Nick Woltemade is making a fine start to his Newcastle United career, which is not an easy thing to do given the sheer weight of being the club’s main striker.
Newcastle United’s greatest-ever strikers have embraced what it means to carry the hopes of the Geordie faithful on their backs.
Still, it’s sometimes appeared to be too much for some players. Newcastle have had some excellent strikers over the years, as well as their fair share of duds.
Woltemade is making an impressive start and while there’s still a lot to prove, perhaps he can follow in the footsteps of the likes of Alan Shearer.
Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak are more recent examples of leading Newcastle marksmen, having shone during their stays on Tyneside.
With the topic of being Newcastle’s striker a big talking point right now following the arrival of Woltemade, it’s worth re-looking at one of the club’s best-ever signings on that front.
Indeed, memory lane is taking us back down to Andy Cole’s first season at St James’ Park.
Andy Cole’s brilliant first full season for Newcastle United
Back in February 1993, Newcastle smashed their club transfer record to sign Cole from Bristol City in a £1.75million deal.
He would score 12 goals in his first few months for the club as they won promotion out of the old Division One.
It was upon promotion to the Premier League where things really went into overdrive, however.
Cole bagged a stunning 34 goals in 40 Premier League outings, a record equalled by Shearer at Blackburn a year later and broken by Erling Haaland at Manchester City in 2023.
In 45 games across all competitions during the 1993/94 season, Cole notched a ridiculous 41 goals. Even more impressively, he didn’t take a single penalty during that campaign.
The only spot-kick he took for Newcastle came a year later against Coventry and he missed it. In fact, the only penalty Cole scored in the Premier League was while he was a Fulham player in 2005.
Cole is fifth on the Premier League’s all-time top scorers list with 187. In total, he bagged 68 goals in 84 games for Newcastle.
Andy Cole “never wanted to leave” Newcastle United
Cole is one of only two former Newcastle United players included in the Premier League’s Hall of Fame, although he is perhaps best remembered by the general public for what he did at Manchester United.
He moved to Old Trafford for what was then a British-record transfer in January 1995. Newcastle got £6million for his services, with the £1million-rated Keith Gillespie coming the other way.
The forward would go on to win five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League during his six-year spell under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Such was the surprise that Newcastle were selling Cole to a rival at the time, former manager Kevin Keegan famously confronted angry fans on the steps outside St James’ Park to explain the club’s reasoning.
Though the move obviously worked out for Cole, he has been on record to claim he never wanted to leave Newcastle.
“Obviously, it was difficult because I never wanted to leave Newcastle,” he said.
“But the gaffer [Keegan] accepted a bid and I’ve come to a big club, so I just want to do well for Manchester United.”
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