Is Shola Ameobi a Newcastle United legend? You decide.

Is Shola Ameobi a Newcastle United legend? You decide.

Shola Ameobi, for Newcastle fans has to be an enigma of all sorts of qualities, and a player who splits the decisions of many.  The passionate fans of the Toon Army will always give him his fans and his critics, but is all the hatred towards this man justified? Or is he a victim of bad luck and injuries? He is a player who has been at Newcastle United F.C. since he was a young boy, and has dreamt of nothing more than being idolised by the Geordie fan base, but has always struggled through injury and fitness to maintain any consistency within the team throughout his 14-year career as a Newcastle player. This post is to provide reasons for and against why people should maybe adjust their opinion, and see it hasn't all been the big Nigerian's fault.

#DareToShola

Shola Ameobi is not the greatest of players, most people won't even say he's average, but he loves Newcastle United, and he bleeds black and white more than any other player has for a very long time. Passion is an important aspect for any player, and he has always said he's tried his best and wanted nothing but success for the club and no matter what people say about his quality, he has scored important goals for the club but bear in mind they have been few and far between. Anyway some of the more impressive career statistics from Shola is his goal tally in Europe  of 15 goals in 51 games including one great finish against Barcelona, which any striker can be proud of. Although this is nothing compared to the one and only Alan Shearer's record of 30 goals in 48 appearances, it still makes Shola our second highest top scorer in Europe, if we ever get there again I can see it easily being broken, but for now that is a record Shola can be proud of, especially when you consider the quality of strikers we have had down the years.

Shola's struggles to nail a first team position could also be an argument to why he hasn't managed to improve his goal tally from 79 goals in 397 appearances, which to be honest is pretty awful for a striker, giving him a goal per game ratio of 0.2 overall in his career, with one career hat-trick against reading in the championship. But is Shola at full fault for this? I don't think so, he has been very unlucky in his career because injuries and managerial changes haven't allowed him to gain any consistency in the first team. There's a reason  178 of his 397 appearances have been substitutions, making him the most substituted premier league player in history. Despite these inconsistencies and under-achievements, Shola does have some importance to the team and can be proud of some things such as his 100% penalty conversion record scoring every career penalty he has taken. Also Shola earned himself the title of 'The Mackem Slayer' after various accounts with sunderland and scoring some vital goals in the derbies, in total he has put 7 goals past them, which is a record which has only been beaten by Sir Jackie Milburn, who scored 11 against the mackems in his career. I remember being at St.James the season we finished fifth, and the whole game felt like it was Sunderland's because they scored early on and they looked guaranteed to get the three points until Shola placed the ball past Mignolet at the last minute, this felt like a victory as the atmosphere around the stadium was beyond grim, until he scored that goal, which was the biggest feeling of relief I have experienced that wasn't involved in a cup game.

One thing that always gets talked about is Shola Ameobi's dedication and work rate hence the nickname 'Strolla' which is a popular one with the geordie faithful. I don't think anyone can judge the player's dedication, because he did want to play but he simply wasn't as good as other strikers we have had down the years. Also I did mention earlier and it has been reported to me once or twice that throughout Shola's career he has been in and out of the physio room than Michael Owen with over 40 injuries throughout his career, including a hip injury which made him require surgery and rehabilitation keeping him out for almost a year. The hip replacement surgery took place in the 2006-2007 season making him miss almost a whole season, which hindered any progress he could have made on improving his game, but the two seasons previous to this, Shola carried on playing because he didn't want to let the fans down. This is due to the fact we didn't have enough strikers to allow him to take the time out for the surgery and rehabilitation, which shows his dedication and love for the club. Furthermore the two years of hip problems involved Shola having to get injections before and after matches, making him have to play through constant pain which is disappointing when you hear the abuse he gets given. A lot of fans don't think its that much of an excuse but injuries take their toll on a player, and I have always wondered what could Shola have been if he wasn't so unlucky with them, because there is no questioning the big guy's love and dedication for the club.

Update: I have been made aware that the part about the hip replacement was wrong, in fact Shola had to have a small portion of bone removed from his hip as it was rubbing against the joint causing him aggravating pain. I guess anyone can imagine how infuriating and painful that would be.

Shola's face guard from when he broke his cheekbone which
allowed him to carry on playing for us in 2011

Finally to sum things up Shola's inconsistencies and goal record make him look like a very poor player, which you can't really argue with, but I don't believe all of it is his fault, because of injuries and just plain inconsistency. Why else would only Keegan and Sam Allardyce be the only couple of managers to ever try and get rid of him? Being a footballer isn't all about being the best player, it is about being a role model and an example to all those around you, so Shola's dedication and willingness to give everything for our club can't be faulted, and in my opinion the goals he did score mattered and the example he sets for youth players and young fans is what everyone should remember him for. Not the greatest player to ever grace the black and white shirt, but definitely one of the most respectful and passionate ones even if he wasn't good enough. Thank you Shola for being an example and role model on how to be a complete professional, you may not have won us trophies, but you did win the love of a select few of the fan-base. #DareToShola