Andy Carroll’s Newcastle return is a PR masterstroke by Mike Ashley… and it’s not often you can say that
IT is the second Geordie homecoming of Newcastle’s summer.
Only the return of this local lad has been more widely welcomed by the Toon Army.
When Steve Bruce became boss of his boyhood club last month, his appointment was met with disdain, despite his Newcastle roots.
But last night’s arrival of Andy Carroll has given fans a real pick-me-up ahead of Sunday’s season opener with Arsenal.
INJURY PRONE
And, following a summer of discontent, sanctioning this signing is a PR masterstroke by Toon owner Mike Ashley — and it is not often you can say that.
Anti-Ashley campaign groups have been calling for fans to boycott this weekend’s game at St James’ Park.
But the signing of their former No 9 — who could be paraded on the pitch at the Gunners game — might persuade a few dissenters to change their plans.
It does not even seem to matter to fans that Carroll has not played a match since February and is still injured after ankle surgery.
I’d had a season ticket, it was my club and it was a shock to move
Andy Carroll on his Newcastle return
Because when he makes his second Newcastle debut — possibly at old club Liverpool on September 14 — there will be no bigger Geordie roar.
What a difference this deadline day was to the final day of the window in January 2011.
Back then, Newcastle fans were furious when Carroll, aged 22, was sold to Liverpool for a British record £35million.
‘I LOVED IT AT NEWCASTLE’
The move even came as a surprise to the player, who later said: “I loved it at Newcastle. I wasn’t ready to leave.
“I’d had a season ticket, it was my club and it was a shock to move.”
Carroll, of course, flopped at Anfield and joined West Ham.
Former Magpies boss Steve McClaren tried to sign him in January 2016.
Carroll, though, was settled in Essex, where he met his fiancee, TOWIE star Billi Mucklow, and bought a £4m mansion off rocker Rod Stewart.
Yet the England striker was released by Manuel Pellegrini when his contract expired in June after just 12 Prem appearances last season.
DREAM DEAL
Bruce quickly made it clear he was keen to bring him home.
And after Newcastle did a medical earlier in the week, he arrived back on Tyneside at 3pm yesterday to pen a one-year deal.
Carroll’s basic salary is less than a quarter of the £90,000 a week he was on at the Hammers and he will only earn up to £70k-a-week if he starts games for the Toon.
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But this is still a dream deal for a free agent who think he has “unfinished business” at St James’.
It is also a sensible signing for Bruce.
Newcastle’s only strikers were the untested £40m buy Joelinton and Dwight Gayle, who was on loan at West Brom last season.