Anthony Gordon has shared how he really regrets something he did early on in his Newcastle United career.
Gordon has been one of if not the most important Newcastle players this season and has shown huge improvements both in his fitness and quality in the final third, but things weren’t so smooth sailing at first.
In an interview with Craig Hope, Gordon discussed the moment he refused to speak to Eddie Howe after being substituted at Brentford last season and how much he regretted it.
Gordon says he felt ‘horrendous’ after ignoring Howe
It was still early doors for the winger in his Newcastle career having signed from Everton in a £45m deal in January 2023 and things weren’t going how he had hoped initially.
Gordon struggled for fitness in those first six months as Howe really demands a lot from his players and the attacker wasn’t used to that style of play at Everton so naturally his form struggled as well.
Newcastle had played poorly in the first half away to Brentford and found themselves 1-0 down after an Ivan Toney penalty, but after some half-time changes, which saw Gordon come on for Jacob Murphy, they turned the game around to win 2-1.
The 22-year-old was then substituted back off in the 95th minute for Matt Ritchie, presumably to run the clock down, but Gordon wasn’t happy with the decision and refused to acknowledge Howe before taking to the bench.
Hope asked Gordon how quickly he regretted the decision:
“Straight away! I won’t shy away from this, because I feel it’s been a vital part of my journey. My relationship with the manager could not be better now. If you take things like that away, maybe it wouldn’t be the same.
“We had two days off after and I just remember the anxiety. Nothing could get rid of it. I couldn’t really go about my day. I was horrendous company for my family. It was that sick feeling in my stomach.
“I’m passionate, but that was way overstepping the mark.”
Gordon has completely turned things around at Newcastle
Gordon had already come into Newcastle on difficult terms especially with the fanbase who had questioned the signing after his antics for Everton which often wound opposition fans up.
For the amount of money being spent on him, people had wanted to see results straight away and that was just never going to happen until he was able to get up to the right level of fitness.
But the winger quickly grew on Newcastle supporters after the summer in which he showed a real desire to improve after winning player of the tournament for England’s U-21 in the Euros.
Since then, Gordon has been unstoppable in Newcastle’s attack netting nine goals in the Premier League and supplying a further seven in what has been a breakout season for the former Everton man.
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