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Gabby Agbonlahor new shameful Newcastle slur – A new low for even this snide clown

2 years ago
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Gabby Agbonlahor has managed to grab some attention through the media in recent times, invariably when having a go at Newcastle United fans.

A big mate of Steve Bruce’s and one of his former players, the one-time Aston Villa striker attempting to make it as a pundit but embarrassing himself repeatedly, time after time, in the process.

Gabby Agbonlahor though, has this time sunk to an all-time low.

Gabby Agbonlahor repeatedly talked up Steve Bruce (see below) and slaughtered the Newcastle fans relentlessly.

That despite Steve Bruce proving a complete disaster and along with Mike Ashley, the two big reasons why Newcastle United are in such a massive mess now, a summer that needed big changes and upgrading of a number of areas of  the NUFC squad that Bruce has failed to properly address in his 27 months in charge before the new owners sacked him. Starting the season with nine winless games, a record of only seven victories in his final thirty eight NUFC games.

We know what talksport are all about in terms of winding people up for a reaction (Newcastle fans especially!) but surely even for them, Gabby Agbonlahor has gone too far this time…

Gabby Agbonlahor speaking to Talksport – 28 November 2021:

“Players will go there [Newcastle United, only] for the money.

“Let’s be honest.

“When I was playing, Newcastle was the place where you were thinking (twisting his face…) ‘Mmmmm, not sure, I don’t really want to go, that far north, the weather. I’m not sure…’

“Players want to be close to London.

“You know, closer to London was an attraction.

“You’d have to pay more…

“If you offered now, a player, forty thousand pounds a week at Newcastle, or thirty thousand pounds a week at Brentford, he would go to Brentford.

“Even on less money.

“(With a big snide smile on his face) Players don’t want to live in Newcastle, let’s be honest.”

The only conclusion you can come to, is that Gabby Agbonlahor when saying the above, is desperate then for somebody to ask exactly why no players want to live in and around Newcastle Upon Tyne, so that he can then list supposed reasons why Tyneside is such a terrible place to live.

I don’t need to list any of the countless reasons why Newcastle Upon Tyne is such a class place to live and indeed visit. You know them already.

However, surely the biggest laugh of all, is that this is Gabby Agbonlahor saying it. Somebody who is born and bred in Birmingham, who only ever played for Aston Villa (apart from a handful of games on loan at Watford and Sheffield Wednesday) because no decent level club would have him.

I don’t want to sink to his level but how funny is it, that somebody from Birmingham, who has lived pretty much his entire life there, is actually mocking the idea of why anybody would want to live in Newcastle!!!

You literally couldn’t make it up.

Have you seen the state of Birmingham compared to Newcastle Upon Tyne???

As for Aston Villa itself, their stadium is located in such a rundown mess of an area, which you then compare to the beautiful buildings adjacent to St James Park…

I’m not going to knock Brentford and good luck to them, their fans seem like a decent bunch, a great manager and group of players playing good football, but the snide rat Gabby Agbonlahor tries to use them as something to have a go at Newcastle fans and our city and football club. As in, the snake really saying ‘Players would even rather go to Brentford than Newcastle….’

It is just such a nonsense that players all want to live in London, or as close to it as possible, when you consider that in the past fifty or more years, it is clubs outside London that have dominated football and signing the best players, namely Liverpool, Man Utd and more recently Man City. Meeting the wage expectations and offering an ambitious outlook are what top players look for when signing for a club, not how close you will be to Buckingham Palace.

Under Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson, Newcastle United had no trouble attracting players from around the UK and overseas.

Whilst it is ironic that in his most recent previous NUFC comments, Gabby Agbonlahor mentions ASM, Callum Wilson and Joe Willock.

That is ASM who moved from Nice to Newcastle and loves it here, Joe Willock who moved FROM London to Newcastle only months ago, then maybe best of all, Callum Wilson (who is actually born and bred in the West Midlands just like Gabby Agbonlahor) was given a straight choice of Newcastle Upon Tyne / Newcastle United or Birmingham / Aston Villa in summer 2020…and couldn’t get up here quick enough!

Gabby Agbonlahor talking to Football Insider, asked what he thinks will happen with Joe Willock after his loan spell – 30 April 2021:

“It’s hard, to be honest.

“He might also think to himself ‘I want to go back to Arsenal and have a go.’ He’s gone out and proved himself. He’ll always have in his mind that he wants to go back and play.

“I don’t think he’ll go back to Newcastle permanently.

“I think he’ll want to go to Arsenal and fight for his position.

“I don’t think he will start games for Newcastle.

“Steve Bruce is the sort of manager that doesn’t care if you’re from Arsenal on loan, he’ll play the right team to win a game.”

Gabby Agbonlahor talking to Football Insider – 13 April 2021:

“I’ve said this all through the season that Steve Bruce deserved people to get off his back.

“He’s had a hard season with injuries, coronavirus affected his squad the most with players missing games.

“Once you get Callum Wilson back, once you get Allan Saint-Maximin back they’ll be a different team and it’s shown already.

“Newcastle will be absolutely fine, they’ve got no chance of going down. They will continue to get wins.

“Newcastle fans will owe Steve Bruce an apology for the way they’ve treated him.

“Hopefully the Newcastle chairman will give him some money in the summer to build an even better team.

“I’m happy for him and I’m happy that he’s got those players back.”

Gabby Agbonlahor speaking to Football Insider – 25 March 2021:

“Everyone’s slating Steve Bruce but I back Steve Bruce.

“He put out a team [at Brighton] to go out and perform but there’s only so much a manager can do.

“The players need to hold their hands up and make it right.

“You look at Joelinton, he hasn’t turned up all season for Newcastle.

“He’s still not turning up.

“For me, Steve Bruce has now got to work out what 11 players are going to fight for him and fight for the club and pick them.

“If that’s Dwight Gayle, if that’s Andy Carroll, if that’s Matt Ritchie, if that’s the Longstaff brothers in midfield.

“Whoever is going to fight for him and the club – that’s what it’s about now.

“Certain players are letting him down, the likes of Ryan Fraser, the likes of Joelinton, they’re not doing anything, they’re not showing any hunger, they’re not showing any fight.

“I’m sure Steve Bruce will be making changes for the games coming up.”

Gabby Agbonlahor speaking to Talksport – 20 November 2020:

“Newcastle fans are quite deluded.

“Steve Bruce is doing a great job with the players that he has available.

“If they play expansive and open football they will get beat 6-0 every game.

“He’s playing the right formation with the players that he’s got at his disposal, I think that he’s doing a great job there.

“If Rafa Benitez had done the job Steve Bruce has done, they [Newcastle fans] would be saying he’s a tactical genius, that Rafa is doing an amazing job.

“But for some reason, because it is Steve Bruce, it’s boring.

“For me, it’s not boring.

“He is still playing the likes of Saint-Maximin.

“He has brought in Callum Wilson, who is a great striker.

“He has got [Ryan] Fraser as well, he has brought in these great players who are attacking.

“I just think these Newcastle fans need to be careful what they wish for.

“Do they want to be in the position that Burnley are in?

“It’s frustrating to hear [what Newcastle fans are saying] and needs to stop.

“Do they want him to play like Norwich did last season?

“It is good on the eye, they play from the back…lose it in midfield and concede four or five a game.

“That is not what Newcastle fans are going to want in the long run because they don’t want their team to go back down.

“If Steve Bruce had the players to play the way Newcastle fans want, I think he would do it…no offence to Shelvey or Hayden.

“I think Saint-Maximin can be Neymar one day and then Julian Joachim the next day and that can be so frustrating for a manager, he doesn’t do it consistently and that is what he [Steve Bruce] wants from Saint-Maximin – to do it week in and week out.”

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