25/09/2025
Todays 'Random Mag of the Day' is our former striker Lomano Lua Lua.
LuaLua was born in Kinshasa, but moved to England at a young age. After impressing in a college football match, he signed for Colchester United. There he scored a total of 21 goals in 68 appearances which prompted Newcastle United to sign him in September 2000 for a fee of £2.25m, after an earlier offer of £300,000, by former manager, Ruud Gullit, had been rejected. The much increased bid offered financial security and assistance towards a new ground and was one that Colchester could not turn down.
Bobby Robson thought that Lua Lua was a special talent on signing him:
"He has to learn how to play with the other players but he's a special new talent. He has to be nursed and cherished and taught. But we are buying long-term a very promising talent, a very promising player."
LuaLua signed a five-year contract at and made his first-team debut in a 1–0 home defeat to Charlton in September 2000 and made 23 league and cup appearances for Newcastle in the 2000–01 season without scoring.
He scored twice in our Intertoto Cup campaign at the beginning of the 2001–02 season but his first Premiership goal did not come until April 2002, when he scored a last-minute winner in a 3–2 away win against Derby County. He scored a further two goals in the remaining four games of the season. What a goal celebration he had! 😉
LuaLua's goalscoring form continued to the beginning of the 2002–03 season when he scored three goals in his first four games. Tougher competition for a first-team place meant that LuaLua made only 22 appearances in this season.
In January 2003, LuaLua urged Robson to rotate the squad, saying:
"I think I deserve a chance now, as do many of the lads on the fringes of the team. Although some people might have the idea that those of us not in the team like sitting on the bench and getting paid good money, nothing could be further from the truth. I'm not in this for the money, I want to play for the first team and show what I can do on a regular basis."
Lua Lua spent much of the beginning of the 2003–04 season on the bench and in November 2003, complained that he would consider leaving Newcastle.
This didn't please Bobby Robson:
"How dare he say this? I run this football club ... LuaLua has been a pretty poor professional about all this. What he should do is keep his mouth shut and get out there and do what he is paid for."
In the end, he made 88 league and cup appearances for Newcastle, scoring nine goals, having started 21 games and made 67 appearances as a substitute.
In February 2004, after returning from the 2004 African Cup of Nations, he joined Portsmouth on a three-month loan deal with a view to a permanent deal at the end of the season. During this loan spell he scored in the 89th minute in a 1–1 draw for Portsmouth against parent club Newcastle. The result lifted Portsmouth out of the bottom three of the Premiership. This also lead to a change in legislation for the FA introducing standard rules meaning a player on loan could not play against their parent club
He scored four goals in 15 appearances for Portsmouth as they finished in mid-table in their debut season in the Premiership. Harry Redknapp was sufficiently impressed with LuaLua's performances that when his loan spell ended at the end of the 2003–04 season, he signed LuaLua permanently at a cost of £1.75m.
Next followed spells at (checks list) Olympiacos, Al-Arabia, Omania, Blackpool, Karabükspor, Çaykur Rizespor, Akhisarspor Kulübü, Şanlıurfaspor, Merit Alsancak Yeşilova, Doğan Türk Birliği, Gìrne Halk Evì and Peterborough Sports. Phew!
He is currently the attacking coach for Spalding United.
What's your memories of the maverick striker?
Paul | Magpie 24/7
