Faustino Asprilla is one of those 90s Premier League characters that will always be fondly remembered.
The little Colombian only scored 9 times in 48 appearances for Newcastle, but he played the game with blistering pace and truly unpredictable creativity which got the fans off of their seats.
He was also a complete madman who has some truly remarkable stories told about him, such as the time he lent a £50,000 racehorse to a friend who got drunk and lost it, or his venture into the business of flavoured condoms, but on Sky Sports recently a number of former Newcastle players shared their favourite memories of the erratic striker.
David Ginola and John Beresford regaled Jeff Stelling in stories of the time when they almost won the league with Newcastle for the 'Time Of Their Lives' show which involves former pros sharing pub-talk stories in front of a fireplace, and the French former Premier League Footballer Of The Year winner told a great story about Asprilla's willingness to let random people from around Newcastle into his home.
He was my neighbour, we used to live in Woolsington, and he was every night on the phone; "David.. I uh.. I don't understand.." One night, he called me, I was in bed at about half past midnight.. "David I'm in trouble, I'm in trouble!"
I took my car, went to his house.. Full of cars in the front of the house, music very loud, I'm thinking "What's going on here?"
And he said "David, I've got a problem upstairs, someone has punched the window and has a cut on his arm".
So I went up, and he's got a towel [wrapped around the wound]. I said "Tino what are you doing?". So we went to the hospital with.. I didn't know this fella, he was there because [Tino] was the kind of guy who would see someone on the street and say "Oh you wanna come to my house? Come to my house."
What a time to be a Newcastle fan. You're team are competing in a title race with one of the great Manchester United sides and you can turn up for a session at the star striker's house whenever you feel like it.
There's also the chance to watch John Beresford in his prime, what a privilege.
