Kevin Mbabu reveals how Rangers fans and Jimmy Bell made his 'Newcastle 5' stint worth every minute

Kevin Mbabu has had an unfortunate knack of finding himself at the right club at the wrong time.

His 2012 breakthrough at Servette came just as one of Switzerland’s most successful clubs was spiralling towards bankruptcy for the second time in seven years. The young defender was on the move to Newcastle the following season when there were bleaker times on Tyneside, with the Toon tight in Mike Ashley’s penny-pinching grip.

It was a period when the Sports Direct tycoon also had his mitts on Rangers. If the Newcastle fans had lost faith in the Cockney billionaire’s controversial ownership, their anger was nothing compared to the rage of the Ibrox faithful amid fears their club might never fully recover from their own financial collapse. Mbabu found himself in that fevered environment as one of the infamous ‘Newcastle Five’ back in February 2015.

Interim Gers boss Kenny McDowall was desperate for reinforcements as his rag-tag Championship side prepared to take on Celtic in a League Cup semi-final. But Ashley didn’t send his young Magpies north until the day after Gers had been swatted aside by the Hoops at Hampden.

Even then, of the five only Harris Vuckic made any sort of impact during their six-month stay in Glasgow. Remie Street managed just 45 minutes before pulling his hamstring and Mbabu, Gael Bigirimana and Shane Ferguson all left without even pulling on a first-team jersey.

A colossal waste of time would be a fair assessment from a Rangers perspective. But Mbabu – back at Fulham after returning to Servette last year on loan to help seal their Champions League slot – insists his Gers stint had its uses.

He said: “When I went to Glasgow, it wasn’t the best time in Rangers’ history. But I’ll always remember how