Newcastle fans have every right to be enjoying their start to the new season. The performances are good and the results are flowing. Yet, as an objective observer I can’t help but feel disappointed that Shola Ameobi has been pushed aside thanks to the rise of Demba Ba and Leon Best. Disappointed not because I really rated Shola but because he was a familiar, friendly face from Newcastle’s past.
It’s fair to say however: Newcastle wouldn’t be doing quite so well if Shola was leading the line. Luckily for the club he seems to have slunk way down the pecking order. To get into the team he’d surely have to fight his way past Ba, Best, Ben Arfa, Lovenkrands and possibly Sammy. But the adoption of this hierarchy is absolutely spot-on. Best and Ba have three and four goals respectively – would Shola have mustered up similar figures had he featured as regularly? I doubt it!
Sad as it is, Shola is now a fringe player and he could well be completely sidelined by the end of the season.
I’d feel more sorry for Shola if I hadn’t seen him put in so many lazy performances for Newcastle over the years. He’s an affable enough chap, but he gives the ball away too often, doesn’t provide enough movement and commits the striker’s cardinal sin: not scoring enough goals.
Something about his demeanour and his hat collection is quite pleasing to the opposition fan, but I can understand how Newcastle fans may have lost patience with Shola. He’s been at the club for such a long time now and just doesn’t seem to have contributed anything. The fact that he’s the least talented of the Ameobi brothers says it all.
So what’s the future for Shola? Will he be content to be a perennial bench-warmer? To slowly be shut out from the team? If he does choose to move on should he move to another Premier League club or take a step down in class and join a Championship team?
My feeling is that he shouldn’t risk a move to another Premier League team in case he finds himself in a similar position to the one he’s currently in. A move to a Championship team should present him with regular football and the chance to rebuild his career. I wish him luck, but I think it’s best we acknowledge that his Newcastle career is all but over.
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Feel the same Harry, loyal as a police Dog but just never showed any real ambition, unless playing against Sunderland.
Every manager who has worked with him reckons that on the training gound he is something special…. so why not keep him at the club behind the scenes helping to develop the young’uns coming through.
What a load of cack seven games in and his seasons over ! He’s injured Ba’s off to the African cup of nations this season no guarantee anyone else coming through the door at Christmas, Sammy is young and will be bit part this season, Lov will be behind Shola when both are fit, Besty also blows hot and cold.
Same old stuff regarding Sholas faults it’s boring…….
It beggars belief that a player as average as Shola keeps getting new contracts. A week of his wage is about what a normal person will make in six months. It’s really ridiculous.
Enlighten me, what has Shola done over the years, aside from the rare okay performance against the Mackems? It’s a nightmare whenever he’s on the pitch – he can’t run, he can’t tackle, he can’t shoot. He’s only capable of one thing – keep getting OFFSIDE.
The better he’s off, the better; so that we can use his wage to develop another one or two promising youngsters.
I agree with Cloke’s article. The thing about Shola is that he could have been great, but most often just didn’t seem bothered. He could have scored the second and third of Ba’s goals against Blackburn, but not the first, simply because he would have lost control of the ball. First touch is something that can be learned, no matter how old you are. But in all the years that Shola has been at the Toon he has never improved this part of his game, and never will.
Thought he’d just signed a contract extension?
I’m not going to argue strolla deserves a spot in our current squad, or ever again for that matter, but to say he has contributed nothing at all over his years on the toon is rather harsh and in my opinion can’t come a fan that actually watches or remembers many of the games. I remember all six of his goals against the mackems over the years, and even if he never played another game or scored another goal besides those, he’d still be a legend for them.
100% agree Strola, Shola is no world beater however he’s scored some important goals for us and always works for the cause (despite his style!), to say he’s finished is just stupid considering he’s injured at the mo, has just signed a new contract and has played in 4 of our 7 league games so far!!
This article is garbage.
He has no ambition, quite happy to stay in the area and pick up massive wages. It has been his intention to see his days out at NUFC irrespective of being on the bench or the reserves. Basically dead wood, circunstances which also apply to Lovenkrands,Smith, Harper, Guthrie, Perch and Ranger.
In answer to the initial question… Yes, Yes and thrice Yes!!!!
How many chances can one man have to prove his worth?? and NEVER does!!!
I’m sorry but he just doesn’t bring anything to the team… and for a local lad playing in the black and White stripes he should want it and be seen to want it more than any other player on that pitch.
He has no pace and just doesn’t get the offside rule
He wouldn’t get into my starting 11 with the players we have now and I’d like to see us bring 1-2 new strikers in Jan and the summer which wld push him further down the line
This might sound cold but it’s not even that’s for your service and good luck elsewhere… more like, you’ve been paid handsomely now bugger off