Five Newcastle United January transfer window signings to go badly wrong

Here’s five reasons from yesteryear to explain why their cautious approach may just be correct.

Michael Bridges

Like Alan Shearer before him, Bridges was another local lad who got away and made his name in red and white stripes.

Yet North Shields-born striker Bridges didn’t need to travel as far as Southampton to successfully launch his career - Sunderland did the trick.

Bridges eventually joined David O’Leary’s team of youthful talents at Leeds United in 1999 for £5m after apparently falling out with Black Cats manager Peter Reid.

More goals swiftly followed before his career was cruelly derailed by a series of injuries.

Sir Bobby Robson signed him on loan in January 2004 towards the end of his Leeds contract although he never recovered from fluffing an easy chance against Leicester City on his debut.

He joined Bolton Wanderers that summer before briefly returning to Sunderland en route to the lower leagues and Australia.

Jean-Alain Boumsong

Everyone knew Newcastle needed a centre-half in January 2005 after they sold Jonathan Woodgate the previous August without securing a replacement.

Everyone also knew the Magpies had somehow banked £13m from the deal.

So Rangers, not always known for their financial acumen, simply held out for £8m for a defender they had signed for free six months earlier.

Such was Boumsong’s impact on Tyneside that some would argue that even the Glasgow side had been over-charged.

Despite his 6ft 4in frame, the French international was frequently out jumped and out muscled and eventually sold to Juventus for less than half his fee just 18 months later.

Celestine Babayaro

Unveiled by manager Graeme Souness on the same day as Boumsong, the Nigerian international left-back enjoyed similar success.

A left-back by trade, the £1.5m Nigerian international was usually left back in the treatment room before eventually departing by mutual consent in late 2007.

Perhaps the highlight of his 47 games was a cynical foul on former Chelsea team-mate Arjen Robben as Newcastle clinched a place in the Intertoto Cup on the final day of the 2005-06 season.

Stephen Ireland

Talented midfielder with an eye for goal - but not during his 49 minutes on loan in a Newcastle United shirt.

After a 2010 summer move from Manchester City to Aston Villa quickly backfired, the Irish international was Alan Pardew’s first signing when he joined Newcastle the following January.

The Toon faithful waited three months and at least one pre-match visit to a city nightclub for his debut but saw very little to justify his presence.

He soon returned to Villa with an ankle injury and is currently in the sickness room at Stoke City.

Seydou Doumbia

The final signing of Steve McLaren’s ill-fated reign at St James’s Park, the Ivory Coast international striker failed to save his new boss from the sack and was quickly sidelined by successor Rafa Benitez.

In fairness to Doumbia, he did little wrong in three brief appearances from the bench and hit the post in the dying moments of a 1-0 defeat at Stoke in McLaren’s penultimate match.

No stranger to a loan move, he returned to parent club Roma last summer before beginning another temporary spell, this time in Switzerland at former club Basle, where he’s scored nine goals in 12 games.

Now here’s five more successful January signings