Jermaine Jenas shares masterstroke move by Bobby Robson that convinced him to sign for NUFC

There were fewer greater minds in the game of football than that of Sir Bobby Robson. The former Newcastle United boss pulled off an act of genius when Jermaine Jenas was in the North East to see if he wanted to sign for Newcastle.

Newcastle paid £5million to Nottingham Forest for Jermaine Jenas which made him the second most expensive teenager in English football at the time. Jenas arrived with a weight of expectation on his shoulders after being touted as the next big thing.

JJ had a decent career at Newcastle that was marred by a comment that got into the press which suggested he couldn't handle life at Newcastle and it felt like living in a goldfish bowl. However, Jenas vehemently denies these comments to this day.

Speaking on That Peter Crouch Podcast, Jenas has revealed how Bobby Robson managed to convince him to join the club.

Bobby Robson sent JJ for a night on the Toon

The club's representatives were set to give Jenas a tour of the training ground before Bobby Robson made another suggestion that sealed the deal.

"When I arrived basically, we were in the boardroom, Bobby Robson comes flying in, someone says 'take him to the training ground' and Bobby went 'No, no, no, don't take him to the training ground take him out for a bite to eat'.

"Little did I know, we didn't have a training ground at that time. We used to train on like an abandoned bowling green somewhere. So there was me, the late Freddy Shepherd and his son and my agent, we basically went on a night out in Newcastle.

"And people don't know this, but there's like a four-bedroom apartment in the middle of St James' Park, so they put me in this apartment, I've woke up pretty much hungover, 'cause we had a bit of a night, and I just said to my agent 'where's the paperwork, man? I'm staying'".

There's an apartment at St James' Park?

Sir Bobby knew the score there. A makeshift training pitch on a bowling green could have scuppered the deal but a night on the Toon can sway anybody.

Jenas would go on to make 152 appearances for Newcastle in all competitions, scoring 12 goals and providing 16 assists.

However, the most surprising part of that story to us was the revelation of the four-bedroom apartment in St James' Park. Are we the only ones who didn't know about this?