Yoane Wissa is preparing to face his former club this weekend, but which other players have appeared for both Newcastle United and Brentford.
Wissa joined the Magpies from the Bees after a drawn-out transfer saga, coming in to help replace Alexander Isak following his British record move to Liverpool. The DR Congo international was a huge success for the London side, netting 49 goals in 149 appearances across all competitions, including 31 goals in 69 Premier League outings across his last two campaigns at the Gtech Community Stadium.
That form has not translated well to St. James’ Park so far, with Wissa returning from injury to score just one goal in 10 Premier League appearances, and three goals in 16 across all competitions. Newcastle fans are expecting an improvement from him soon, and Eddie Howe needs it with his side stuck in 11th place. Who better to do that against than your former club?
Of course, Wissa is just one of many players to appear for both Newcastle and Brentford over the years, so here are seven more.
1. Ivan Toney
Ivan Toney joined Newcastle United from Northampton in 2015 early in his career, but only ever made two senior appearances for the club, enjoying far more success out on numerous loan spells.
However, the striker signed for Peterborough United in 2018 and everything changed. Toney scored 49 goals in 94 games over two years, earning a move to then-Championship side Brentford, where he bagged 33 goals during the 2020/21 campaign to help the Bees earn a shock promotion to the Premier League. Toney stayed at Brentford for another three years, and despite his career being disrupted through a gambling suspension, he went on to score 36 goals in 83 Premier League appearances for the club - ending up with 72 goals in 141 appearances across all competitions before leaving for Al-Ahli in the summer of 2024, where he remains.
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2. Les Ferdinand
Les Ferdinand is very much a case of ‘what if’ for Brentford fans. The legendary striker joined the Bees for just three games on loan from QPR in the Third Division back in 1988, right at the start of his career, failing to score a single goal. Ferdinand enjoyed far more success on loan at Besiktas a year later, scoring 18 goals and winning the Turkish Cup with the Istanbul giants.
From there, Ferdinand never looked back, bagging goals for the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham, Leicester City and Bolton Wanderers across his career, not to mention five goals in 17 caps for England.
Of course, one of Ferdinand’s most famous spells was his two-year stay at Newcastle between 1995 and 1997, scoring 50 goals in 84 appearances as the Magpies finished runner-up in the Premier League twice in a row. On an individual level, Ferdinand was voted PFA Player of the Year and named in the PFA Team of the Year during his time at St. James’ Park.
3. Joe Allon
Having won the FA Youth Cup in 1985, Joe Allon broke into the Newcastle first team before fellow apprentice Paul Gascoigne. However, the forward managed just nine league appearances and two goals before departing for Swansea City in 1987.
Allon had a fruitful spell with Hartlepool United and turned out for the likes of Chelsea, Port Vale and Lincoln City during his career. He also bagged 28 goals in 56 appearances for Brentford between 1992 and 1994.
4. Carl Cort
Newcastle paid £7m to sign Carl Cort from Wimbledon in the summer of 2000, which was a huge sum for the Magpies at the time. That fee was paid after Cort had bagged 15 goals in 41 appearances the season prior, despite the Dons suffering relegation from the Premier League.
Injury disrupted Cort’s first season at Newcastle, but he still managed to end the season with seven goals in 15 appearances, including six strikes in 13 Premier League outings. Unfortunately, injuries continued to haunt the five-time Guyana and former England youth international, and he left Newcastle for Wolves in 2003.
Cort would go on to play for the likes of Leicester City, Marbella and Norwich City, before a 34-game, seven-goal spell at Brentford between 2009 and 2010. Cort then finished his career in the United States with the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
5. Kenny Sansom
Kenny Sansom enjoyed incredible spells with Crystal Palace and Arsenal, making over 500 appearances for the two clubs combined, and winning the FA Youth Cup and Second Division with the former, and a League Cup with the latter. The left-back also picked up 86 caps for England during that time, with only 15 players making more appearances in Three Lions history.
After leaving Arsenal, Sansom embarked on a journeyman career that saw him play 24 times for Newcastle and eight times for Brentford, with spells at QPR, Coventry and Everton in between. The defender played one game for Watford before retiring in 1995.
6. Paul Stephenson
Had a goal disallowed just a minute into his Newcastle debut in 1985, after he was ruled to have intercepted a short Southampton goal-kick inside their box.
The tricky Wallsend winger moved to Millwall, then in the top flight, in 1988 before joining Brentford five years later. He left for York City in 1995 after 70 appearances and two goals before ending his playing career with a productive five-year spell at Hartlepool United. Stephenson has coached with the likes of Hartlepool, Norwich, Huddersfield, Blackpool, Middlesbrough and Kilmarnock, and is now assistant manager for the Northern Ireland U21s.
7. George Stobbart
Another son of Wallsend, inside forward Stobbart joined his native Newcastle at the end of the Second World War and scored 21 goals in 66 games before joining Luton Town, Millwall and eventually Brentford.
He predictably scored for the Bees on his return to Tyneside during the Magpies’ last successful FA Cup run in 1955. A miner in the North-East and a publican in Brentford, he is still in the Londoners’ record books as the scorer of their quickest league goal in just 10 seconds against Aldershot in 1954. He died in 1995.
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