Sammy Ameobi – The Lost Toon

Sunday 26th October 2014. Newcastle are away to Tottenham in the Premier League. It’s half time and Newcastle are 1-0 down to an 18th minute goal from Adebayor.

I don’t think anyone expected what was to happen within the first 10 seconds from kick off. A long ball forward from Jack Colback and a fine strike from Sammy Ameobi put Newcastle back level! We then went on to win the game 2-1 from Ayoze Perez with his first goal for the club.

This is what Ameobi is probably most famous for (apart from being Shola’s brother) to most, if not all, Newcastle fans. But the question is – where has Sammy gone now?

At the start of last season we saw him sign a new contract with us then loaned straight back out to Cardiff City for the season. It is fair to say this loan spell came with a mixed result as he managed to get 39 appearances in all competitions for them, but with only 11 of them being starts and 1 goal to his name.

Ameobi is a Geordie through and through having been born in the Toon and joined Newcastle’s academy in 2008 when he left school.

He has had flutters of success in the first team, mainly the 2014/15 season, but this seemed to leave when Pardew did. It is looking like new boss Rafa has no plans for him in the future either as Ameobi was the only non-injured member of the squad not to travel to Ireland with the team for pre-season.

But will Rafa be missing a trick?

As I said before Sammy Ameobi is a Geordie and the passion has always showed when he has been playing with a ‘never give up’ run around attitude. He also has Championship experience with Cardiff last season and with Middlesbrough in the second half of the 2012/13 season where he had 9 appearances and again 1 goal to his name (ironically against Cardiff City). Now I do not for one moment think he should be in our starting line up over Matt Ritchie, Rolando Aarons, Ayoze Perez or even Florian Thauvin (who I believe we should keep and give another chance) but could he offer something with coming off the bench and giving us energy down the wing with some fresh pair of legs?!

I fear that if he is not included in the team in some way this season then it is the end of Ameobi’s Newcastle United career and I do think that it is obvious that Rafa’s plans will see him shipped out before the end of the Transfer Window. If/when Ameobi does go, I wish him all the best and it will be the end of an era for NUFC as we have had a Ameobi family member on the books for 21 years but it is feeling ever closer that it is time to end that tradition.

52 thoughts on “Sammy Ameobi – The Lost Toon

  1. Cheers GG. It’s a shame but he simply did not step up. He was given a new chance to impress with his new contract and went to Cardiff gobbing off about how he would score 20 plus goals and that he ‘dis not mind stepping down’. Well he failed miserably and far from being g a step down, the Championship may even be a level up compared to his ability. Good lad but yes but not NUFC material.

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  2. Thanks GG, another good read.
    I don’t see a place for Ameobi I’m afraid, for me he offers very little other than passion. I had hoped he’d be an upgrade on Shola, who was also here far too long also but I just don’t see a future with the club for him. There are others with more skill ahead of him now and he couldn’t even get regular starts with Cardiff so I feel he may well move on.

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  3. Hi Shamrock and Kimtoon,

    Yes I have to agree. I think his time is up and although passion is a great attribute it’s just not enough!

    Kimtoon I think Bigi and Vuckic are in the same boat. Vuckic stands the biggest chance but for me it’s too late for them.

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  4. GG, It’s a real shame about Bigi, he was apprentice of the year when he came to us and looked like he might step up at first. The reality is he is’ Tiote lite’ or the poundland version if you like.

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  5. Like his brother likeable enough, but in my view not quite good enough. Callum Roberts, providing he keeps his feet on the ground, is a much better prospect

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  6. Gallowgate Geordie:
    Hi Shamrock and Kimtoon,

    Yes I have to agree. I think his time is up and although passion is a great attribute it’s just not enough!

    Kimtoon I think Bigi and Vuckic are in the same boat. Vuckic stands the biggest chance but for me it’s too late for them.

    GG Rafa has already told Vukic he has no plans too play him but Vukic has said he wants too stay and fight for a place in the team . I reckon its end of the Road for him , Ameobi , Bigi and Curtis Good at the toon . I dont know what has happend too Bigi but he did look the real deal for a while then just seemed too loose it completly.

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  7. So 25M for Wini. It’s good business. Now it’s on to Sissy. Should get 25-30M for him giving us a nice tidy pot of 50-55M to work with. Get a group together that actually want to give it their all home and away. Spend well Rafa. 😀

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  8. Note Rafa said the following things about Hanley; Strong, fast, personality.

    I.e – won’t be bullied off the ball, not slow like dejected Rover’s fans are making out and is a leader. He looks pleased as punch and appreciative to be here.

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  9. We wasted some decent young players’ talent over the last few years. Some of it was injuries, especially with Vuckic but also poor management by inept managers. Now we have Rafa to build from the ground up, so it shouldn’t happen as often. Nice article Gallowgate Geordie. Sammy isn’t good enough I don’t think. He probably need to play at League One level or try coming over to North America. He has an older brother playing over here I believe (not Shola, the other one).

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  10. Yeah Shamrock , rover’s fans who thought he was the real deal are all making him out to be a donkey all of a sudden . Rafa seems too think he is the real deal though ,so thats good enough for me . We seem to finally putting a defence together that wont leak goals .

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  11. Icedog: Keep your chin up mate,your all safe which is the main thing,good luck

    Cheers Ice, yeah that’s what matters mate.

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  12. Hope you are well Dubai mate. Not sure what the problem is or was but stay optimistic. You can always come on here and have us cheer you up. 😀

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  13. Geordie 2, our building in Dubai caught fire yesterday. Many apartments destroyed but we were lucky and our place was okay. We got out ok too…
    Thanks mate.

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  14. Sorry to hear about that Dubai mate. It’s good to hear you got out safely. I hope the financial losses for you and yours is not too great.

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  15. G2: you had Gini and Sissoko going for a combined total of a used Ford Fiesta and a packet of crisps the other week 🙂

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  16. Mind you, before the Euros and all of the transfer craziness, I think had them bringing in about 25-30 mil combined.

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  17. It won’t be difficult to replace the Sissoko and Wijnaldum that played for us last year. Not the one that turned out at the Euros or when we played the top teams and not the one that scored 11 from midfield (including a penalty that he would let Townsend take against his old club).

    No, it will be easy to replace the Sissoko that didn’t turn up half of the time and had no end product. Or the Wijnaldum who had no away goals and was dropped by Rafa.

    These are players who did OK for NUFC and have the potential to do better elsewhere. But, their ACTUAL contribution for NUFC was about the same as Perez or Janmaat so getting 50 or 60 million for the two of them will allow us to replace them with much better players FOR NUFC. It is all well and good saying they were great on their day, but their days were too infrequent for NUFC so we are better off taking the money and getting someone else.

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  18. Two Scotland internationals now.

    Hanley is someone who is the hard hitter and to be played with a ball playing intellectual type partner. Let Lascelles / Mbemba play while Hanley hits things.

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  19. Thank all for the well wishes. We are assured that the building is safe now. It was quite something though to stand and watch it burn hoping to not see flames from my own apt… It’s a rented place but all contents are mine. Yes, many poeple lost everything…

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  20. Eric Sykes:
    It won’t be difficult to replace the Sissoko and Wijnaldum that played for us last year. Not the one that turned out at the Euros or when we played the top teams and not the one that scored 11 from midfield (including a penalty that he would let Townsend take against his old club).

    No, it will be easy to replace the Sissoko that didn’t turn up half of the time and had no end product. Or the Wijnaldum who had no away goals and was dropped by Rafa.

    These are players who did OK for NUFC and have the potential to do better elsewhere. But, their ACTUAL contribution for NUFC was about the same as Perez or Janmaat so getting 50 or 60 million for the two of them will allow us to replace them with much better players FOR NUFC. It is all well and good saying they were great on their day, but their days were too infrequent for NUFC so we are better off taking the money and getting someone else.

    Fully agree with this Eric, we have to replace the player that played (or didn’t) for NUFC not the potential. This we can do. I’m sure there are players out there that will have the passion to play for us, not to put themselves in a shop window for some other ‘better’ team…

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  21. Spirit and commitment or heart can often get you further than talent, I hope sissy and Gini bare that in mind and our recruitment team too.

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  22. just reading about wage bills,i was shocked with imo how much is wasted,Chelsea had 35 players out on loan to help with wage bill,how many players they have at home as well beats me how they can judge that many players

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  23. I have long argued that clubs should have a first team squad of 25 players including any they have out on loan, same with the academy squad. That would free up so many players to smaller clubs.

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  24. well some of my Malta friends knocked Hearts out of euro,boy there will be some party back home,well done lads

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  25. I don’t think Fat Sam will do any better than previous England Managers but if they were going to go English then he was really the only choice. Mr. Roy should never have got the job in the first place and then you are left with Pardew and Redknapp. Christ on a bike, either of those would have driven me insane. I doubt I would have been able to read a paper until the two years were up when they would be sacked.

    Eddie Howe is too inexperienced and the England job would have stunted a promising career. Being assistant still might.

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  26. I think Moyes is faced with a very difficult task. He seems like a decent manager but is a slow starter and he has to deprogramme the squad from Allardyce’s teachings. Do they have a transfer budget? Will a 34? year old Defoe get them the goals again? I think they are fcked.

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  27. Remember Sunderland never clicked into gear until the last 10 matches and were very lucky to avoid relegation. Everton rolled over and let them tickle their tummy. If we had sacked McClown a couple of games earlier they would have gone down. I think they are fcked.

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  28. Cheers Eric.. Not good. I think Moyes is quite a decent manager, don’t like to see him going to mackems…

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  29. DT: I think it is a big ask for any manager, but I think Moyes is the right man to bring them straight back up 🙂

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  30. I don’t get all of the people wanting rid of Janmaat. Unless he wants to leave I think we should keep him. He is a threat going forward and is a decent defender even though he gets himself out of position sometimes.

    Consider who he had to play alongside – Willo “I am scared of the ball” Williamson and Stevie “lunge in or hoof it” Taylor. MBemba had a good first season but wasn’t a colossus – in a season where nobody played particularly well I didn’t see many votes for him as player of the year. Sissoko cannot defend to save his life so offered no support. Even for France he looked lost and let the Portugal players stroll past him as he looked on.

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  31. We have Gamez, Anita, Sterry, Janmaat and Mbemba all covering the right back slots. I have no issue with Janmaat staying but clearly somebody has to go. Gamez can cover CB so between him and Dummett we have our 4th CB. That leaves Anita, Sterry, Mbemba, Janmaat competing for RB when Gamez is in the middle/unavailable.

    I’d say Sterry or Mbemba need to go on loan and Janmaat or Anita needs to be sold.

    At LB with Dummett covering CB when needed, we need a decent LB signing because Heidara won’t be fit for a lot of the season or better still, he will be sold.

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  32. funny S.Bruce has left Hull wonder if it was because he had the interview for England job??,would Moyes go there instead of scum

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  33. Hull are in serious trouble. Only 13 fit players due to lots of injuries, no manager and a lot of changes to be made in a short space of time with no time to adapt before the first PL game. Almost the same can be said for Sunderland, except they have more fit players with PL experience.

    Bruce now odds on favourite for Sunderland, the club he was sacked from a few years ago. His excuse was he was sacked because he is a Newcastle fan! His appointment would go down well if they hired him?!

    Meanwhile, Championship highlights set for every Saturday night at 9pm on Channel 5, repeats on Sunday mornings. We will be the biggest side in the league, so our games should feature longer highlights more often than not. Furthermore, the lovely linsey hipggrave will be presenting – and she is a Toon fan.
    Should be a good season.

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