Former Newcastle star Jonas Gutierrez turns 36-years-old today, and the club’s official website have received a fan backlash after wishing their former star a happy birthday.
Gutierrez won a court case in 2016 over unfair dismissal after being effectively sacked by Newcastle after being diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Despite his fractious relationship with those at the top of the club, the player – dubbed Spiderman after donning a superhero mask when scoring a goal early in his career – has always had a very strong rapport with Toon fans.
The player, of course, scored the second goal and made an assist for the first, against West Ham, in the 2-0 win that kept Newcastle in the Premier League in 2015.
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He is the definition of the term ‘cult hero’, and you will not find many fans that do not love the Argentine winger, and he was supported against the club by most of the fan-base during the whole legal case.
Newcastle fans did not like Gutierrez’s treatment by the club
Many felt the player was treated unfairly by the club, and he only found out he was being released via Ryan Taylor, during a telephone conversation between the full-back and then interim manager John Carver.
It was a sour end to the Newcastle career of a player that never gave less than 100 per cent for the badge and the black and white shirt.
Fans reacted with anger at what some saw as a hypocritical birthday wish. Here are a few of the responses: