Newcastle United fans in the Transfer Tavern are having a celebratory pint after their team moved out of the bottom three for the first time this season following their 1-0 victory at Bournemouth at the weekend.
However they are only two points above the drop line and there is every chance that The Magpies will be hovering around the dreaded depths of the Premier League amongst fears that they will be fighting another relegation battle this season.
Many of the Geordie punters hope that Steve McClaren will bring in new singings in January that can help rescue them from any danger of the drop.
This has triggered a discussion in The Tavern: which former players would the fans like to see back in the black and white jersey?
We’ve taken a look at five ex-Newcastle heroes that would be welcomed back to St James’s Park that could help The Magpies fly back up the table.
Hit McClaren below to see FIVE former heroes Newcastle should look to bring back to Tyneside!
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Andy Carroll
There have been a few rumours around the Tavern lately that suggest that Andy Carroll is in McClarens sights for the January transfer window after the striker has had two injury-ravaged years at West Ham.
The Geordie striker is not first choice at the London club and McClaren is rumoured to want to bring him back to St James’s Park and help Newcastle rise up the table.
Carroll made a total of 80 league appearances for Newcastle and was a key player in their 2009-10 Championship campaign, scoring 17 goals in 39 fixtures, which resulted in automatic promotion back into the top flight. He also made 19 appearances and scored 11 goals in the 2011 season before he departed Tyneside.
The 26-year-old was sold to Liverpool in January 2011 for £35 million, which at the time was the highest price for a British footballer, and then sold to West Ham for £15 million in 2013.
Could Carroll be the frontman hero that Newcastle needs?
Mathieu Debuchy
There are reports that Debuchy is looking to leave Arsenal in January after losing his starting position to Hector Bellerin this season.
The Frenchman suffered an ankle and shoulder injury last season and has since struggled to reclaim his spot in the starting line-up under Arsene Wenger and has also not been included in the France squad to face England and German in International fixtures.
The defender has started the last two fixtures for Arsenal while Bellerin has been out with a groin injury, but the Frenchman is worried that he will be shoved back to the sidelines when the Spaniard recovers.
Debuchy arrived at Newcastle from Lille in January 2013 making 42 league appearances before he was sold to Arsenal for an undisclosed fee (rumoured to be around £12 million) the following January.
Would the Frenchman bring the much needed va-va-voom to the Newcastle defence if he returned to Tyneside?
Kevin Nolan
Kevin Nolan is currently a free agent since his departure from West Ham at the start of this season.
The popular midfielder left the Hammers in August by mutual consent and has expressed that his concerns for a guaranteed first team place were behind his reasons for leaving Upton Park.
It has been reported that the 33-year-old has been linked with moves to Glasgow Rangers, his old club Bolton and with Newcastle rivals Sunderland and be reunited with old boss Sam Allardyce.
Nolan was at Tyneside for three seasons and, like his former Newcastle and West Ham team mate Andy Carroll, was a key player in their 2009-10 campaign with 17 goals in 44 appearances to secure automatic promotion from the Championship.
Could the former Captain lead The Magpies up the Premier League table if he returned to St James’s Park?
Shay Given
Steve McClaren is having a goalkeeping crisis at the moment with his first and second choice keepers currently out of action.
Tim Krul picked up a devastating knee injury whilst playing against Kazakhstan on international duty with Holland last month, which sees him out for the rest of the season, and Karl Darlow is also out with a foot injury.
Third choice keeper Rob Elliot has been at the helm, but would a return from Newcastle legend Shay Given be the perfect back-up support that they need?
And it is not a crazy idea – it seems the fans have wanted him back before. It was around this time last year that Alan Pardew was facing the same crisis. With Tim Krul and Rob Elliot out with injuries, an inexperienced 17-year-old Freddie Woodman being their only option and along with a crucial Sunderland derby coming up, panicked fans took to social media to bombard Given with requests to help his former club.
The Republic of Ireland International was at Newcastle for 12 seasons, from 1997-2009 and made 354 league appearances and 462 appearance across all competitions.
Would the experienced goal-stopper be welcomed back to St James’s Park in their time of need? The Tavern punters think so.
Demba Ba
The Senegalese international was at Newcastle for two seasons and was the clubs leading goalscorer in both campaigns.
The 30-year-old racked up 16 goals for the club in 34 league appearances in the 2011-12 season and 13 goals in 20 appearances in the 2012-13 season before being sold to Chelsea for an undisclosed fee.
Since then he played for Besiktas for the 2014-15 season with an impressive tally of 18 goals in 29 appearances in the Turkish Super Lig and signed for Shanghai Shenhua in June 2015 and has scored 6 times in 11 fixtures in the Chinese top flight.
With his consistency in finding the back of the net, would Ba be the attacker needed to assist in a Tyneside turnaround?
