Newcastle Fans’ 11 Most Hated Players Of The Modern Era

7. Dietmar Hamann

Few could really blame Didi Hamann for wanting off the Newcastle United merry-go-round in 1999, but if there's a sure-fire way to p*ss off the entire Newcastle fan-base it's to do a Charles N'Zogbia (a very near contender for this list) and openly court interest from a "bigger club" while still contracted to the club. There should be some grace about a player trying to engineer a move away from the club: do it behind closed doors, do it under-hand, but for God's sake never, ever criticise the club or call into question its size. Newcastle fans are notoriously fierce about protecting the profile of the club, not least because the club genuinely deserves the "big" label, but because of course they would. The reason Hamann's "betrayal" was so bad was that he was pretty much the only bright point in the dismal 1998/99 season, and his departure looked like significant step backwards, even if we almost doubled our money.