10 Former Newcastle Players Who Criticised The Club

5. Patrick Kluivert

UEFA 2000 Golden Boot winner, scorer of 120 goals for Barcelona, and a winning goal for Ajax in a Champions League final at the age of 19, Sir Bobby Robson thought he had landed a coup when he landed the Dutch international top scorer of all time in the summer of 2004 on a free transfer. At the age of just 28, Robson felt that the former Nou Camp hit-man still had much to offer and could strike up a potent partnership with Alan Shearer. In the end, however, it was the aforementioned number nine who contributed to Kluivert€™s demise on Tyneside, according to the man himself.

''There is only one man responsible for the fact that I did not become a big hit at Newcastle, his name is Alan Shearer. The man is God in the north. I think Shearer is a fantastic footballer, but Graeme Souness should have played Craig Bellamy and me together all the time. We formed the ideal partnership, Souness should have preferred both of us above Shearer. I know Bellamy felt the same but that did not make a difference. Every week it was Shearer and Kluivert or Shearer and Bellamy. Newcastle United Football Club is all about Alan Shearer, it is as simple as that. Nobody can beat him, nobody can touch him and nobody can do anything about it.۪۪ - Patrick Kluivert, November 2005.

Need some sauce with that chip on the shoulder, Pat? If Souness had left the club€™s best player on the bench, he would have been booted out far sooner - had Kluivert not heard about what happened to Ruud Gullit?

''It was always my dream to play in England - when I look back it was one of the biggest mistakes in my career. Not because of England, but because of Newcastle. What turned me off as well was the kind of football Newcastle play. In England, only Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool play good football. With all the rest it is nothing more than running around and belting the ball up front.۪۪ - Patrick Kluivert, November 2005.