Newsletter

Get your daily update and weekly newsletter by signing up today!

News

I’m more confused than ever about what happened to Dwight Gayle in Liverpool

7 years ago
Share

In advance of the Leeds match last weekend, the media reported that Dwight Gayle had been attacked the previous weekend (Sunday 13 November) on a night out in Liverpool.

The Sun ran the exclusive and said that the Newcastle striker was out celebrating Jamaal Lascelles’ birthday with a group of other people, when there had been an alleged altercation where Dwight Gayle had been punched twice in the face. The Newcastle player rendered unconscious and losing four teeth (though follow up reports later claimed it was four crowns and not teeth).

The Sun quoted a source saying:

“The night had started fine, but the champagne was flowing and things got out of hand.

“One lad took exception to Dwight talking about his pay and took a swing at him. It was a real shock.

“Everyone was in shock. Dwight was texting people the next day saying he’d lost four teeth. He was really angry.”

They added that Dwight Gayle had not reported the assault to the police and that when approached, Newcastle United declined to comment.

In the past, whenever newspapers have run stories where the club took exception to them for being allegedly false, Newcastle United have been very quick to release statements condemning whoever ran the story and denying that the particular incident took place. On this occasion they haven’t and made no comment at all.

Instead, all we have is the Chronicle running a follow-up this weekend with a headline of ‘Dwight Gayle…explains what happened on Liverpool night out’.

This is Dwight Gayle speaking to the Chronicle:

“To be honest, the papers exaggerated quite a lot of it.

“None of it really happened, so he (Rafa Benitez) was fine. He was quite sweet about it.”

I am more confused than ever. The Chronicle piece doesn’t tell us what happened, instead Newcastle’s top scorer contradicts himself, saying on the one hand ‘none of it really happened’, whilst also saying it was ‘exaggerated’.

Well, it either didn’t happen, or The Sun have ‘exaggerated’ what did happen, or of course it happened exactly as they describe!

What is clear, is that as a number of fans pointed out, Gayle’s golden smile was missing when playing at Leeds.

The bottom line of course is that so long as the player(s) is/are doing it on the pitch, to a massive extent no one cares what players get up to the rest of the time.

Appropriately/ironically, it was Jamaal Lascelles who probably shed most light on the incident.

Like Dwight Gayle he doesn’t tell us what actually did/didn’t happen in Liverpool but in an interview ahead of the Blackburn game, the Newcastle Captain says that part of his job is to help keep the number nine ‘focused’ and ‘banging in goals’. Hopefully a lesson learnt with no major damage, apart from a hefty dental bill…

Jamaal Lascelles:

He (Dwight Gayle) is doing really well, he is very clinical with his shots and it is my job, and that of a few of the other lads, to keep him doing that.

“Ultimately, if he’s banging in goals for us we are going to have a really good chance.

“I don’t want to get into his head too much but he’s a good player and needs to keep doing what he’s doing.

“He works really hard and if he stays focused we should be fine.

“That’s all he wants to do – play for the team, play for the shirt, play for the club and play in front of these fans.”

Share

If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk

Have your say

© 2024 The Mag. All Rights Reserved. Design & Build by Mediaworks