Thursday night sees the return of one of our erstwhile heroes in Anthony Gordon. The details of his departure from Everton may be unpalatable to some Blues, but we cannot deny the £40m initial fee from Newcastle Utd will almost certainly prevent a further P&S charge and, at the time, seemed like excellent business.
I would also suggest that, following the treatment meted out to him in Goodison Road, his leaving the club was inevitable. What is it the Bible says: ‘A prophet is not without honour, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household’ — this is certainly true of Gordon
He is certainly getting honour now and looks to be enjoying his football more and more under Eddie Howe’s tutelage. So much so that he must be pressing Rashford for the left-wing England berth.
While with Everton, Gordon certainly divided opinion as to his abilities; he infuriated me with the ease he went to ground but, no matter what, he never ever gave less than 100% and the improvement he has shown since heading to the Northeast proves beyond doubt that there was always an excellent footballer there.
The fact that, in the 6 years (I think it will be 6 years to the day on Thursday, since he made his debut for the Blues against Limassol) he spent at Everton (and Preston) he had 7 managers, not exactly conducive to a youngster developing his talent.
I hate the badge patting when he scores for the Barcodes – he had probably never been to Newcastle socially before his transfer – I suspect that he will celebrate if he scores on Thursday and I won’t blame him. He is one of ours and we should take the wind from his sails by, at the very least, ignoring him; booing will only strengthen his resolve and I personally would join in a chorus of ‘Oh, Anthony Gordon’.
Following the weekend’s games, the thought of what a fired-up Anthony Gordon and overlapping Livramento will do to the ponderous Ashley Young and inconsistent Jack Harrison scares me. So we should give him no further reason to make a point and welcome back a player who always tried his best for us.