Alexander who? Newcastle United fans have fallen in love with Nick Woltemade, the striker appropriately born on Valentine’s Day, after a flying start to his career with the Magpies.
They adore a folk hero in the pubs and bars in Grey Street and on the Diamond Strip, especially if he wears the club’s iconic No.9 shirt, and there was wailing and gnashing of teeth across Tyneside when Alexander Isak made his acrimonious exit to join Liverpool in August.
Their season was in the balance as the Sweden striker ranked alongside legends who had previously pulled on the coveted top like Alan Shearer, Andy Cole, Malcolm MacDonald, Les Ferdinand, Andy Carroll, Hughie Gallacher and the immortal Jackie Milburn.
Isak had scored 54 Premier League goals since joining Newcastle from Real Sociedad in August 2022 and smashed in the winner as the Magpies won their first major title in eons by beating Liverpool 2-1 in last season’s Carabao Cup final.
The smart money was on a statue of him being erected outside St James’ Park until the relationship sensationally soured when he pushed through a blockbuster £125million move to Anfield.
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Newcastle manager Eddie Howe spent £69m on replacing Isak with Woltemade, who was little known outside of the Bundesliga despite the 23-year-old scoring 12 times in 28 league games for Stuttgart last term.
The early indications are, however, manager Eddie Howe has produced a stroke of genius. The 6ft 6in forward made an immediate impact by scoring the only goal of the game on his debut at home to Wolves and after three outings without troubling the scoresheet he has notched against Arsenal and Nottingham Forest in the league either side of an effort against Union SG in the Champions League.
Big Nick then celebrated his first goal for Germany in the 1-0 win against Northern Ireland in Monday’s World Cup qualifier in Belfast, meaning he has found the net in his last four outings.
It won’t have gone unnoticed by the joyful rank and file in the Toon Army that Isak has only scored once in six games for the Reds and that was in the 2-1 Carabao Cup success against Southampton at Anfield.
Cautious fans will recall Papiss Cisse scoring 13 times after being signed from Freiburg in January 2012 only to flame out during the rest of his stay but, for the moment, Woltemade can do no wrong and is 7/1 with Unibet to continue his hot streak by scoring the first goal in Saturday’s trip to Brighton and 9/4 with Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet to add to his tally at any time.
There’s little to split the Seagulls and Magpies in the top-flight pecking order as both have nine points from seven games, and a fourth draw of the season for both clubs is on the cards at 13/5 with bet365. The same firm offers 14/1 on 2-2 being the final score.
Racing odds
British Champions Day brings the curtain down on this year’s Flat season at Ascot in grand style on Saturday with some gripping duels on the Berkshire turf which simply must not be missed.
Delacroix and Ombudsman have one win apiece as they meet for the third time in the Champion Stakes with the nod going to the former, trained by Aidan O’Brien, at 11/4 with William Hill.
Rosallion has been beaten by little more than a nostril in previous Group One races but can edge Field of Gold in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at 7/2 with the same firm and bet365, while Kalpana is justified at the widespread 3/1 for the Fillies and Mares.
Big Mojo can live up to his name at 5/1 with Hills and bet365 in the Sprint Stakes and Trawlerman may be the hot odds-on favourite in the Long Distance Cup but Stay True could go close and is worth an each-way flutter at 4/1 with Ladbrokes, Betway and Hills.
Football odds: England are sing it to win it
England’s big win in Latvia means they have qualified for the World Cup finals and we all know what that means… another reworking of Baddiel and Skinner’s now tedious Three Lions collaboration with Lightning Seeds guru Ian Broudie.
The best year for World Cup songs was undoubtedly 1990 with New Order’s World In Motion topping our pops, pipping Touched By The Hand of Cicciolina by Stourbridge indie funsters Pop Will Eat Itself.
They have just released the superb Delete Everything, their first album in ten years, and perhaps they can work on something like, well, Touched By The Hand of Donald Trump as an ode to Thomas Tuchel’s boys. Maybe not.
Meanwhile, after showing improved and entertaining form in their last few matches could it be that England can actually win the final in New Jersey at 7/1 with Ladbrokes and Coral? Yes! Football’s coming home. D’oh!