Former Premier League striker Noel Whelan has told Newcastle United midfielder Jack Colback that it’s time for him to leave the club.
The Englishman was left out of head coach Steve Bruce’s Premier League squad for this season, meaning that he can only play cup football for the foreseeable future, although he didn’t feature in the Carabao Cup against Leicester City on Wednesday.
With that said, BBC pundit Whelan feels he should move on: “He’s not part of Steve Bruce’s plans, so there’s no point staying at a football club in the reserves, simple as that,” he told Football Insider. “He’s an experienced professional, he knows what he needs to do and it’s just to be playing regularly.
“You know in your heart if you’re part of the manager’s plans or you’re not and when you don’t play a League Cup game after all the games he’s played in his career, it’s time to move on. You’ve got to be honest with yourself and at this stage of your career, it’s about playing first-team football and enjoying the rest of the football you have left.”
OPINION
Yeah, Colback not featuring on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup was kind of the death knoll for his Newcastle career. If he wasn’t sure it was over when he failed to make the Premier League squad, he surely knows now that he’s not going to be part of Bruce’s plans moving forward. As Whelan says, it’s about playing football at this stage of Colback’s career. He’s shown over the past couple of years with Nottingham Forest that he is good enough to feature regularly in the Championship, so it’s bizarre that he wasn’t able to find a new team in that division over the summer. He surely now needs to knock on Bruce’s door and put pressure on the Magpies hierarchy to find him another loan move in the second tier. Surely teams like Luton Town, Barnsley and Huddersfield Town would love to have someone like Colback on board with all his experience. The Englishman is a five-year Newcastle veteran having signed for them in 2014, but it’s clear that his time with the club is now up. With that said, he should follow Whelan’s advice and look for a way out.
