Former Toon captain Fabricio Coloccini has revealed how our recent success has made him ‘really happy’, leaving him delighted for the fans and hopeful for the future after a successful start from our new owners.
Coloccini left Newcastle in 2016 after eight years at the club but has kept a close eye on our progress ever since and is pleased to see us back amongst Europe’s elite.
He was part of that 2011/22 side that came close to bringing the Champions League back to St James’ Park after finishing fifth, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
Now, as the 41-year-old mentions, we have a ‘great opportunity’ to build on what was an incredible season and hopefully ‘compete’ with the very best next year.
The Argentinian admitted he was ‘worried’ about the new ownership at first because of how other teams have been treated before, but that he’s very happy with the ‘good choices’ they have made.
Speaking to Toon fan Callum Berry in Argentina, Coloccini had this to say:
“It’s what the people deserve. They’re so faithful, so loyal. They never deserved to suffer so much for all those years. It makes me really happy.
“Sometimes I would get a little worried at first, because when such powerful people arrive, you never really know how they are going to treat the club.
“At other teams, people have come, made big signings, and not been able to properly pay for them, and then they left the teams. They leave them to rot with loads of debt and unpaid contracts.
“But I think it’s great how they’re approaching it. They haven’t gone wild and bought everyone and anyone for the sake of it.
“They have made good choices, signed the right players. They’ve spent money – you have to in order to compete nowadays – but not in crazy amounts, and now we’re in the Champions League.
“It will be a great opportunity to build a new team, and move towards every Geordie’s dream, which is to compete in the Champions League.”
