When a World Cup winner joins just months after lifting the famous trophy on his home soil in France, you expect that your club is signing the crème de la crème of striking talent. However, Stéphane Guivarc'h proved to be anything but for Newcastle United. Despite netting a goal on his debut, Guivarc'h - who should have set alarm bells ringing in Kenny Dalglish's head when, playing as a lone striker, he was substituted just 29minutes into France's opening World Cup win over South Africa - made just four league appearances for the Magpies before being offloaded by new manager Ruud Gullit to Scottish side Rangers for the same £3.5million Newcastle had paid Auxerre for his services. Guivarc'h himself became extremely rich after the two short-lived moves to Newcastle and Rangers, claiming massive signing-on fees at both clubs. He even said of the transfers: "I knew I could leave Rangers via an escape clause - I made sure of that after my experience at Newcastle." Prioritising money over success at Newcastle never goes down well - and Guivarc'h is remembered with derision, anger and, ultimately, amusement at St James' Park.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
