Habib Beye retired from professional football in 2012 after a loan spell with Doncaster Rovers.
Having moved to Aston Villa to escape playing in the second division with Newcastle United, pride preventing him from staying with a club he was very happy at, Beye found himself having to drop down a league anyway, and at a club much smaller than the Magpies.
It was clear there’d been a bad decision made along the way, perhaps tangled in with some bad luck, and Beye is open enough to admit that the transfer wasn’t a good choice.
Speaking to French newspaper L’Equipe, Beye was asked which club he should never have signed for in his career… which was the worst decision.
It was a clear response, with the 40 year old explaining: “Aston Villa. I went there because of pride when Newcastle were relegated. I was a core player of the Magpies. I had my songs at St James’ Park. I knew that the club was prepared to go up but I did not want to be considered a player of division two. My second year at Aston Villa, it went wrong with Gerard Houllier. He behaved badly with me and he knows it. I finally went on loan to Doncaster, in… division two.”
Beye’s songs at Newcastle United included “Monday, Tuesday, Habib Beye…” and L’Equipe explain this to their readers.
Now the former footballer pops up on French TV as a pundit and commentator, helped by his experience of playing for PSG, Strasbourg and Marseille before moving to Newcastle in 2007.
