10 Former Toon Players Who Returned To Haunt Newcastle

9. Abdoulaye Faye

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kZ8TvhlMYA Former Senegalese international Abdoulaye Faye may have only spent one season at St. James' Park but while the team evaporated all around him, he remained a rare shining light in an otherwise dismal team. This is why it was a surprise when Kevin Keegan shipped him out of the club in August 2008 to Stoke City for a measly fee of £2.25 million. Within four months, the former Toon cult hero was wheeling away in front of the Gallowgate End, arms raised aloft, as a stony silence resonated around the arena. With Newcastle having raced into a two-goal head-start inside the first half hour through strikes from Michael Owen, newly-promoted Stoke clawed their way back into the game on the hour mark through a Mamady Sidibe goal, setting the stage for a tense finale. Low on confidence, and brittle at the back in Faye's absence, the former Bolton Wanderers midfielder-turned centre-half broke free to tap home a Glenn Whelan free-kick, before sprinting away with utmost glee plastered across his facial features. It wouldn't be the first time that season that Faye would haunt the Tyneside club either, as he almost consigned the Toon to relegation in April with a thumping header at the Britannia Stadium. Showing no remorse for his actions, a little jig would follow the goal before an Andy Carroll header rescued a point. Still didn't prevent relegation the following month though.