329: Ruel Fox, Newcastle United, Merlin’s Premier League 95 Sticker Collection

Today Richard Allinson brings us the fascinating story of an excellent player who was an integral part of some of the 1990s most exciting sides. The pedants among our readership might point out that this post exceeds the supposed 500 word limit we allude to in our name but we’ll make an exception for today’s subject. Over to Rich.

"... ladies and gentlemen, England will be playing four-four-f***ing two." Mike Bassett

Maybe it is the fact that my formative years were spent watching Alan Buckley's free-flowing Grimsby Town sides, but in my opinion, you can't beat 4-4-2 with two real wingers as a formation. There is just something about a wide-man beating his fullback with a trick or pace and getting the ball in the box that makes me think that it is the only way to play the game, and in the 1990s, no one epitomised the role of the tricky winger better than Ruel Fox. 

After weeks of fruitless trials with hometown club Ipswich Town, Fox secured himself a trial at local rivals Norwich City which had been arranged for him through his neighbour (and, helpfully, Norwich City player) Louie Donowa. After only two days with the Canaries he signed for them at the age of 14. Although, Ruel made his senior debut for the Norfolk side during the 1986/87 season, it wasn't until the 1992/93 campaign that he made his real breakthrough. The inaugural Premier League season saw the Canaries leading the way for large parts of the campaign, including being clear at the top at Christmas, but a change in form including only one win in April saw them finish third behind Manchester United and Aston Villa. This though was enough to see them qualify for the UEFA Cup for the only time in their history, and led to what Fox has described as the best match of his career: Bayern Munich 1-2 Norwich City; 19 October 1993; Olympiastadion, Munich. In reality, no one expected the Canaries to beat Bayern, and as Fox has said himself since "...we went there just thinking it was going to be a jolly up. We were going to go to Germany, have a laugh, get a few signed tops, swap shirts with a few players and then come back." I'm pretty sure all this happened, but what the Norwich players (and the Bayern ones too for that matter) didn't plan for was Jeremy Goss absolutely leathering in a volley to give the unfancied side the victory.  However, Fox wasn't to be with the Canaries for much longer as after 219 games and 25 goals, he was on the move to Newcastle United in February 1994. 

In interviews post-retirement, Fox has explained that at the time of the transfer, he wasn't particularly looking to leave Norwich but that the Canaries chairman, Robert Chase, had told him to go and have a chat with Kevin Keegan to see what it was all about. Chase had given Fox reassurances that he would keep it quiet, promising Ruel that he could go up to the North East and have a chat and if he didn't like it, he could go back into training the next day and that no one would be any the wiser. It came as a shock to Fox, therefore, when he arrived in Newcastle to be greeted by about 3,000 Geordies after it transpired that Chase had misinterpreted the phrase "keep it quiet" to mean "tell everybody". On meeting Keegan, Fox was immediately impressed by him and within about five minutes he'd decided that he wanted to join the Magpies. Keegan sold Newcastle to Fox, but also outlined how he felt that Ruel and Andy Cole could help break down barriers around race and open the door for more black players to represent the club in the future. In the latter years of his management career, it became quite easy for people to poke fun at Kevin Keegan (let's face it, Mike Bassett was 50% King Kev and 50% Graham Taylor) but the stories you read, including this one by Fox highlights the foresight he had, and what a skilled man-manager he was in the nineties. So, with Fox having decided he had gone as far as he could with Norwich, and with Keegan's sales pitch ringing in his ears, he moved north for £2.25m and his new boss had got a man he felt was "the best player in his position in the country."

When Fox arrived at St James' Park, he opted to wear the number 5 shirt. Sadly, this wasn't because of Kevin Keegan's masterplan of selecting 10 attacking outfield players, with him seeing Ruel as a 5ft 6ins centre half. In fact, it was more down to the fact that 5 and 20-something were the only numbers available, and as Ruel put it "5 was closer to the number 7 shirt I wanted." Fox's spell as one of Newcastle United's "Entertainers" was a lot shorter than I remember it being. In my head he was there for about five seasons, but in reality, he was only with the club for about twenty months. During that time, he played 70 games, scored 14 goals and set up 21 more and was part of a side that finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup. As a young lad in the early nineties, this team was one of the first ones that I really remember enjoying watching: Fox, Beardsley, Andy Cole etc. really lit up the league and paved the way for the Magpies infamous tilt at the 1995/96 title. However, our man wasn't to be a part of this as despite a fruitful first full season on Tyneside, he was soon to be on the move south to Tottenham Hotspur. Fox has mentioned in recent years that his move away from the Magpies was a massive disappointment as he was happy living and playing in Newcastle, wishing that he could've stayed with the club longer. However, the increase in competition for places following the arrivals of Keith Gillespie and David Ginola meant that his good run was halted, and combined with the money on offer from Spurs and a desire to play more regular first team football, he was packing his bags once again.

Fox arrived at White Hart Lane for a fee of £4.25m making him the club's second most expensive player at the time. Much like the Newcastle side that he had left behind, the Spurs team assembled by Gerry Francis boasted a lot of attacking talent with Fox joining players such as Darren Anderton, Teddy Sheringham, Chris Armstrong and Ronny Rosenthal in North London. The first season at Spurs was what I consider to be a very "nineties Tottenham" season i.e. eighth in the league and fifth round of the FA Cup. 

Spurs later raided Newcastle again for David Ginola and Les Ferdinand, probably hoping that the former teammates would produce on the pitch. However, getting on to the pitch in time for kick off proved trickier than you might have imagined. In October 1997, Ferdinand and Fox returned to St James' Park to a standing ovation from the fans of their former employer but come the start of the second half, the pair were nowhere to be seen. At the end of the first 45 minutes, Fox and Ferdinand weren't happy about a few things and so decided to discuss it. In the toilet. As Fox told the Newcastle Chronicle, "Me and Les were sitting in the cubicles talking about our game plan for the second half. Suddenly, I sensed that it was just me and Les in there. I was like: 'It's gone a bit quiet in here Les!'". Thinking the rest of the team were playing a prank, the pair took their time over getting ready, only to emerge down the tunnel to see the game in full flow. No one had noticed, including rather unbelievably, the referee and their own manager.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given he couldn't tell when his team were playing with only nine men, over the course of the next couple of seasons things were to gradually go downhill for Spurs under Francis, until he was eventually sacked on 19 November, with his replacement Chirstian "I want this underground ticket to become my ticket to the dreams" Gross being appointed only one day later. Gross has been widely derided for his spell in English football, but Ruel Fox had a very different take on him saying that he felt he was “too advanced” for Spurs at the time. Fox likened Gross to fellow North London managerial import Arsene Wenger, but whereas the Gunners players bought into the new way of doing things, the Spurs players didn't and ultimately Gross was to get the boot less than twelve months after taking charge. Next up on the Spurs managerial merry-go-round (which still seems to be spinning wildly) was George Graham who Fox immediately thought "wasn't having" him. This came to a head when, despite having played in all the earlier rounds, Graham left Fox out of the squad for the 1999 League Cup final against Leicester City. Spurs went on to win the game 1-0, and although he was offered a medal, Fox refused it because he didn't play in the match. 

Despite having decided to stay on and fight for his place at Tottenham, Spurs then pulled an absolute shithouse move and published in a match day programme a list of players that were going to be released, of which Ruel was one. Unsurprisingly this was the end of his 113 games spell at Spurs and, despite thoughts of retirement, at the start of the 2000/01 season he moved on to First Division side West Bromwich Albion, a club he supported growing up. Having helped the Baggies back to the top flight at the end of the 2001/02 season, Fox retired calling it "the perfect way to finish my career."

So Ruel Fox then, he was an excellent player that was involved in some of the most iconic footballing stories of his generation. To me he is living proof that tricky, quick wingers should be the basis to any good football side, rather than the endless procession of "number 10s" that bore the life out of me nowadays.