Shola Ameobi; a tribute

Shola Ameobi: a Tribute

 

Ameobi was not the most talented player to play for Newcastle United. He himself would admit this fact. Newcastle fans up and down the country, including myself would often his question his selection in matchday squads or the starting XI. What Shola Ameobi gave Newcastle United was commitment, leadership and soul. Many fans would argue that the commitment side of things should be the bare minimum and I agree but there’s plenty of former Newcastle players I didn’t feel contributed it every time they played, Michael Owen and Damien Duff to name 2. Shola played through injuries, often to the detriment of his performances and his long-term fitness. I believe he lost a yard of pace following a hip operation during the 2006-07 season, a problem it is said he played with for 2 years due to a lack of other first team strikers. I don’t think many players would have done that for the Newcastle cause, at a time when Newcastle United were struggling.

 Whilst Shola was never a prolific scorer, he had a knack of scoring important, memorable goals. From his stunning equaliser against Tottenham, to his winner in the cup against Chelsea, to his brace against Sunderland in a 5-1 win, every Newcastle fan has memories of Shola they remember fondly. His derby goals are well documented, 7 goals against Sunderland places him only below Jackie Milburn on an all-time list in that fixture and he’s also netted 4 against Middlesborough. His goal against Barcelona at the Nou Camp, will also live long in the memory. His calmness and record from the penalty spot is faultless and I was always confident if he was taking a penalty. His European record was much talked of and he scored 15 goals in 51 games in European competitions. During the 2005-06 season, Shola netted 6 goals in the last 12 games to fire Newcastle into Europe. Following Newcastle’s disastrous relegation season big name strikers abandoned the club. Mark Viduka, Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins all sort new clubs. Going into the new season, there was huge worry around the club, with many fans such as myself thinking a return to the premier league was unlikely with the lack of goalscoring prowess in the squad. But Shola stepped up for HIS club, he cared about this football club. The goals of Kevin Nolan, Andy Carroll and Peter Lovenkrands will be remembered but Shola was prominent at the beginning of the season, when the doubt amongst the fans was really there. His hat-trick against Reading in the 2^nd match laid a marker for the whole team for the season.

His final interview brought a tear to my eye, my favourite quote was “I hope the fans realise that I have given everything for this club blood, sweat and my soul. “ I can only say I hope the fans realise this also, he has been criticised over the years, but he doesn’t select himself and he cared about this club. Shola Ameobi should be remembered fondly by every Newcastle United fan. In a club devoid of leaders and fighters since the departures of Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton, Andy Carroll, Steve Harper, Nicky Butt, Alan Smith and Yohan Cabaye in recent years, Shola was both of these. No-one has a bad word to say about Shola Ameobi he is a footballing gentleman. Joey Barton once called him the “nicest man in football” and this shows the respect he has in the game.

When Newcastle managers have been in bad predicaments they have turned to Shola Ameobi. Joe Kinnear brought him back in when he came in, a calm figure amongst the turmoil. Alan Shearer did not pick his former strike partner much but threw him on during the final day of the relegation season. Chris Hughton turned to him at the start of the championship season when he needed an experienced striker to put in the performances. He wasn’t prominent towards the end of the season or the start of the next season but came back shortly before Hughton lost his job- contributing important goals. Shola played an important role at the back end of that season, when it was feared Andy Carroll’s sale would contribute to relegating the club. When Pardew was under-pressure in November and December, Shola found himself back in the manager’s first team. This shows the high-regard Shola was held in and that when the team needed leaders, the manager relied on him.

 

I really do wish Shola the best in the rest of his career and after it. A true footballing gentleman, who I and many others will miss seeing as part of Newcastle United. I encourage any Newcastle fans to read Shola’s final interview at Newcastle linked below and think how long it may be until we see another character like Shola spending 14 years at Newcastle.

 

 

http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20140523/ameobi-ive-given-everything-for-this-club_2281670_3833854

Random former premier league players at the world cup

Random former premier league players that are at the world cup

 

The first thing I was interested in finding when I looked through the world cup squads was some random former premier league players. Not your Cesc Fabregas’s and Luka Modric’s the ones who were quite good but the random ones, who looked lost at premier league level, the ones who jumped ship early into their stay or raise a smile when a football fan mentions them as if to say  “I remember him”. I’m pleased to report there a large amount of these players going to the world cup, many more than I expected. Now I’ve got over the disappointment of Alessandro Diamanti not making the competition, here is my list of random former premier league players to look out for.

 

Jô

 

The £21 million man, the man to fire Man City into a new era who netted once in 21 games. His initial loan spell at Everton was relatively decent followed by a poor 2^nd loan spell and subsequent departure from the country. I think I speak for many English football fans in being surprised at his selection in a strong Brazil squad, but maybe he’s improved?

 

Jean Makoun

 

Gerard Houllier signed him for around £6million pounds with a high reputation back in France. An early red card a few weeks after joining was a bad start and it never really got better for the Cameroon man making just 9 league appearances in 18 months before a loan back to France.

Philippe Senderos

 

Senderos is a bit more experienced in English football than many of the other members of this list and he surely has a fantastic agent for his continual transfers to massive clubs far superior to his ability. Starting at Arsenal he made 84 league appearances, far too many in the opinion of Gunners fans I suspect. A surprise loan spell to Ac Milan was followed by a surprise loan spell for Everton for whom he only played twice. He even struggled when he went to Fulham so many would’ve suspected he’d finally drop out of the top tier, only for Valencia to decide he was good enough for them. A very confusing situation indeed.

Gelson Fernandes

 

The man Sven once described as the “best young player in Switzerland” he failed to light up Manchester. Unperturbed by this, Sven signed him on loan for Leicester in a very strange loan move. When Sven was sacked he was confined to the Leicester reserves and asked for his loan move to be terminated, I don’t think he’ll be queuing up to return to England. He seems to have rebuilt his career slightly with Freiburg in the Bundesliga but Sven’s ringing praise seems to have been misled.  

Eduardo

 

Certainly not as bad as others on this list and it’s a bit harsh to be critical due to a horrific broken leg injury however, I feel the need to include him on this list for that dive alone that earned him a 2 match champions league ban

Giovani dos Santos

 

This guy is someone who had a huge reputation when he arrived in England from Barcelona. 15 appearances in 4 years was very much a disappointing return for someone who’s attitude was heavily criticised by Harry Redknapp in particular his liking of the London nightlife. His brief loan spell at Ipswich surely makes him one of the more unlikely players to have taken part in the English 2^nd tier. He has 73 caps for his country at only 25 which is a big surprise to many, he did make his debut at 18 though

 

Giorgos Karagounis

 

I know he’s only just left Fulham but he certainly isn’t the most memorable of players and I think many of us still think we were just imagining that a veteran Greek midfielder played for Fulham for 2 seasons.

Alberto Aquilani

 

A big money Xabi Alonso replacement, injuries caused his Liverpool career to never get going. Roy Hodgson said he was loaning Aquilani to get some much needed match fitness the season after, 56 league games later in 2 different loan spells, he was sold for a massive lost.

Andranik Teymourian

The surprising stat about this man is that he had 2 different premier league clubs. Real blink and you’ll miss it stuff from the Iranian at Fulham as he made his only appearance in a 1-0 victory over Arsenal which makes you ask why he didn’t play more. Perhaps more well- known for his prior spell at Bolton including a man of the match performance against Wigan in which, he grabbed 2 goals and this performance will live long in Bolton fans hearts. He also had a brief loan spell at Barnsley in the championship.

 

Victor Obinna

 

This speed demon had a season long loan at West Ham back in the 2010/11 season in which he grabbed 3 goals in 25 games. His red card against Birmingham in the league cup semi-final in an incident with serial wind-up merchant Sebastien Larsson is unfortunately his most memorable action in a West Ham shirt.

 

Diego Forlan

 

Certainly not as random as many on this list but his 10 goals in 63 premier league appearances in a Man Utd shirt grabs him a place on the list. I do like that he ended his goal drought on signing for Manchester United with an 89^th minute penalty in a 5-2 win, certainly the best way to see a goal drought ended. Other than his spell at Man Utd however, his career has been a lot more successful than most on this list.

Jérôme Boateng

 

Another not so random selection on the list, but I thought I’d include him based on how he changed from being a bench-ridden right back to being at the centre of the defence of the best team in Europe within 2 seasons. Maybe an example of a player poorly used rather than him being awful for Manchester City.

Jonathan Mensah

I struggle to believe that this man was only 27 when he arrived at Sunderland, he seemed to be in his early thirties back then. His persistent injuries meant he was not a regular fixture in the side. His bust-up with Nedum Onuoha in which they had to be separated by other players was allegedly caused by his poor performance. Its lucky not all Nedum’s teammates take the same approach when they think he’s had a poor game…

Asamoah Gyan

 

Gyan wasn’t actually poor for Sunderland and looked like he may turn into a good signing. Then a ridiculous transfer in which he signed for Al-Ain to play in front of a reported 300 fans. To be fair I don’t blame him based on the reported £140,000 a week offer for 5 years, just the bizarreness of the transfer is something that brings a smile to the face. Gyan has banged in 81 goals in 65 games for his side so I’m sure the man and his dog are frequently celebrating avidly.

Hélder Postiga

 

The man who helped knock England out of Euro 2004, his Tottenham spell was particularly forgettable scoring just once in 19 league games. Still only 31 (I know), he is travelling to another world cup despite another poor season in which he has managed just 3 league goals. To be fair to him, his goal scoring record in international football is impressive with 27 goals in 66 games, the marked difference from his club form is probably just one of those unexplainable things.

Hassan Yebda

A member of the Portsmouth side that went down, need I say more? I will expand, he’s probably one of those players that you’ve heard the name of before but can’t think of where from or what position he played; he’s a defensive midfielder in case you’re wondering.

Park Chu-Young

 

I know he still technically plays for Arsenal, but I’m including him seeing as his one and only Arsenal league appearance was back in January 2012. Also had a 2 game loan spell with Championship side Watford to close the season and  with 1 of those appearances as a 90^th minute substitute, he doesn’t go into the world cup with much form behind him.

 

Ji Dong-Won

 

Probably more affectionately known than many of the list just because he produced that moment against Man City and Martin Tyler’s subsequent excitable reaction. Him and the aforementioned Park up front together could be a field day for fans of random footballer fans such as myself.