10 Players Who Stole A Living From Newcastle United

10. Marcelino

Over the course of the Premier League era, Newcastle have made some stunningly ill-informed transfer decisions on the defensive front: somehow Jean-Alain Boumsong convinced Graeme Souness that he was worth £8m (nothing suspicious about that at all), Kevin Keegan decided that Lamine Diatta - over-weight and under-motivated - would be a good stop-gap at right-back, and Craig Moore managed to make 31 first team appearances. All terribly baffling. But none of those under-whelming and under-talented players could really push Spanish misfit Marcelino for his utter lack of commitment to the club, and the pile of money he probably syphoned out in wages. Signed for a then massive £5.8m from Mallorca after endearing himself to all English fans by annoying Dennis Wise enough to get his arm chomped, Marcelino came in with a big reputation, and duly went on to make 17 whole appearances for the side over almost 4 years. He wasn't just rubbish - though he definitely was that - he was also a magician when it came to making himself look injured, even when scanned. Somehow, his frail body managed to convince medics that his scan results were often "inconclusive", painting a picture of the player writhing around in agony demanding pain pills like a bad extra on Casualty. Eventually the defender charitably reached agreement to leave the club in January 2003, having not been in the first team squad since February 2001, with the most enduring memory of his time at the club being the injured finger that kept him out for 2 months.