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“I Wish I’d stayed!” — Players Who Were Never The Same After Leaving Newcastle United
- Dom Kureen "Dxk"
- Feb 6
- 7 min read
Newcastle United fans have seen their fair share of world-class performers over the
years — players who hit their peak in black and white only to never reach that same pinnacle once they left
Tyneside.
Here are 15 of the most notable from the Premier League era.
Shay Given (Goalkeeper)
Seamus Given provided more than a decade of excellence to Newcastle United after joining for a tribunal set £1.5m fee from Blackburn Rovers in 1997.
A brilliant shot-stopper and one of Sir Bobby’s ‘blue chippers’, Shay was central to Newcastle’s unexpected return to the top-table in 2001–02 and became one of the most respected goalkeepers in Premier League history, racking up 463 appearances for the club.
His performances regularly kept Newcastle competitive at the top end of the table and in Europe, until the dark clouds of the Mike Ashley tenure circled, pushing the loyalty of the man christened ‘Lazarus’ to breaking point, and after almost 12 years as our number one he wanted out (just 33 appearances shy of the club record).
Departing for newly oil-wealthy Manchester City in 2009, Given had one strong season before losing his place to Joe Hart.
Later spells at Aston Villa and Stoke seeing him fall into the pack, being benched in favour of such luminaries as Brad Guzan as his once mythical powers waned.
Mathieu Debuchy (Right Back)
Signed from Lille for a bargain £5.5 million in January 2013, Debuchy took a while to adapt to the pace of the Premier League.
Once settled into the cadence of the English game, the French international became a full-back full of thrilling intent during the 2012–13 season, offering defensive solidity and quality on the ball as he bombed forward.
His £12 million move to Arsenal in 2014 dye the cast for a curtailed career. Injuries wrecked his momentum and he made just 30 appearances for the Gunners.
A loan spell at Bordeaux followed before he quietly wound down his career in France and retired in 2023, a shadow of the player he was at Newcastle.
José Enrique (Left Back)
José Enrique joined Newcastle from Villarreal for £6.3 million and, after a shaky first year, became a crucial part of the side that won promotion in 2009–10 and then impressed further throughout the 2010–11 Premier League season.
A £6.5 million move to Liverpool in 2011 began well, but serious and recurring knee injuries took their toll, and he hilariously ended up in goal for The Reds against Newcastle after Pepe Reina had been sent off!
His appearances dwindled, and his top-level career fizzled out with a short spell at Real Zaragoza before he retired in 2017, with Enrique losing the affection of Toon fans as a result of some ill-advised criticisms of the club, and clear preference for the Merseyside club post-playing career.
Sébastien Bassong (Centre-Back)
Signed for around £500,000, Bassong was a Rolls Royce of a centre-back during his lone season at St James’ Park.
A calm, left-footed defender, he stood out even in a relegation-destined side and earned an £8 million move to Tottenham in 2009. Alas, he was never the same at Spurs (who seem to ruin a lot of our best prospects).
Struggling for consistency, the Cameroon international lost his place, and drifted towards a journeyman career across England and abroad before retiring — never recapturing the form he briefly exhibited on Tyneside.
Jonathan Woodgate (Centre-Back)
Woodgate joined Newcastle from Leeds for £9 million in 2003 and, despite injuries, produced the best football of his career on Tyneside – something the player recently admitted on a podcast.
His £13.4 million transfer to Real Madrid became infamous — for all the wrong reasons — after he took 13 months to debut, then scored an own goal and was sent off less than 66 minutes into his eagerly anticipated first act at the Bernabéu.
Subsequent spells at Middlesbrough and Tottenham were also hampered by injuries, and hence, one of England’s most talented defenders ended his career with a paltry 8 caps.
Ruel Fox (Right Wing)
Ruel Fox signed from Norwich City for £2.25 million in 1994 and was a key part of Kevin Keegan’s entertainers for 18 months. In 1994–95, he became the club’s first winger to record 10+ goals and 10+ assists in a Premier League campaign — a feat unmatched at Newcastle until Anthony Gordon achieved it during his 2022–23
Zenith.
A £4.2 million move to Tottenham in late 1995 saw the diminutive winger’s impact decline.
As his pace — for so long the most potent weapon in his armoury — dipped, Fox became surplus to requirements at Spurs, with one of the most notable episodes of his North London tenure being when he and teammate Les Ferdinand somehow got stuck in the away changing room toilets at St James’ Park, failing initially to appear for the second half!
A later move to West Brom confirmed the legs were gone, and Ruel’s career never again hit the heights of his short but impactful spell in black and white.
Laurent Robert (Left Wing)
Under Sir Bobby Robson, Laurent Robert was pure box office — scoring 32 spectacular goals and contributing countless assists across four unforgettable seasons.
He was one of the Premier League’s most exciting wide players, and a man our own Derek Platten regularly cites as his second favourite (after Mighty Wyn obvs).
After leaving NE1, Robert never settled in one place. A woeful loan spell at Portsmouth, failed MLS stint at Toronto FC, and uneventful spell at Benfica ended with quiet retirement — far removed from the heady highs of those blockbuster free-kicks, overhead backheels and 30-yard volleys that punctuated the Frenchman’s
Newcastle tenure.
Yohan Cabaye (Central Midfield)
Cabaye joined Newcastle from Lille for just £4.3m in 2011 and played out his peak years on Tyneside, running the midfield and helping guide Newcastle to a barely believable 5th-place finish in 2011–12.
A move to PSG for £19 million in 2014 brought trophies but limited opportunities.
He later tried to return to Newcastle but instead moved to Crystal Palace, where his impact gradually dwindled, before the French maestro retired in 2019.
David Batty (Central Midfield)
Batty was a gritty, dependable holding midfielder who was an underrated passer of the ball, joining Newcastle in a £3.75 million move from Blackburn in the second half of the 1995-96 campaign.
Batts was a fearless tackler who scored the occasional brilliant goal (check out his strikes Vs Wimbledon, Barnsley, Blackburn and Aston Villa – all beauties).
Homesickness saw him return to Leeds after two-and-a-half years in black and white, but injuries limited his appearances and he was never again as influential as he was for Newcastle, opting for a quiet life post-playing which saw him entirely disappear from the limelight he’d never sought.
Loïc Rémy (Striker)
Rémy’s loan spell from QPR in 2013–14 was electric — the French forward notching 14 goals in just 26 Premier League games and carrying Newcastle’s attacking hopes following the departure of Demba Ba and post-purple-patch paucity of Papiss Cisse.
Remy, who had initially snubbed the Toon in favour of the Loftus Road outfit, completed a double Toon jilting when selecting Chelsea as his next destination, but he barely played at Stamford Bridge.
Injuries and inconsistency followed, and his career quickly became a footballing footnote.
Andy Carroll (Striker)
Carroll was a monster for Newcastle during the second half of the 2009–10 Championship promotion season and first half of the following Premier League campaign.
His power and aerial dominance made him one of England’s hottest prospects with a swell of suitors courting his signature.
Liverpool paid an eye-watering £35 million for him on winter transfer deadline day in 2011, but he never justified such a lofty fee.
After an injury-plagued West Ham spell, he returned to Newcastle in 2019, scoring just a single goal in 44 appearances before dropping down the leagues and relocating abroad.
Notable Mentions
Habib Beye
A hugely popular Senegalese right-back signed from Marseille for £2 million in 2007.
He was adored by fans — complete with the legendary “Beyewatch” website.
His later £4 million move to Aston Villa saw his influence fall away, and he ended up at Doncaster Rovers in the Championship — a far cry from his ‘Happy Days’ at Newcastle.
Les Ferdinand
Ferdinand was sensational after his £6 million move from QPR, scoring 50 goals in 84 games and being crowned PFA Player of the Year in his inaugural campaign on Tyneside.
Big Les formed a fearsome duo with Alan Shearer in his second (and final) season in a Newcastle shirt.
His move to Tottenham in 1997 led to declining returns and increasing injury struggles — despite an unexpected ‘Indian Summer’ with Leicester in his late 30s.
Jermaine Jenas
A star in the making at Newcastle, winning the PFA Young Player of the Year award in 2003 at just 20, JJ was a firm favourite of Sir Bobby Robson, who signed him from Nottingham Forest for £5m in the middle of the 2002-03 campaign.
After moving to Tottenham, he became more of a squad player than a standout — and never matched his Newcastle promise, with early retirement ushering in a wishy-washy (and possibly short-lived) punditry career at an age when he should still have been playing.
Subsequent controversies have seen him deplatformed by several of the big-hitters.
Kieron Dyer
Electric and direct at Newcastle, Kieron Dyer was a delight to behold when at full tilt between bouts of injury.
After joining West Ham for £7m, injuries became even more frequent and debilitating, eventually derailing his momentum as he bumbled along sporadically without fulfilling his early promise.
A player once destined for international stardom faded from the scene with barely a murmur (until appearing on “I’m a Celebrity…” some years later.
Davide Santon
Showed real quality during his time at Newcastle and looked a long-term successor to the afore mentioned Jose Enrique.
Things broke down after three promising seasons on Tyneside, and a return to former club Inter Milan never saw Santon reach the levels predicted by luminaries such as Jose Mourinho during his formative days.
Surprisingly for such a forward-thinking full-back, Davide’s only club goal of a 268-game career came for Newcastle against Wigan, although he’s probably best remembered for his smart assist for the first of Papiss Cisse’s blistering brace against Chelsea in 2012.
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