What of Newcastle United’s forgotten man?

Posted on June 8th, 2019 | 17 Comments |

Dwight Gayle
Gayle: An excellent season at West Brom.
We had almost forgotten about him thanks to his swap with West Brom target man, Salomon Rondon, but he’s back. Much to the chagrin of West Bromwich Albion fans (if the Internet is to be believed), The Throstles decided they couldn’t afford Premier League wages in the Championship and have sent back Dwight Gayle back to St James’ Park. It certainly wasn’t due to poor performances, he had an excellent season, scoring 24 goals. Some even say that the reason West Brom didn’t get to the play-off finals was because Gayle missed out on the second leg of the semi final against local rivals, Aston Villa, who only won on penalties in the end. He scored in the first leg, but also picked up two yellow cards, leaving West Brom bereft of their top hitman when it came to the crunch.

Of course, he had a similar season in the Championship with the Toon, scoring 23 in our push for promotion with a remarkable scoring rate of a goal every 93 minutes in the league. In the tougher environment of the Premier League it didn’t go quite as it should have though. Niggling injuries brought on a wavering confidence and there was also a vague feeling that things were never quite right between him and Benitez made for a mediocre season which only saw him score only six goals, but is there still a chance for Gayle to shine again on Tyneside? Whoever is playing up front for Newcastle United next season, if you wanted to have a bet on how many they might score, new clients can get a great sign up bonus at https://www.codigo-de-bonus-bet.com/ if you were interested.

Let’s have a look at Gayle’s West Brom season in a little more detail.

As mentioned above he scored 24 goals last season, scoring at a rate of a goal every 123 minutes of play according to Transfermarkt. He also made 8 assists. Breaking this down further, although primarily a centre forward, he showed his versatility by also making 8 appearences (scoring 4 goals) on the left wing and 4 appearences (4 goals) on the right wing. Although he missed the last leg of the play-off semi final for picking up two yellow cards in the first leg, apart from this, his disciplinary record was exemplary, with no other cards whatsoever.

Comparing him with his on loan replacement, Salomon Rondon, Gayle is what could be described more as a quick, ‘off the shoulder’ kind of striker, whereas Rondon is more of a big, strong lump who is good at holding up the ball. To sink further into football cliche, Rondon is more of a target man, which is what Rafa Benitez was looking for when he brought him in.

It would be completely unfair to compare Gayle’s figures in the Championship to Rondon’s in the Premier League but Rondon has never really been a big scorer in England, though he did have some good seasons in Spain and Russia. As I mentioned above, his role has been to hold up the ball and bring other attacking players into the mix. Last season in the Premier League though, he did score 12 goals in 33 appearences, scoring at a rate of a goal every 218 minutes. He also made a total of 7 assists. So, overall, it was also very good season for the Venezuelan in a United team which although fairly solid in the midfield and defence, was crying out for more goals. He has also proved to be quite popular with fans too.

Here’s hoping that whoever is playing upfront next season they get a hatful of goals, and that the team as a whole manage to get more than 1.1 goals per game (42 goals in 38 Premier League games. For much of the season it was less than a goal per game, but ten goals in their last four games, including four against Fulham in the final fixture of the season helped to take it over the one goal mark.

NUFCBlog Author: workyticket workyticket has written 1095 articles on this blog.

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17 Responses

  1. Worky Good to see you’ve picked up your ‘quill’ again and writing articles. Could be a very good time to do it, a voice of reason. As we are awash with made up garbage not based on any sort of fact what so ever coming from all directions. The one’s who do have the facts are not about to reveal them to us mere mortals till absolutely necessary.
    The outcome will either be another Ashley disaster ending yet another false dawn, with a rudderless team heading into the new season.
    Or he will at long last ‘leave the building’ and drag his sorry ass whence he came. Leaving us with a new owner who quite frankly could not be any worse than him.
    So it could be Street Party’s or Riots in the Streets.
    You pay’s your money you take your chance, place your bets now!

  2. Voice of reason? I think you’re flattering me a bit there, Nutmag!

    As Doris Day once said, whatever will be, will be. There’s no point i reading all those numpties on the Chronic and elsewhere, you’d have to be as daft as a brush to get sucked into all their nonsense. On the subject of nonsense, we haven’t heard from Chuck in a while.

  3. Its all Ground Hog Day to me. The club is for sale and Andy Carroll to Liverpool. Fast forward to. The club is for sale and Sean Longstaff to Man United and all the years in between are much the same I will only return when the Fat Controller is gone.
    Yes I hope Chuck is well, I miss his input (I don’t know why?). Perhaps its that we frequented SJP at the same time in those ‘halcyon days’ of the early Fifties.

  4. Aye Nutmag, Chuck’s gone missing again, I hope he’s ok. I don’t know why I miss him either! ;-)

    I daresay if the Sheikhs take over and we end up like Manchester City, 99.9% of the fans will be overcome with excitement, and that awkward things such as human rights abuses will be brushed under the carpet. I don’t want Newcastle United to be like Ashley’s Newcastle United, but I’m not sure that my conscience wants it to be like Manchester City either.

    Howay Chuck! where are you?

  5. Well whatever the reason why Chuck is not around doesn’t matter as both his favourite topics are politics and football. Seeing as politics in his country and ours is right down the pan ‘somewhere around the U bend’ and football as far as Nufc is concerned is further down the toilet. The quality, belief, and ambition has gone from both. The only thing I can say is in politics people will get what they deserve! and the same for Toon fans the outcome looks very bleak for both.
    I will now go and sit in the garden with a ‘Malt’ (that’s a whisky not a Horlicks) and watch another sunset.

  6. Well that’s it then I’m gone without a takeover I will cease to have anything to do with Newcastle United Football Club, after just short of 80 years.
    Thank you Mr M. Ashley.

  7. As I said Nutmag, I think Chuck likes to go on his travels. He seems to struggle with his Ipad when he’s on tour too but I’m not sure. I hope he’s well anyway.

    Well it looks like Benitez is off but it’s not all bad news as Steve McClaren is available again! Between you, me, Hugh and Chuck, how many decades of misery do we have between us supporting the Toon? I do feel like you do sometimes and just saying that I’ve had enough.

    As for politics, that is such a nightmare too, I have had a few rather odd incidents, all related to mentioning the name ‘Jeremy Corbyn.’ A while back when I was working as a volunteer in my local Oxfam shop and my colleague casually asked me who I voted for at the election, I answered that I voted for Jeremy Corbyn as he is my local Labour MP. I’ve met him a couple of times and besides all the other stuff, he’s a very good contituency MP. Anyway, a little old lady who sounded quite Eastern European overheard us, came over uninvited and started haranguing me, saying that I should never vote for him as he was a Antisemite and a Communist who would lock up Jews and everyone else who didn’t agree with him in “gulags.” I’m guessing that she was a refugee from Communism otherwise she might have said Concentration Camps. There’s some crazy, dangerous shite going around at the moment and I am starting to get the feeling that Pandora’s box has been opened again.

  8. Oops! I must have just started typing that last comment just as you were about to post yours. So you’ve heard the news! It must be coming towards the end of the season ticket deadline now? I wonder how those who have just stumped up for a new one feel? I think I can make a very good guess!

  9. Rafa leaving always looked the likely option.

    Do we even believe any of this takeover stuff? It had the look of something substantial at first but I’m not so sure now. Things are rarely straightforward where Ashley’s concerned.

  10. Hugh I believe the takeover was genuine but to have a buyer you need a seller. Ashley is not a seller he uses buyers for his own agender then discredits them.
    The fact about Rafa is he did not leave! Ashley got rid of him, treated in the same way as Keegan and Shearer. The supporters have to start taking some of the blame they seem to fold with every Ashley lie. I believe in the old adage ‘Fight on your feet or live on your knees’. I don’t mean punching horses and such but flying flags and banners is not enough. Empty stadiums and peaceful demonstrations outside his other establishments at home and away matches on match days will get TV coverage. You’ve got to give to gain even to the extent of a couple of relegations to rid us of this cancer, as it will never change otherwise.
    Worky I think we both sing from the same song sheet where politics are concerned. The greatest threat now worldwide is the extreme right wing. They thrive in these conditions finding people to blame for all their troubles starting with ‘Johnny foreigner’ and ‘Socialism’. Another old adage ‘If you don’t learn from history you are forced to relive it’ which also fits Ashleys Newcastle.

  11. Ashley is very good at selling cheap crap to people to people who believe they are getting a bargain, but that doesn’t work in football, where you can’t con people that Accrington Stanley are Liverpool over the course of a season. Ashley is also used to negotiating with, or bullying distressed sellers who are weak and vulnerable, but Sheikh Khaled bin Wotsit is neither distressed nor vulnerable enough to be bullied.

    Nutmag, you say that ‘If you don’t learn from history you are forced to relive it’ but first you need to know what history is! What I mean is how do we learn from history if history is completely distorted? You are slightly older than myself and Hugh, but ever since I have been able to remember (the 70s), the Conservatives have put forward a specious narrative about the Labour Party, Labour Party policies and complete falsehoods about history which the Labour Party have been completely pathetic at challenging in any meaningful way, so, due to constant repetition, the general public believe many things which are distortions, omissions and often, the complete opposite of the truth. People remember that Labour had top tax rates of over 90%, even now we are reminded about it to evoke horror, but they don’t remember that the Conservatives did too, and much of it was because of huge debt burdens from fighting WW2 and having to rebuild the whole country afterwards. If you ask people which Governments have brought the most debt to the country, even many Labour voters will say it is the Labour party, even though it is actually the Conservatives. I could go on through through the IMF ‘crisis’, the so called ‘Winter of Discontent’ and many other things, but I won’t bore you as I am preaching to the converted and you were there through all that too.

  12. Worky I agree after all history has always been written by those in power. To get a ‘working class’ or even any kind of balanced view you have to search for it and put in the effort to find it. Most as now are content to believe the media’s view on things. Unfortunately the media has and always has had a tory bias. Just imagine the difference we would have today in the media if this was a labour government in power with Brexit. Divisions everywhere you look ‘leave remain’ ‘haves have nots’ ‘north south’ ‘Scotland split’ ‘splits in communities even families. What do we get from the media nothing but blanket coverage of who’s going to be the next tory leader. Which also doubles as free party political coverage on behalf of the tory party. Had it been labour they would be crucified not only now but for years to come.
    Yes I was born between the wars a time like today where the right wing parties where gaining power because of social unrest, we all know how that ended up.
    Thank goodness that generation had the good sense to say that’s enough and elect the best government we have ever had. Sadly Maggie reversed everything that government achieved (but not the nhs but they are still trying) Even now that labour government gets no credit for what it did in such bad times when the country was broken and in so much dept . So now where is the industry and its people to get us out of this mess. Lets look to Boris and Nigel shall we?

  13. Nutmag, society has intentionally been atomised, so many of the things which bind ordinary people together and which might enable them to take collective action have been eviscerated. The aim is to make people feel helpless, easier to manipulate and easier to divide, like the Roman expression “divide et impera” (divide and rule).

    As Noam Chomsky said of today’s politics: “Neoliberal democracy. Instead of citizens, it produces consumers. Instead of communities, it produces shopping malls. The net result is an atomized society of disengaged individuals who feel demoralized and socially powerless. In sum, neoliberalism is the immediate and foremost enemy of genuine participatory democracy, not just in the United States but across the planet, and will be for the foreseeable future.”

    As for Attlee, I wasn’t around for his government, though his influence extended long beyond his 6 and a bit years in office so I grew up in Attlee’s Britain. My introduction to Thatcher’s Britain was my first brush with Harrogate dole office and I was sent for an interview with Rosa Klebb! That was around the same period as I sullied your profession by becoming a fake chef at Harrogate Theatre. On Attlee though, his domestic policies had a wonderful effect on Britain but I was not as much of a fan of some of the things he did overseas. That’s a whole book in itself though. I recall that like Hillary Clinton with Trump, he actually got more votes than Churchill in his third election, but Churchill won more seats.

  14. Well that’s it for me now after near on 80 years I’m truly finished with Ashley’s ununited. I have done my last look around the blogs and got rid of my easy access to them all.( at least I won’t have to see Ashley’s mug that was continually used on them). My interest has been minimal over the last couple of years. My last season ticket ended with the end of the 08/09 season. Last game I attended at SJP was Fulham that season. Watched a few games here in the midlands where I now live Wolves West Brom Villa. Very dear friend of mine has a box at Wolves but I have even declined that since they returned to the prem.
    I can foresee a token protest that will die out, and before you know it they will be filing into SJP to watch Ashley’s ‘TAT’ wearing his ‘Tat’ shirts.
    One last message to my fellow Geordies, If your not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. BYE.

  15. Nutmag, I know how you feel. As for protests, it’s like my last comment, going on previous attempts they don’t know what to do, they don’t seem to know how to organise themselves collectively, though I would love to see them prove us wrong.

    When I’ve been to see them it’s usually to see them get beat by far more well resourced London clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea. Arsenal’s stadium is a nice walk from my place. A good bit of exercise but not too far. I can hardly remember the last time I went to see them and they won! Even when I went to see them play Leyton Orient in that infamous pre-season friendly in 2009 they got hammered 6-1! The Arsenal supporting friend who I went with had a lot of fun at my expense that day!

    It could have been even worse than Steve Bruce, after all, Ashley could have saved himself a payoff to Sheffield Wednesday by bringing in the old ‘Dream Team’, McClaren and Carver! That’s what I was thinking before this Bruce thing was announced.

    I know you have a bit of an interest in mining, did you go to the Gala with all the Marras? I was brought up in Durham City and I used to go when I was a bairn, I haven’t been for ages though.

  16. Sorry Workey have been ignoring all things NUFC lately (have been watching a bit of cricket, always a passion of mine, as my mothers side of the family where ‘Yorkie’s’ Yorkshire has always been my team)
    As for the Toon I suppose it will carry on through its predictable routine which by now will be more and more fans stating Rafa wasn’t that good and left for the money anyway. I remember them doing it with KK and Shearer being called coward and running away etc..
    A friend sent me the transcript of Ashley’s statement, a slight updated on his 08 one with even less truth in it. It will have its desired affect on the wavering protesters though. “Note to fellow Geordie’s there is only one weapon in your armoury Stay Away!!! short term pain for long term gain. Wasted words I’m afraid.
    Yes Workey I attended lots of Durham Miners Galas and Bedlington Picnics. Again my mothers side of the family where deeply into music Opera singers Organ players Piano teachers and all could play various instruments. Something that I couldn’t master even though I spent hours sat in the kitchen trying to blow scales though a cornet for my uncle who was band master of our local brass band. I still enjoy brass bands and my old band still play. Look it up Ellington Collery Band.
    I think more important the miners galas gave me a grounding in politics, listening to all those politician’s of the Attlee government right through and up to George Brown Tony Benn and so many more. Beer Bands and politics what more could you want. I wish some of those old boy’s were still around today we could certainly do with them.

  17. What is there to say about Ashley any more? If we go on about Steve Bruce, we’d just be going over the same arguments as we did when he appointed McClaren and Carver, or Kinnear and so on…

    I looked up the band, I remember Ellington vaguely but that was further up in Northumberland. I used to know the pit villages and towns around Durham and Chester le Street as I grew up in Neville’s Cross in Durham. I remember how Newcastle seemed like the big city to me back then, but it seems much smaller now when I travel up there from London.

    https://soundcloud.com/ellington-colliery-band

    I’m a bit of traditionalist, I like the old stuff more than the gimmicky pop arrangements but of course, they probably wouldn’t exist nowadays if they only tried to please old bastards like me! This year, one of the bands who played at the Gala were accused of antisemitism by antisemite hunters this year because they were caught on film playing ‘Hava Nagila’ at the Gala, the Durham Miner’s Association also copped it when they tried to defend them too. We live in strange times.

    As for the politics, too many of the most important politicians get their grounding in politics from Oxford, it’s more incestuous than the old royal families ever were, even Attlee and Tony Benn went to Oxford. Thatcher went to Oxford, Wilson went to Oxford, Heath went to Oxford, MacMillan went to Oxford, Eden went to Oxford, as did Douglas-Home. More recently Tony Blair went to Oxford, David Cameron went to Oxford, Theresa May and Boris Johnson were both Oxford graduates too. I didn’t go back before the war but since the war, only Jim Callaghan, John Major, Gordon Brown and Winston Churchill managed to be Prime Minister without going to Oxford. Callaghan did get a place at Oxford but couldn’t afford to take it up so he joined the Civil Service instead. Not a lot of people know that! people moan about how many Prime Ministers went to Eton but Oxford is the real place where Prime Ministers and cabinet ministers are usually made.