What about Nobby Solano?
"Freddy first flew out to Argentina to sign me when I was at Boca Juniors and made it clear he wanted me."
"He was a very warm and kind man. He spoke passionately about Newcastle United and how he wanted to make the club the best in the Premier League and challenge the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea at that time."
"I will always be grateful to him for giving me the chance to play for Newcastle. I had the choice of other clubs but Freddy sold me Newcastle because of his ambition and passion."
"I wasn’t playing in the team at the time and couldn’t get my place. It was frustrating because Lee Bowyer was playing ahead of me and he wasn’t a right-winger, he was a centre-midfielder and I still couldn’t get in."
"So I told Bobby that I had to go to play first-team football. I was pushed to do that given my age at that time because I needed to play."
"I was always getting texts from the lads at Newcastle when I was at Aston Villa. Stevie Harper and Alan Shearer would always ask me how I was and if I would come back to play alongside them."
"Of course, Newcastle is very close to my heart and I always fancied a return. Then in August 2005, Freddy made the bid to Aston Villa and I was always going to say: ‘Yes please Mr Chairman’. Even then Freddy was ambitious. He signed me and Michael Owen on the same day and gave Souness a really good team to work with. Unfortunately it didn’t work out but Freddy had shown the ambition."
"I went to see Freddy at his business Shepherd Offshore a couple of years ago and we had dinner to talk about the good times and playing in the Champions League. You could see it in his eyes even then that he still loved the club and wanted the team to do well."
"The fans at Newcastle feed off ambition. Sadly, you only need to look at the record of Newcastle in this decade and the last one to see that the standards have dipped. Football has changed but if you buy the right players you can compete."
"Newcastle have the right manager in charge now, so they should back him."