It's not often that I write a list where it's harder to condense ideas rather than devise them but creating a feature involving unsuccessful players at Newcastle United is as simple as getting Brendan Rodgers to talk about himself. The sorting process is relatively simple. You just have to ask three questions. Did the player play during Kevin Keegan's 1995-96 or Bobby Robson's 2001-04? Is the player Alan Shearer? Were they part of Alan Pardew's remarkable fifth place finish in 2011-12? Right, now if the answer is no for each then they were probably a Tyneside failure. Obviously there are a few exceptions (Antoine Sibierski for starters): a handful of players have escaped the shame of being placed on this list as my warm heart believes they were either poorly managed or not really expected to be any good in the first place. For instance, I can't put Fabrice Pancrate in there due to his (only) goal against Watford and Patrick Kluivert's six goals and the fact he is PATRICK KLUIVERT kept him out of the top 10. I believe that Luuk de Jong was continually played out of position; Michael Owen's 26 goals were enjoyable and Jean-Alain Boumsong's first season alongside Titus Bramble was beautiful to watch. All three players are safe whether you like it or not. Finally, Facundo Ferreyra doesn't feature due to the fact that he never played a single minute and therefore could have been brilliant; let's be honest Alan Pardew and John Carver probably just forgot about him...
NCTJ-accredited football writer with an MA in Sports Journalism. What Culture football editor. Write for the official Newcastle United programme. Former video reporter at North News. Featured and published in the Sunderland Echo, Shields Gazette, Mail Online, The Mirror, The Sun and others.
