Ex-Newcastle and Nottingham Forest defender reveals how he felt after being dropped to the youth team

Pearce signed for the Magpies in 1997 from Nottingham Forest and spent two seasons in the North East before departing for West Ham.

And the former full-back, who racked up 46 appearances for Newcastle, still remembers when he was dropped by Gullit and relegated to the youth team – something the defender hadn’t experienced before.

“I was 37 years old at the time and I’d never been out of a team, never; from the day I started playing non-league and broke into the team,” recalled Pearce in the latest episode of A Pint with Eamonn & the Gaffers, a podcast hosted by Eamonn Holmes.

“I never came out again. At the age of 37, I was put out of the team and not just out of the team; I was thrown in with the young kids. The young kids’ mentality was that the manager doesn’t give a sh*t about us.”

When asked how it felt being relegated to the youth team by Gullit, Pearce said: “Well, he got a better, younger player who he thought was better than me.

“But two and a bit years afterwards, I wouldn’t have the same mentality of what it’s like to be a player and not play on a Saturday because I’d never have experienced it.”