Meet the former Newcastle captain who admits Magpies release may have been 'best thing' for him

Owen Bailey believes his release from Newcastle United may have been the 'best thing' for him after a 'freak' triple setback derailed his career. The former under-23s skipper has found a 'fantastic' new home across the River Tyne at Gateshead FC, and has rediscovered his love for the game under the tutelage of former Magpies defender Mike Williamson.

Bailey's progress through the ranks with Newcastle was rewarded with a first-team debut under Steve Bruce in the summer of 2019. The boyhood fan had joined the squad on tour in China and made his senior breakthrough as a second-half substitute in a friendly defeat to Wolves.

This would prove to be the high point of Bailey's time with the Magpies as two long-term knee injuries and the Covid-19 suspension sidelined the midfielder for 538 days. The former captain marked his competitive comeback with a dramatic late winner in an under-23s fixture at Norwich City, but months later found himself searching for a new club.

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Bailey swapped life at a Premier League club for the National League North, and has shrugged off any lingering injury concerns to make 38 appearances for the Heed to date. It is not the journey that the central midfielder would have expected a year ago, but it is one that he is 'loving every minute of'.

Bailey told ChronicleLive: "A big thing about going to Gateshead is you come out of the Newcastle sort-of bubble, and everything is all focused around the city, the club, the first-team and everyone is focused on that. Once you come out of it, you open your mind and realise as much as I did love my time at Newcastle and I still love the club, there's more to life than