Olivier Bernard has been speaking to BBC Radio Newcastle about how he evolved into an attacking left-back during his time with the Magpies after joining as a forward.
The Frenchman arrived in 2000 aged 20 and spent the next four and a half years of his career at the club, helping Sir Bobby Robson’s side to a series of high Premier League finishes and representing Newcastle in European competition.
Dislodging the club’s all-time leading goalscorer Alan Shearer was an almost impossible task, but Robson suggested a change of position that led to him becoming a first-team regular.
Now 44, Bernard told BBC Radio Newcastle: “I was a forward player when I first came to Newcastle. I wanted the number nine shirt but obviously I got denied by Alan!
“I played a little bit on the left and then they bought Laurent Robert. I was young, I just wanted to play and the gaffer asked if I wanted to try to play at left-back. I said that as long as I was playing, I would give 100%. That’s how I ended up playing at full-back and I learned on the spot.
“The good thing was we had the ball more often than not, so I played as an advanced full-back. In that era, Ashley Cole started full-backs going forward and pushing the team to do better things. In the early 2000s, that’s when the position of the full-backs changed.”
He added: “I loved it, I was playing in a very attacking team, full of youth and we had pace to burn. It was exciting. Even though it wasn’t a position that I would have chosen, I’ve enjoyed playing at left-back for Newcastle.”
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