Ex-Newcastle and Sunderland legend Bobby Moncur wins battle with cancer

Former Newcastle and Sunderland captain Bobby Moncur has won his nine-month battle against cancer.

The 63-year-old former Scotland international, who was the last man to lift a trophy for Newcastle, has received the all-clear from his specialist Mark Katory at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead where he has received treatment for cancer of the colon.

The grandfather-of-three, skipper of the 1969 Fairs Cup winning side, had six months of chemotherapy and surgery to remove 12 inches of his colon.

He said: 'It's great news. I have always said that when I was given the all-clear I wanted people to know. For someone like me you can never really say all-clear but the cancer has gone.

'I consider myself very lucky. The treatment was not pleasant but there are a lot of people worse off.

'I had a tremendous reaction from well-wishers when I was first diagnosed and I want them to know the news.'

Moncur has revealed reading an article about the disease by chance helped him make his first moves towards treatment.

And the memory of his old adversary and the former England skipper Bobby Moore gave him the push to seek help when he was first unwell after a holiday last year. Moore died of bowel cancer in 1983.

Former Scotland captain Moncur, who now works as a local radio summariser, said: 'When I was diagnosed I was totally staggered. It was a shock and terrible news. Cancer was a disease that happened to other people.

'You do have dark moments and think "what if?" I was furious it should happen to me. I was angry because I was really enjoying life.

'I was on holiday and not feeling clever but I was being a typical man thinking I would be all right.

'Two days later I was reading an article about a guy who had colon cancer. He described what happened to him and I thought `I've got something like that' but I was making excuses to myself.

'The guy said he went to the doctor because he met Bobby Moore's wife Stephanie at a charity function and she said if Bobby had gone to the doctor when he should, he would still be alive.

'When I read that I felt Bobby Moore was telling me to do something about it. Within a month, I was operated on.'