A Newcastle legend who survived cancer has made an emotional return to the city – to busk in its streets.
Jonas Gutierrez, 41, was one of the most popular players on Tyneside between 2008 and 2015.
The former Argentina international retired in 2021 five years after returning to his homeland but he has never lost his love for the Magpies.
And so he took to Grey’s Monument in the city centre with nothing but himself and his guitar to light up the streets with his infectious personality.
‘My City, my home. I am a Geordie, I love this city, I love this people,’ he wrote as he shared a video on Instagram.
‘Thanks for everything Newcastle a dream come true playing guitar at the monument.’
Newcastle hero Jonas Gutierrez filmed himself busking in the streets of Newcastle city centre
The larger-than-life personality became a favourite on Tyneside for his energy and character
He spent seven years in the Premier League and Championship before leaving in 2015
After being relegated in his first season in 2008-09, Gutierrez stayed on with Toon and helped them gain immediate promotion back to the Premier League.
He acquired the nickname El Galgo – The Greyhound – for his indefatigable efforts on the field and made a total of 205 appearances for them.
Clearly fans have not lost their love for him, with several chiming in to pay tribute on social media.
‘Had the honour of meeting Jonas a few months ago, what an amazing, but very humble guy. He really is a legend,’ one said on X.
‘What a bloke,’ another said.
‘Gutierrez busking in town today! The man is an absolute legend, and will be remembered forever! Good to see you home Spiderman,’ said one, referring to an old nickname he had from Mallorca.
One wrote on Instagram: ‘Never have I seen a player from any club adopt a city as their home as Jonas has with Newcastle. What player comes back years after playing for a club, to come back and sit in the middle of the city centre and play the guitar? What a guy.’
Fans paid tribute to the adopted Geordie in an avalanche of comments on Instagram and X
‘So many walking past not realising who you are but you’ll always be a Geordie to us Jonas,’ said another.
Gutierrez has previously shared videos of him playing the guitar.
And what’s he up to nowadays? Well, he’s still playing football in his homeland and recently joined amateur Club Las Toninas in Buenos Aires.
He even dispatched a penalty on his debut and celebrated with as much enthusiasm as if he had scored a late winner in front of the Gallowgate End.
Indeed, his passion is one of the things that shone through during his career. At Mallorca, he picked up the Spiderman nickname after watching a film in the series at the cinema and promisinga boy he would celebrate as the character, sneaking a mask onto the pitch in his shorts.
In 2016, Gutierrez won a disability discrimination claim against his old club.
Gutierrez alleged he was frozen out of the first team because of his diagnosis with testicular cancer in 2013.
He said the management ensured he failed to make enough appearances on the pitch to trigger a lucrative one-year contract extension worth up to £2 million.
He celebrates scoring against West Ham in 2015, a win which secured Premier League survival
Gutierrez returned to the side in March 2015 after twice beating testicular cancer
Gutierrez posed with a Newcastle shirt following their promotion in 2017 – after he had left
The tribunal panel, delivering its findings in a 64-page document, said: ‘We concluded that the reason why the respondent managed the claimant’s selection was because they no longer wanted him at the club because of his cancer.’
They added that the club ‘made a very rapid decision’ after Gutierrez’s return following treatment at the end of 2013, ‘that they no longer wanted him, because of his cancer’.
The panel also found there was then ‘a continuing course of conduct’ by Newcastle to ‘remove’ the midfielder from the club.
Gutierrez, currently playing for Defensa y Justicia in Argentina, spent seven seasons with Newcastle after joining the club in 2008, and underwent an operation to remove a tumour in his left testicle in October 2013.
In his statement to the tribunal hearing in Birmingham, the midfielder said he was called into then manager Alan Pardew’s office in early December 2013 – when he felt he was returning to full fitness – to be told that he did not feature in Newcastle’s future plans and was free to agree terms with another club.
Gutierrez, who scored on the season’s final day in 2015 in a win that secured Newcastle their Premier League status, sued his former club for around £2m.
