No more tears for these Newcastle United Tourists
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So, it comes to pass that another of my Newcastle United heroes departs the scene for pastures new.
Bruno G isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last of my favourites to break my heart.
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A timely reminder of the adage to never become too attached to any member of the club, only the club itself.
Here are the previous heartbreakers.
The Newcastle United players who have punctuated my time as a supporter with their inevitable exits.
Ruel Fox (1995)
Born in the late 1980s, I recall witnessing the first celebrated player of my fandom ditching the scene without my formative sensitivities suffering too much trauma.
Ruel Fox was an exciting, diminutive winger who had undeniable chemistry with Andy Cole (a player I was just too young to gain requisite ‘favourite’ status affection for) in 1993-94.
Until Anthony Gordon emulated the feat during his Magnus Opus 2023-24 campaign, Ruel was the only NUFC winger to achieve double figures for both Premier League goals and assists in a season (1994-95), and truly one of our most underrated players of recent decades.
The departure to Spurs in late 1995 was softened by the arrivals of Keith Gillespie and, latterly, David Ginola – the pair signed for accumulatively less than the hefty £4.2m fee received from Spurs for Fox.
Les Ferdinand (1997)
This one hurt.
Sir Les still ranks as one of our greatest ever strikers, scoring 50 goals in two seasons and forming two scintillating partnerships – first with Peter Beardsley and then, irresistibly, with world record signing Alan Shearer.
Winning the PFA Player of the Year award in his inaugural campaign on Tyneside, Ferdinand’s connection with Toon fans seemed destined to see him spend several years in black and white, banging in goals alongside Shearer, Ginola and a team full of entertainers.
Manager Kenny Dalglish didn’t agree, forcing the powerhouse forward out against his will, despite a desperate last-ditch effort to cancel the transfer to Spurs when Alan Shearer shattered his ankle in pre-season.
Alas, it was too late. Les felt betrayed by Dalglish and the club, and a decimated frontline suddenly contained the likes of timid youngster Jon Dahl Tomasson, ‘follicly challenged’ lunatic Temuri Ketsbaia, and decomposing duo Ian Rush and John Barnes.
Ferdinand was never the same player, and Newcastle – for years perennial top table contenders – took half a decade to recover.
The Mag Issue 93 October 1996Issue 93 – October 1996
Nolberto Solano (2004)
One of the strangest departures during my time as a supporter, the Peruvian winger was a quality player who had the highest number of assists over three seasons of any player in the top four European leagues between 2000-2003.
A hard-working, technically exquisite set-piece specialist, Nobby had been with the club for more than six seasons but fell out with Sir Bobby Robson due to his continued international participation with his South American nation.
Sold to European qualification rivals, Aston Villa, for the paltry sum of £1.5m, Solano was replaced, in rotation, by the generally ineffectual pair of Lee Bowyer and Darren Ambrose.
His return to the fray in the summer of 2005, a year and half after his departure, was heralded by supporters and the player himself. He’d never really wanted to leave; we’d never wanted him to go.
When he did leave for the second time two years later, it was more palatable after an elongated lap of honour for one of our greatest overseas players ever.
Scott Parker (2007)
A workhorse midfielder, Scotty Parker kept things simple but was a very effective shield for some terrible defenders during the mid-noughties’ era of Graeme Souness and Glenn Roeder.
Adept at controlling the game from deep, the £6.5m signing from Chelsea’s pivotal presence was counter-intuitively felt most when his absence through injury saw a lack of leaders in the Newcastle side.
The arrival of Sam Allardyce in 2005 saw Parker sold to West Ham – where he blossomed before an even more productive spell at Tottenham (when will they stop taking our former players?!)
Another player who wasn’t desperate to leave, but Big Sam had his eye on inferior maniac Joey Barton.
Jose Enrique (2011)
Another of Big Sam’s acquisitions, the Spanish left-back struggled as the side was relegated during his inaugural campaign following a £6.3m move to the club from Villareal.
The subsequent promotion campaign saw him flourish, as he became a top-quality operator over the next couple of seasons.
Unfortunately, the more things change, the more they stay the same, and 2011 saw the piranhas circling.
Liverpool snatched Jose in 2011, at which point the erstwhile lovable Spaniard metamorphosised into a glorified cheerleader for The Reds.
Despite his career on Merseyside never threatening to approach the levels he’d enjoyed in the North-East, Enrique went on to extol the virtues of his new club, while simultaneously taking regular jabs at his former Magpie employers.
Although sad to see him leave at the time – and sympathetic towards his later health struggles – all love for this player was lost soon after his departure.
Yohan Cabaye (2014)
This French midfield maestro joined the club for a bargain £4.3m in the summer of 2011, soon becoming the team’s creative hub.
His arrival coincided with a formerly unfathomable upturn in the team’s fortunes, as Pardew’s babes romped into the league’s top five.
A subsequent lack of summer transfer activity saw the side embroiled in the more familiar surroundings of a relegation dogfight during the following campaign, and Cabaye wanted out.
As with Bruno, Arsenal were the main suitors, but on this occasion, remarkably, Joe Kinnear managed to persuade the diminutive Frenchman to remain on Tyneside until mid-season.
He was to produce his most productive spell ever, with 7 goals and 5 assists in just 19 appearances, before donning PSG colours after a fee of £19m was agreed.
A flop at the Parc des Princes, Cabaye’s agent sought a move back to SJP but the player ultimately embarked upon an underwhelming stint at Crystal Palace instead.
The Mag Issue 269 2 June 2012Issue 269 – 2 June 2012
Georginio Wijnaldum (2016)
A dynamic young midfield player, Wijnaldum was one of the bright spots in a shocking 2015-16 relegation campaign under Steve McLaren and Rafa Benitez.
With 11 goals and five assists in the league, the Dutchman’s talismanic efforts couldn’t compensate for the ineptitude of almost all around him.
A familiar path saw him follow in the footsteps of Enrique, Beardsley, Hamann, Carroll etc by joining Liverpool for £25m after just a year in black and white.
Allan Saint-Maximin (2023)
This mercurial winger would often flatter to deceive but was one of the rare bright sparks during the tedious Steve Bruce era.
During a monotonous period – which included a season where Jonjo Shelvey top-scored with a blistering SIX goals – ASM and Callum Wilson were the only players worth the price of admission.
The Frenchman’s stats throughout his career allude to a lack of end-product, but he was exciting and passionate – things lacking during a miserable era of Newcastle United.
There is also the caveat of having Joelinton, Dwight Gayle and Andy Carroll as the forwards he was trying to supply – no barn doors being threatened during a goal-shy 2019-20 campaign.
The takeover in 2021 saw upgrades acquired, and with the likes of Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes set to battle for a place on the left wing, Saint-Maximin became surplus to requirements.
A surprisingly cheap £23m move to Al Ahli concluded four years at Newcastle – a tenure the player described as ‘my greatest trophy in football’.
Aleksander Isak (2025)
Hostilely christened ‘the rat’ by disgruntled Toon fans, the Swedish striker was a club-record £63m purchase from Real Sociedad back in 2022.
An inconsistent inaugural campaign saw Isak’s mere presence elevate strike partner/rival Callum Wilson to a career apex of 18 PL goals, while Isak snagged 10 himself.
The following two years saw him evolve into one of the world’s most zestful attackers, and pivotal in the club ending its 70-year trophy hiatus while once again qualifying for the Champions League.
Sadly, his legacy was left in tatters by a refusal to attend training as he sought to force a move to Liverpool that summer.
The timing was rotten, and after concluding a league record £125m transfer, the former icon was to suffer a lamentable first season at Anfield, with a miserly three PL goals.
A nondescript World Cup followed, with the impending season a pivotal one as the Swedish rodent approaches his 27th birthday.
So, it is with sadness that the latest member of my departing favourites heads to pastures new, but the club will survive, it always does.
Be it Shearer, Beardsley, Gascoigne, Keegan… The only thing for certain is they will all leave at some stage.
Now it’s time for new names: Bamba, Toure, Hornicek, Jaouen, Steur, and whoever else follows – to adorn the back of shirts and build their legacies.
Just try not to get too attached this time.
(You can follow the author on Twitter @writeondom)