Dan Gosling believes he did not get a ‘fair chance’ at Newcastle United having struggled for regular minutes in a team flying high in the Premier League at the time, speaking to The Chronicle.
How is it that old adage goes? If it ain’t broke…
During the 2011/12 season, in which Newcastle finished a nosebleed-inducing fifth under LMA Manager of the Year Alan Pardew, Gosling felt like something of an odd one out.
With Yohan Cabaye and the late Cheick Tiote firmly established as Pardew’s go-to central midfield partnership, a youngster signed on a free from Everton started just the one top-flight game throughout the whole of that joyous campaign at St James’ Park.
Dan Gosling spent four years at Newcastle United before joining Bournemouth
“I performed well in pre-season. I had a chance but, for whatever reason, players came in, they played and the team got settled,” Gosling recalls.
“My second year was when we finished fifth. Breaking into a team that is winning in the Premier League is tough. Why would a manager change it and put a youngish fella at the time in? I would have done the same thing.
“It was difficult, but (Cabaye and Tiote) were consistent performers.”
In fact, between 2010 and 2014, Gosling started a grand total of just five Premier League games before joining Eddie Howe’s AFC Bournemouth on a free transfer. Now at Watford aged 32, the former England U21 international is mature enough to realise that, sometimes, things in football just don’t go to plan.
“Did I really get a fair chance? I’d have to say no,” he adds. “But, listen, that’s football. Sometimes, your face does not fit quite like you would want it. That’s a real shame because Newcastle is a big club, but I feel I developed so much at Bournemouth.
“I probably was not quite ready to play central midfield (at Newcastle).”
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