s birthday (he was born in 1974) so you can only imagine the celebrations that will be going on down in Peru to commemorate the event. If you had to guess (and we do) you would imagine trumpets would play a central theme to the affair given that it is Nobby’s instrument of choice.

Born in Callao Nobby first signed for Peruvian first division side Sporting Cristal in 1992 at the age of 17, before moving on to Boca Juniors in 1997 where he played alongside Diego Maradona.

Nobby’s move to England came in 1998 when he signed for Newcastle United and his love affair with the Geordie club began. He became an immediate fans favourite at St James’ Park and soon established himself as one of the Premier League’s top wide-men and expert crosser of the ball.

If he hadn’t been a footballer Nobby would undoubtedly be a musician and he is a keen trumpet player. Not only has he been known to bring his instrument into the dressing room at Newcastle, he has also played his trumpet to former managers Sir Bobby Robson and David O’Leary over the phone. We’re sure they were delighted.

Perhaps Sir Bobby got a little tired of Nobby’s noisy hobby as he sold him in 2004 to Aston Villa. The move followed a falling out between the pair over Solano’s high travel demands to represent his country.

The Toon Army were incensed by Nobby leaving and in one of the few good moves he made during his tenure as manager Graeme Souness brough him back to St James’ in 2005.

Earlier this year Nobby left the north east for a second time to move to West Ham, this time to be nearer his family who had moved down to London. He will be missed by the Geordie faithful but he is already endearing himself to his new supporters by netting his first goal against Derby County in November.

Here is a vid of some of Nobby’s exploits for Newcastle (watch out for his ‘tackle’ on Ronaldo) and come back tomorrow for more journeys back through football time and space….