My heart sank after what I was told in Newcastle meeting but here’s why I don’t feel bitter
Newcastle United let Michael Ndiweni go but the striker got to live every Geordie’s dream
It is a screensaver that takes some beating. A beaming Michael Ndiweni, fresh from making his Premier League debut for Newcastle United against Chelsea, has been pushed to the front row for a team photograph that the Geordie will cherish forever.
“It’s one of the best pictures I’ll have in my life,” the former Magpies striker told ChronicleLive. “It’s going to be difficult to top that.”
How can you? This was the stuff of dreams for a boyhood Newcastle fan who never saw it coming back in November.
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Ndiweni had trained with the injury-hit first team on a couple of occasions in the build-up to the game, but the 20-year-old did not anticipate a phone call the night before telling him to report to St James’ Park the next day. In Ndiweni’s own words, it ‘didn’t feel real’ – even before he set foot on the pitch.
“It’s every Newcastle boy’s dream,” he recalled of that 4-1 win. “I remember Jamaal Lascelles congratulating me before I even went on the pitch and saying, ‘Well done. Just go and enjoy it.’ Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall were like, ‘Go out, run around, enjoy it and these fans will love you.’
“Going out on to the pitch was a blur, but I can remember the feeling. The crowd was so loud. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before.”
Howe was there to throw an arm around Ndiweni after the game, as they walked around the pitch, but a surreal few days did not end there. The following Monday, Ndiweni was boarding a flight to Paris to train at the Parc des Princes before taking his place on the bench once again for the Magpies’ huge Champions League clash against PSG 24 hours later.
Ndiweni was soon on his feet celebrating, after Alexander Isak put the visitors in front, only for Kylian Mbappe to score a controversial penalty to deny Newcastle a famous win at the death.
“It was like a fever dream,” he said. “To actually be part of that and hearing the anthem on the night is something I’ll never forget.
“That night just showed me how special that Newcastle team are. Against all the odds, they went to PSG and I saw a big togetherness from the team. It opened my eyes.
“We probably should have won the game – I don’t believe that was a penalty – but Newcastle stood together against world-class players and dug deep. You really felt that.”
Those at the top certainly felt it, too. In fact, former owner Amanda Staveley came into the away dressing room after the game and gave each player a hug before telling the group: “Don’t worry – you played well.” There was pride as much as understandable disappointment.
It would prove the last time Ndiweni was on the bench for Newcastle, but the striker took so much from that week and his years on the training pitches with ‘ridiculous’ finishers like Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson and defenders such as captain Jamaal Lascelles, who would tell the Geordie ‘how he could make it harder’ for him when up against him. There was also plenty of guidance from Howe and his staff, who made sure those young prospects from the academy felt part of it when they stepped up.
