'He was in the trees!' Ex-Newcastle defender Steve Howey recalls Temuri Ketsbaia paintball story

Ex-Newcastle United defender Steve Howey has revealed Temuri Ketsbaia used his military service training to surprise the rest of the Magpies squad during a team bonding paintball trip.

Fondly remembered on Tyneside, Ketsbaia famously once lashed out at an advertising hoarding after scoring for Newcastle against Bolton back in 1998. Never short of passion, the Georgian midfielder later revealed his aggressive celebration came from his frustration at being kept out of the Magpies starting line-up.

During Ruud Gullit's tenure at St James' Park, Howey, Ketsbaia and the rest of the Newcastle squad went on a team bonding paintball trip, which resulted in the latter using guerrilla warfare tactics to ambush his teammates.

"I mean, he's Georgian and they're hot headed - they're very passionate," explained Howey on the Undr The Cosh podcast.

"Great lad but he took it so personal that he wasn't playing and obviously we all know that one when he scored, and he was trying to boot the hoardings and taking his boots off. He must have been there with Ruud [Gullit] and Ruud had taken us paintballing. Temuri and a few of the other lads, they'd done army service for their country. Obviously, we got two teams, everybody wanted to shoot Ruud...

"We split up into two teams and the lads were hiding. Anyway, my team was against Temuri's and the game was over and we couldn't find him. But he'd been an expert in camouflage and he was in the trees! He was in the trees!

"So we're just walking back, the game's over and he's come diving out like Jean-Claude Van Damme and he's gone 'die you English pigs!' And we're all going 'Temuri, it's over!' and he's saying 'it's never over!' He's going 'where's Gullit, where's Gullit?' He lost the plot!"