Thank you Kieran Trippier | OneFootball

Kieran Trippier is leaving Newcastle United…. Well, he is if what you read on social media is anything to go by.

The naysayers will say good riddance because in some quarters there is no doubt that Tripps was at fault for the late goals conceded at Goodison Park and Stamford Bridge in the run up to Christmas last season, during a run in which NUFC lost seven out of eight league and cup matches, with the whole team running on empty and missing invaluable talent like Nick Pope, Joelinton, Sven Botman and Sandro Tonali, to name but a few.

The fact that Kieran Trippier has been hung out to dry by some, it is plainly ridiculous.

In Valentino Livramento we might have a worthy successor but Tino isn’t quite the finished article and sometimes life can be a case of ‘careful what you wish for’.

The fact is, Kieran Trippier is probably the best right back I have seen don the black and white striped jersey since I started attending SJP in the late 70s.

Signed from Atletico Madrid in the January 2022 window, Kieran Trippier had months earlier won the league in Spain and had been named in the 2021/22 La Liga team of the season. This was a first title in seven years for Atletico Madrid and only the second time anyone other than Real Madrid or Barcelona had won La Liga since a certain Rafa Benitez had steered Valencia to the championship in 2004.

Let’s not forget, Kieran Trippier left a championship winning team for a relegation scrap and huge uncertainty.

On New Year’s Day 2022, Newcastle United were second bottom of the Premier League, with only one win in their opening nineteen league matches.

Trippier’s debut was in the awful 0-1 reverse at home to third tier Cambridge United, but being dumped out of the FA Cup in the third round that season was probably a blessing in disguise, as Newcastle United now playing under the tutelage of Eddie Howe, began their quite remarkable escapology act.

Who can forget Trippier’s excellent freekick that bent round the Everton wall and sailed past Jordan Pickford at the Gallowgate End on the evening of 8 February 2022? A MOTM performance and the killer goal in a hard fought 3-1 win that lifted the toon out of the relegation places for the first time that season.

He was at it again just a few days later, this time with a free-kick at the Leazes End, despatched with aplomb and beating the Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez with ease. Thanks to that solitary goal, by teatime on Sunday 13 February 2022, United had put a four-point gap between themselves and third from bottom Norwich City, and although Trippier didn’t play again that season after picking up an injury, there is no doubting his massive contribution both on and off the pitch as we continued to progress up the table.

As freekicks go, Kieran Trippier maybe saved his best for August 2022 when he put us 3-1 up against reigning champions Manchester City at a raucous St James Park in our third match of the following season, a campaign in which Trippier captained us to a Wembley Final and a Champions League berth.

Kieran Trippier has recently lost the captain’s armband to Bruno Guimaraes and that is fuelling speculation he is ready to leave, but for me, he has been our Captain Fantastic this past couple of years.

In 72 Premier League matches, he has scored four times and contributed 18 assists as well as being made MOTM on countless occasions. This on top of six Champions League appearances and 14 in domestic cup competitions for Newcastle United.

His leadership has been exemplary and if he is to leave SJP for pastures new, I wish him every future success.