TOON legend Malcolm Macdonald has a blunt message for Liverpool cast-off Andy Carroll: There’s no place for you back at St James’ Park.
Instead, Supermac reckons the England striker – seemingly surplus to requirements under Brendan Rodgers at Anfield – should head down the M1 for a fresh start at West Ham.
Macdonald argues that at Upton Park, Carroll would soon hit top form playing under a manager who knows him well from their time together on Tyneside, Sam Allardyce.
Kop boss Rodgers seems hell-bent on holding out for a decent fee for the lanky hitman, saying last week: “I would need to be a nutcase to let Carroll go out at this moment.”
And a return to the club which sold him to the Reds for £35million is a non-starter, according to the man who rifled 95 Magpies goals in 187 games in the 70s.
Macdonald told the Daily Star Sunday: “No. Never. It just doesn’t work going back a second time. Once you have divorced your missus you don’t go back and marry her.”
Supermac points to the superb strike partnership between Demba Ba and fellow Senegal international Papiss Cisse.
He said: “I can think of only one exception to the rule that it never works the second time around and that’s with Peter Beardsley going back to Newcastle.
“It has never worked for anyone else – and it certainly won’t in Andy’s case.
“Sure, I feel sorry for the lad. But what he needs to do is find his own way – and that shouldn’t lead him back to Tyneside. Andy has got too many bad habits back in Newcastle. It would be too easy to fall back into the traps we all know about.
“Don’t go back in time, Andy. It doesn’t happen. It doesn’t work. Your time at Newcastle has gone.”
Macdonald added: “West Ham is the place for him. Big Sam knows the lad and he’ll welcome him at a different club. It can work when you meet up again with an old manager.
“Look at Brian Clough. He selected certain players who had been with him at Derby and took them to Nottingham Forest. Same boss, new club.”
Supermac can sympathise with Carroll’s out-in-the-cold position at Liverpool but knows from past experience that he cannot linger where he is obviously not wanted.
He said: “There comes a time when it has all gone sour and both club and player have to cut their losses.
“Liverpool, and in particular Rodgers, don’t want Andy moping around the place.
“But Newcastle won’t give him that fresh challenge. That’s the last place for him to go and, quite frankly, they don’t need him anyway.”
