Former Newcastle United midfielder Nicky Butt believes it was hard to please the club’s supporters during his time on Tyneside.
Butt, who lifted ten major honours at Manchester United, joined Newcastle United in the summer of 2004.
The former England international made 171 appearances for the Magpies and helped them win the Championship during the 2009-10 season.
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Butt started slowly following his move from Old Trafford and briefly joined Birmingham City on loan, but did eventually make a relative success of his time in black and white.
Though clearly much more synonymous with Manchester United, Butt did seemingly enjoy his time at St James’ Park.
Still, he has admitted that pleasing Newcastle supporters was a difficult thing to do.
Nicky Butt’s comments on Newcastle United fans
The 50-year-old was speaking on Sam Allardyce’s ‘No Tippy Tappy Football’ podcast.
Allardyce briefly coached Butt on Tyneside during the 2007-08 season and the two talked about the state of the club back in those days.
Newcastle, of course, were not the force they are now back then. The Sir Bobby Robson era came to an end in 2004 and neither Graeme Souness, Glenn Roeder nor Allardyce could deliver much success.
Then came the Mike Ashley era, which was one of the bleakest periods in Newcastle United history.
Butt admits a lack of stability made life very difficult for the players. Having come from Manchester United during the Sir Alex Ferguson era, that must have been a shock to the system.
“I think the hardest part of my time at Newcastle was that they were really difficult to please (the fans),” he said.
“If you compare it to Manchester United, we had a squad there that was capable of doing what the fans expected. At Newcastle, we had the squad, but we didn’t have the consistency – particularly with having the same manager.
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“At the time I was 31 or 32, so I was an experienced player who’d played a lot of football and was comfortable managing myself.
“But we had a lot of young players coming in, and one minute you’ve got Sir Bobby telling you what to do, then you’ve got Graeme Souness, then Glenn Roeder, then Big Sam. These are all great managers, don’t get me wrong, but if you’re a young player, you’re getting different messages all the time.
“It felt like every 12 weeks someone was getting sacked. That was a real problem. I enjoyed my time at Newcastle, but looking back on it now as an older, retired footballer, it’s sad that a club like that – with the players they had and the calibre of managers they could have stuck with long-term — went so badly for a period.
“When you look at it now, the euphoria around the club only comes from stability. It doesn’t come from money.”
Sir Alex Ferguson wasn’t wrong about Nicky Butt’s move to Newcastle United
Butt is believed to cost Newcastle around £2.5million. Clearly, transfer fees were generally lower back then, but that does seem fairly cheap for a player of his stature.
Speaking just before the deal was officially complete, the great Ferguson believed Newcastle struck gold by landing the midfielder.
“They have got a bargain really as far as I am concerned,” he said (via the Manchester Evening News).
“I hope he goes on and enjoys many great years.”
While it was a turbulent time for the club, Newcastle did get an awful lot of service out of Butt for a relatively small fee.
To look back on this time at the club as an unmitigated success would be wrong but he did at least end it on a positive note after winning the Championship.
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