Shola Ameobi is poised to end his 14-year career with Newcastle after being targeted by Hull boss Steve Bruce ahead of their first-ever European campaign. As expected the Magpies haven't offered the 32-year-old a new deal and the writing was on the wall after our final match of the season when Alan Pardew confirmed it would be his last game in black and white. And his next destination looks likely to be that of the beaten FA Cup finalists with Bruce keen to utilise the Nigeria international's European experience to his advantage when the Tigers compete in the Europa League next season. We never thought a manager would cite that as a reason for adding Ameobi to their payroll but in reality he is the veteran of five Europa League campaigns (four of those in the old UEFA Cup format) and played in the Champions League under Sir Bobby Robson. In fact many of Ameobi's most memorable moments have come in European competition. Who can forget when both Alan Shearer and Craig Bellamy were injured for the Champions League clash at Bayer Leverkusen and he stepped up to score two goals in a 3-1 victory. Not to mention his goal against Barcelona at the Nou Camp that same season. In fact he's only second to Shearer (30) for goals scored in Europe having notched 15 times for us in continental competition. Little wonder Bruce wants him on board.
