top of page
Search

Sam Allardyce's First XI: Where are they now?


Allardyce got off to the perfect start in what turned out to be a brief spell as manager of Newcastle.

Soon after Glenn Roeder's departure towards the end of the 2006/07 season, Allardyce left Bolton after serving there for eight years. He helped the Trotters gain promotion to the Premier League and kept them there.

Coincidentally, Allardyce's first game for Newcastle was a return to Bolton for the opening day fixture. He got off to a flying start thanks to goals from Charles N'Zogbia and two from Obafemi Martins put the Magpies 3-0 up in the opening half hour. Notably, Martins' first goal of the game was Newcastle's 800th goal in the Premier League and his second goal was a stunning overhead kick.

Here is the Starting XI from that day and see how far they have come since then.

Bolton (a), Premier League, 11/08/2007: Won 3-1

Steve Harper: A true Newcastle United veteran who is now back at the club in a coaching role. Harper had excellent chemistry with his teammates despite spending many years as the second choice goalkeeper. He became the regular goalkeeper after Shay Given's departure to Man City in January 2009 and wore the no.1 jersey from 2009-2012.

In 2011, Harper was once again demoted to second choice goalkeeper, this time to Tim Krul. In 2013, Harper announced his retirement and his testimonial took place at St. James' Park on 11th September 2013. Since then, he came out of retirement and had brief spells at Hull City and Sunderland (although he never played a game for the mackems so we can forgive him).

Stephen Carr: It was in this match against Southampton that Carr scored his only goal for Newcastle and the final goal of his career which finished nine years later in 2013. It was in 57th minute that Carr scored the winning goal from long range just four minutes after Anders Svensson equalised for Southampton.

Carr's time at Newcastle began well but his time at the club is remembered predominantly for the wrong reasons. In 2007, the signing of Habib Beye restricted his chances in the first team. In 2008 he moved to Birmingham where he spent the final five years of his career and made 121 appearances including three in the 2011/12 Europa League.

Steven Taylor: Taylor was a mainstay in the Newcastle backline for a number of years and was a breath of fresh air when he performed well in the position that was once occupied by Titus Bramble and Jean Alain Boumsong.

In January 2015, Taylor scored his last Newcastle goal against Burnley in a 3-3 draw, that goal was enough to make him the club's highest scoring defender in the Premier League, overtaking Steve Watson and Robbie Elliott. After Newcastle's 2016 relegation, Taylor, at the age of 30, left to have a brief spell in the MLS with Portland Timbers. He later returned to English football to play for Ipswich and Peterborough. Since July 2018, he has been playing for A-League side, Wellington Phoenix.

David Rozehnal: The Czech international was signed that summer from Newcastle after performing well for PSG the previous season. However his time at Newcastle was so dire that he was nominated to be part of Newcastle United's worst XI by Newcastle Fans TV.

In January 2008, he left to go to Lazio on loan, a move that was made permanent the following summer where he won the 2008/09 Coppa Italia. He then left the Stadio Olimpico to go to Hamburg, a move that proved unsuccessful. In 2011, he moved back to French football where he found his feet again with Lille and wound up his career at Belgian side, K.V. Oostende and Sokol Kozusany.

Charles N'Zogbia: Departure of Celestine Babayaro saw N'Zogbia being used as a make-shift left back. The French international winger became a key player for the Magpies in his final years of the club. In January 2009, he controversially left the club after then interim manager, Joe Kinnear, accidentally referred to him as 'Insomnia' in a post-match interview. He left to go to Wigan in a swap deal that saw Ryan Taylor come to Tyneside, a player who would go on to become a fan favourite at Newcastle.

He spent three years at Wigan. He was then linked with a move back to Newcastle before Aston Villa snatched him up in the same transfer window that Villa also signed N'Zogbia's former Newcastle teammate, Shay Given. He finished his career at Aston Villa before retiring in 2016.

Nicky Butt: Famously one of the members of the 'Class of 92', Butt has experienced many different aspects of football in that he has been a player, a coach, manager and remarkably an owner.

Butt was the captain of Newcastle United's Championship winning campaign in 2009/10. He then left the club to finish his playing career with a brief spell in South China. Upon his retirement, he has became the co-owner of Salford City who are now in the Football League. He took interim charge of Manchester United's Under 23s in 2016-17 and is now the head of first team development for the Red Devils.

Geremi: The Cameroon international failed to consistently cover himself in glory while at Newcastle, his laziness was a stand-out trait of his and it earned him a nomination for the club's worst team of the 2000s.

Despite only playing a small handful of matches in the club's 2009/10 Championship winning season, it is recognised as the final honour of his career. In the midst of the Championship campaign, he left to join Ankaragucu in Turkey for a breif spell before finishing his career at Larissa in Greece at the age of 32.

Alan Smith: Smith was a proven Premier League striker during his time at Leeds and Man United but he then transitioned to a central midfielder whilst at Newcastle. Despite making 94 appearances for Newcastle, he never scored a goal in a competitive match despite his excellent work ethic and leadership of the team. He was released by the club in summer 2012. After that, he spent the final six seasons of his career in League One and League Two with MK Dons and Notts County before retiring in 2018.

Obafemi Martins: When Martins arrived in 2006, he had the big shoes to fill left by Alan Shearer. The Nigerian international failed to hit those heights but still scored 35 goals in his three seasons at the club.

When the 2009 relegation was confirmed, Martins was one of a number of players to leave the club and he left to join Bundesliga Champions, Wolfsburg for a season. He then joined Russian side, Rubin Kazan. During that spell he returned to England to play for Birmingham in a six-game loan spell where he netted a last minute winner in the League Cup final against Arsenal. In 2012, he spent a season with Levante before joining Seattle Sounders in the MLS where he befriended then teammate DeAndre Yedlin.

Martins' career was in the midst of a rough patch where scoring goals came few and far between for a striker. However, in the 2014 MLS season, he found his feet again and scored 19 goals, the first time he had scored a double figure sum since the 2007/08 season at Newcastle. Following three successful years in the MLS, he ended his career at Shanghai Shenua where he scored 32 goals in three seasons.

Mark Viduka: A Premier League mainstay and proven goalscorer for Leeds, Middlesbrough and Newcastle. Throughout the 2000s, he scored 121 goals however, the final season of his career failed to go well as he failed to score in the 2008/09 relegation season for Newcastle.

James Milner: Out of all the players in this list, Milner and Steven Taylor are the only players who have not yet retired from their playing career. Milner is the only one of the two players who is still playing Premier League football. Milner, now at the age of 33, has been an icon of Premier League football over the past decade. After leaving Newcastle in 2008, he spent years at Aston Villa, Man City and has been at Liverpool since 2015 where he has established himself as a fan favourite and, at the time of writing, is on course of helping Liverpool to their first Premier League title.

18 views
bottom of page