Premiership club Wolverhampton Wanderers have admitted that they are taking a massive gamble by signing Carl Cort for £2m.
Cort managed a total of just 28 appearances during his three-and-a-half-year stay on Tyneside as a series of niggling injuries wrecked his chances of becoming a success at St James's Park.
Nevertheless, the former England Under-21 international is still admired by many within the game, mainly from the memory of his achievements at Wimbledon and in his first season at Newcastle, in which he scored seven goals in 15 games, following his £7m from the Dons.
But Wolves chairman Rick Hayward, who took over from his benefactor dad, Jack, last year, revealed yesterday that the board had been split on whether to hand manager Dave Jones the money to end his Magpie nightmare.
Nevertheless, after the 26-year-old passed a rigorous medical examination lasting 48 hours, Hayward is backing Cort to be a big success at Molineux.
He explained: "We have been watching him for a long time and it was not a unanimous decision on the board.
"My father and various other people were questioning it but you have to do your homework beforehand.
"Carl has gone through rigorous testing. I met him a few days ago and chatted to him and I believe he is a good signing. He did well for Wimbledon, but a number of things went wrong for him at Newcastle. Carl is still only 26, is big and we need players like that up front."
Meanwhile, United's African striker Tresor Lomana Lua Lua has hitback at Sir Bobby Robson's claims that he should have stayed on Tyneside rather than play in the African Nations Cup.
And the former Colchester star, who is captain of Congo, blamed his lack of sharpness in his country's 2-1 defeat to Guinea on Sunday on the fact he has not been given a fair crack of the whip in the Premiership this season.
He said: "Everyone can see I wasn't that sharp.
"But it's a great honour to play for my country and I don't care what people at Newcastle think."
