It has not taken former Newcastle United striker Dwight Gayle long to find a new career path in football following his retirement.
Gayle retired from professional football in May after a fine end to his career at Scottish side Hibernian.
The 35-year-old scored 124 goals over the course of his 14-year professional career, 34 of which came during his time at Newcastle United.
Gayle joined Newcastle from Crystal Palace in the summer of 2016 as part of Rafa Benitez’s rebuild at St James’ Park following relegation from the Premier League.
He played a major role in Newcastle’s quick-fire promotion from the Championship, bagging 23 goals in 32 games to finish as the division’s joint-second top goalscorer.
After some time away from the game, Gayle has confirmed he’s now set for a new path within football.
- READ MORE: Unexpected crossover as Dwight Gayle helps former Newcastle United teammate sign for a new club
Dwight Gayle confirms new job in football
On Saturday, the former Toon striker revealed the news on social media platform Instagram.
He confirmed his plans to join the Unique Sports Group (USG) as a Player Consultant/Mentor.
USG represented Gayle for ten years during his playing career and he will now be leaning on all his experience to “guide the next generation” in his new role.
“Having spent over 10 years as a client with Unique Sports Group, I am pleased to announce I am starting a new chapter with them, off the pitch, joining the team as a Player Consultant/Mentor,” he wrote.
“It’s been an amazing month adapting to a change in my career & working with the team behind the scenes. Really looking forward to this new challenge & ready to share my experience to help guide the next generation of talent.
“Big thanks to the team for making me feel so welcome, really excited about what’s ahead.”
Jacob Murphy was among those who responded, writing “Let’s gooo” on Gayle’s post.
The Newcastle United stars who are managed by Dwight Gayle’s company
It’s unclear as to what level of player Gayle will be working with.
He talks about the “next generation” in his statement, so perhaps it’s reasonable to assume that he’ll be dealing with emerging talent rather than established stars.
The USG player list is impressive. According to Transfermarkt, Jamaal Lascelles, Anthony Gordon and Jacob Ramsey are on there, but may be too far along in their careers to need mentoring on that level.
Interestingly, so is Lewis Miley. The teenager is still developing and has been dealing with criticism of late, so may be the kind of player Gayle is set to work with.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
