2. Loyalty
Obviously I am aware that loyalty among footballers is a contradiction in terms, and that it is a curious thing for fans to expect sportsmen to exhibit behavioral traits relating to money that they themselves would laugh at (such as turning down more to stay in a job for reasons of loyalty), but some players should be more loyal than others. Ben Arfa suffered a horrendous and potentially career threatening injury away at Man City two seasons ago, and Newcastle waited patiently, even buying him fully while injured, not yet certain whether he would be able to play again. That is a profession of dedication in itself, and Ben Arfa himself said the response from the fans was a major boost on his road to recovery, and so far Newcastle have seen the best of HBA only in fleeting glimpses. He doesn't need to stay at St James Park for the rest of his career, but if he pays back the loyalty that the fans and the club showed him over a couple more years before moving on, he will be a legend. Consider the point I made about his inevitable return to St. James Park - it would probably count more so for him, because he spent so long out on the treatment table. Now, I'm not suggesting he would be hated for having been injured, but there are too many open wounds on Tyneside from players like Michael Owen, who spent more time on a table than he did in a Newcastle strip, which is precisely why stories like Marcelino's finger are perpetually brought up. In an industrial town, industry runs deep in the blood, and that matters on the football pitch as it does among workmen.