Newcastle United news: Andros Townsend says he ‘loves’ the club and had to leave to keep his England place… but what do the Magpies fans think?
YET again Newcastle United have been brought up in an Andros Townsend interview. Months on from Townsend's exit from Newcastle United and the club is still brought up in his interviews with the press.
Words thrown around like "loves the club" and "tough decision to make". I'll let you make your mind up on whether those words are genuine or just a nice gesture to his ex club's fanbase.
Let's rewind to the time we signed the England international. At the time, Andros was playing reserve football for Spurs and hadn't seen the first team in months.
We paid a huge fee and put a lot of faith in the 24 year old and many pundits laughed at paying a double figure sum for a Tottenham reserve player.
From day one, the winger received some of the best support that we could give to a player for his effort and direct style of play. He brought some much needed pace into the side and wasn't afraid to shoot.
When Townsend signed he made sure he had a relegation release clause in his contract due to the club having a very high chance of relegation.
This is the first reason why I highly doubt it was a tough decision for Andros to leave the magpies when we were relegated. He had already planned to in the event of relegation anyway.
Moving on to Andros Townsend's 'love for the club'. Alan Shearer turning down trophies and money to play for Newcastle United is love. Andros Townsend choosing to leave Newcastle United and Rafa Benitez for Crystal Palace and Alan Pardew? Sadly, I can't see him having much love for the Toon if he wouldn't sacrifice a season in the championship and signed for a relegation battling Palace side.
He stated one of the main reasons he signed for Palace was to increase his chances of being selected for England which is a fair point in my opinion. That being said, he played some of the best football of his career when playing for us yet still fell short of the final cut for the squad in Euro 2016
In summary, I think all of the quotes from Townsend are nothing more than a token of his appreciation to a fanbase that supported him during his rise back to Premier League football.
I can't help but think it would be a tad funny however if Newcastle were to replace Crystal Palace in the Premier League next year.
For more news on all things Newcastle United,.
Watch ALL the goals from the Premier League before anyone else for FREE plus all the latest news, fixtures and results and live match commentary all on the go with the new Sun Football App – click here to download