Mike Ashley’s ownership of Newcastle United has seen sections of the support grow disillusioned with life at St. James’ Park.
There have been fan protests over the years during his time in charge while the famous old ground recently saw its lowest attendance in eight years early last month in a match against Southampton, prompting the Sports Direct mogul to release a large number of half-season tickets.
Another one of the more unsavoury moments of Ashley’s reign was the treatment of Jonas Gutierrez. After being released following his battle with cancer in 2015, the Argentine cult-hero won a disability discrimination claim (per the Guardian) a year later, while also hitting out Ashley.
However, the 36-year-old still enjoys a strong relationship with the Toon Army, it seems. Some years after his legal battle, he would still claim that joining the Magpies in 2008 was the ‘best’ decision of his life and that his main memory of his seven years on the books would be about the fans.
So, clearly a popular figure amongst the Newcastle support after also being voted in the Chronicle’s team of the decade, the former Mallorca man took to Twitter to prove he was still part of the Toon family. Indeed, he wished former teammate Andy Carroll a Happy Birthday yesterday, for which the big Geordie striker thanked him.
Thank you big man!! 👊🏼
— Andy Carroll (@AndyTCarroll) January 6, 2020
The tweet, as you can imagine, got a number of likes from supporters online, and the seemingly warm interaction between the two could suggest Gutierrez remains a part of the Newcastle family.
Would you like to see Jonas return to Newcastle in a coaching role at some point? Join the discussion by commenting below…
