Ranking Newcastle's Dutchmen From The Premier League Era

8) John Karelse

Brought in by Ruud Gullit from NAC Breda in 1999 for a fee in the region of £800,000, Karelse made only three appearances during his four seasons on Tyneside. After playing 382 times for Breda, the goalkeeper could not get in front of Shay Given and Steve Harper (and was even demoted to fourth choice after the signing of Tony Caig) at Newcastle. A couple of basic errors leading to goals during a 4-2 defeat to Southampton did nothing to win fans over and, despite keeping a clean sheet at Arsenal, he was demoted to the reserves. Various attempts were made to move him on, with strong links to Turkey in 2000 and Feyenoord in 2001 but in the end, Karelse stayed in the reserves until his contract expired, finally leaving after the 2002-03 season. An utterly-forgettable signing who was not even needed in the first place and, when Gullit left two weeks after he joined the club, his opportunities were reduced to near zero.