It is impossible to talk about the illustrious history of Newcastle United without mentioning Bob Moncur.

As a kid, we'd hear grand stories of the centre-back's tough tackling and leadership skills and on a school trip in 1990 once we couldn't believe our luck as the club legend stopped to sign autographs outside St James' Park. There's an old saying about not meeting heroes, but it certainly can't be applied to Moncur as I would discover later in life.

For fans of a certain vintage, Moncur will be one of the first names on their best XI team sheet while younger supporters will recognise the ex-Scotland, Newcastle and Sunderland centre-back. Of course, he lifted the last major trophy for Newcastle back in 1969 when skippering Joe Harvey's side to glory in the final against Újpest Dozsa and scoring in both legs of the final showpiece!

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Few men could have spent 12 years at St James' Park and walked out of the building to sign for bitter rivals Sunderland, but Moncur managed it and still gained the trust and respect of most sensible fans of both clubs. His controversial switch from Tyne to Wear was even announced live on ITV during the 1974 World Cup finals by legendary commentator Brian Moore.

On the panel that day was the great Brian Clough, then boss of Brighton, and it was Old Big 'Ead who tried to sign him and lure him south, even cunningly trying to sell the move to Bob's wife Camille. But by then Moncur had given Sunderland his word and he was not prepared to go back on it.

His career would end at Carlisle before he took up a management stint at Brunton Park before then going on to lead Hearts, Plymouth Argyle and Hartlepool. Between Hearts and Plymouth he was spoken to about the Newcastle job but the opportunity never came off.

The highlights reel would rival any top player from starring against Pele, going head to head for Scotland vs England against the great Bobby Moore to lifting not only the Fairs Cup at Newcastle but also minor titles Anglo-Italian Cup, Texaco Cup and FA Youth Cup.

Hailing from Perth, Moncur became a black and white fanatic and remained in the area. For all he was the last man to lift a title for Newcastle with all the fame and attention the 56-year tag has brought him, he'd have gladly dumped it decades ago.

Moncur told Chronicle Live: "I have always hoped to lose the tag. I honestly thought that I'd lose it when Alan Shearer was captain. Newcastle got to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and played Marseille and I fancied us to get through. It would be nice to see the club get another trophy of course. You never stop hoping for that."

And that has always been Moncur's mantra ever since I have known him. Bob was the first person to make it his business to make me feel welcome at St James' Park when I first started reporting on the club. Moncur was working for Century FM Radio at the time and we soon agreed to do a column for the Chronicle. It would be a column that would end up being jotted down everywhere from Palermo to Portsmouth and Accrington to Alkmaar!

On one occasion, as I was quizzing Moncur on Newcastle's awful 0-0 stalemate against Charlton days earlier, he said: "Take a minute and look where we are!" In front of us was Milan's breathtaking Piazza del Duomo where we'd ended up staying the night on a layover to Palermo for a Euro tie. Just 24 hours later after Albert Luque had scored a rare goal against the Serie A side and a young Tim Krul had kept a clean sheet, he said: "Aye, nobody is talking about Charlton now eh?"

The truth was he'd seen it all before, and knew that win, lose or draw, the next game would soon be along!

His people skills were there for all to see and myself, Sky Sports News' Pete Graves and Moncur travelled to games together up and down the UK. Even during a series of battles with cancer, The Captain would insist on doing the driving and he'd keep the troops royally entertained.

Putting aside his own situation, he would prove a mentor for younger members of the media and was always on hand to steer me, Gravesy, and a few others in the right direction.

Although, it has to be said, one journey back from Aston Villa in 2009 resulted in near silence from everybody in the car when it felt like the black and white world was falling apart. The usual quips and lively chats were gone and replaced with quiet contemplation of what was to come after relegation from the Premier League.

As Moncur dropped us of on that fateful day he did say one thing as we left the car: "It might feel like the end of the world, but it's not. We'll be back in August lads." Fast forward to May 2010 and Newcastle had clinched the title at Home Park after romping to the title. In the hotel bar that night, Moncur turned to us both and said: "I did tell you lads!"

Another memorable trip came a little further afield as I had the pleasure of flying to Barcelona with Moncur and Fairs Cup winning team-mate Alan Foggon! The occasion would be to not only celebrate the anniversary of that win over the Hungarians, but also bring the trophy home to Tyneside for a string of dinners after Barca agreed to loan the piece of silverware back to the Magpies.

Moncur was able to roll back the years and lift the trophy once again. A week later, my phone rang with Bob on the other end of the line: "I've just had Barca on, can you take the Fairs Cup back to the Nou Camp? I'm off on holiday!"

And so the trophy that had been lifted by Newcastle, Leeds, Arsenal, Roma, Valencia and of course Barca (who'd won it three times and ended up keeping the original) was suddenly in my suitcase for an impromptu holiday to Catalonia no less! The only problem was that when we arrived, the Nou Camp was shut for a Spanish public holiday, so for 24 nervous hours, I had to guard the Fairs Cup.

As the trophy sat on the table next to my hotel bed, I could only laugh as I imagined its predecessor, the UEFA Cup or what we now call the Europa League trophy, ending up in such a bizarre situation with me, of all people, tasked to look after it. As we approached the old Nou Camp, a smiling Barcelona official, complete with white gloves, was on hand to take the trophy back to the bulging honours room at the famous venue.

The truth was, while it had been an adventure in itself, I was glad to see the back of it. Imagine being the bloke who lost the Fairs Cup?

When I got back, I wondered whether to tell Bob about my unexpected 24 hours as guardian of the trophy he'd hoisted in 1969. But he could barely stop laughing and said: "You think that's bad, when I was on the open top bus in 1969, I lifted it up to show the crowd and 'bang' I'd hit electric wires and there were sparks everywhere!"

And so Moncur reaches 80 today and a glass will be raised to the great man. With Newcastle close to another Wembley final and another chance of Bob losing his unwanted tag, there could be more celebrations to come soon. If Newcastle do win something in Bob's 80th year, nobody will punch the Wembley air harder than Captain Bob himself.