Andy Griffin was signed from Stoke City by Kenny Dalglish in 1998. Griffin has suffered badly with injuries since joining Newcastle, but has looked to start again with some great displays last season.

England Under-18 and Under 21 international Griffin cost United £1.5m while still a teenager and quickly showed why so many pundits rate him so highly. He played possibly his best game in a black and white shirt against Tottenham in the FA Cup semi final in 1999, marking former Newcastle player David Ginola.

He scored his first Newcastle goal against Arsenal on the last day of the 1999-00 season. In the next season, he made a more encouraging 20 starts for the Toon, plus a further 5 appearances as a substitute, but suffered an injury towards the end of the season which needed a hernia operation to cure his niggling groin problem.

Again, he was left out of the side in 2001-02, but came back the following season to play a key part in United's Champions League campaign, he scored the only goal of the game when Juventus came to town to topple the European Cup finalists, and followed that up with a cracker against Charlton. His defensive duties were more than fantastic for Toon, and the fans will be hoping he can stay injury free and do just as well this season.