Eddie Howe clearly values his squad at Newcastle United.
While a big rebuild has been predicted at St James’ Park this summer, Howe is not the type of manager who just cuts players adrift, no matter their lack of action.
Indeed, before Jamaal Lascelles covered for the injured Sven Botman earlier this season, the Newcastle captain had been limited to a back-up role.
Despite his lack of game time, Howe was at pains to praise Lascelles for his work behind the scenes with a classy public message during the club’s pre-season tour of the USA.
Howe has previously talked up the likes of Paul Dummett and Matt Ritchie too, such is their involvement on a day-to-day basis behind the scenes.
So then, perhaps it’s of little surprise to see another player not involved in the first-team sticking around.
Craig Hope shares which Newcastle player has signed a new contract
According to Craig Hope on X (formerly Twitter), reserve goalkeeper Mark Gillespie has been rewarded with a new 12-month contract.
The 32-year-old has only ever played three games for the club since joining them from Motherwell in 2020 but will seemingly be on his native Tyneside for another year at the very least.
Mark Gillespie plays an important role for Newcastle behind the scenes
Obviously, things would have to go very wrong for Gillespie to regularly start for Newcastle, even if Loris Karius does indeed leave this summer. Nick Pope and Martin Dubravka would surely have to pick up significant injuries for that to happen.
While it would be disrespectful to suggest someone who has made a genuine career of being a professional footballer is kept on solely due to his local links, they will no doubt help.
There have been suggestions that Gillespie is one of the loudest voices on the training ground and he’s a frequent supporter of the team during their biggest games, such as the Tyne-Wear derby earlier this year.
Just because he’s not playing doesn’t mean there’s no use to him.
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