Dwight Gayle lifts lid on Newcastle United exit and his debt to Eddie Howe for valuable insight

Dwight Gayle played his part in Newcastle United history during a critical debut season in 2016/17 then watched on as the world around St James' Park changed dramatically overnight after the Saudi-backed takeover - quite literally.

After so many false dawns, Newcastle players could not quite believe that the 2021 takeover had gone through and Gayle and his team-mates wanted to see the raw emotion of success-starved fans for themselves.

Gayle was on the team sheet in Mike Ashley's last game as owner, a painful 2-1 defeat against Wolves, before the October international break in 2021 resulted in fans celebrating and drinking cans on the street and United players driving around the streets in sheer disbelief as supporters celebrated like they'd won a trophy. Gayle will be part of a group that helped haul the Magpies from the Championship and taking on teams like Burton and Barnsley, to being part of a club that suddenly found themselves talking about winning titles and signing Kylian Mbappé.

Gayle didn't know it then but by that time he'd scored the last of his 34 goals for the Magpies, however, he would witness the arrival of Amanda Staveley, PIF and the Reuben family from close quarters.

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His time at Newcastle was coming to an end, but even now Gayle could not be more grateful for an unexpected crash course in Eddie Howe's coaching, a crammed period of new ideas, philosophies and lessons that he deems so good, he wants more of it. The truth is Gayle could still be a Newcastle player now with his contract status when Howe arrived set to run until this summer.

Instead, a grown-up conversation was had between Howe and Gayle and he was allowed to leave on a free transfer to join Stoke City in summer 2022. But there was no animosity between the pair and Gayle's only wish now is to one day learn more from one of the English game's most highly-rated bosses.

Speaking about how his time at Newcastle came to an end for the first time, Gayle told Chronicle Live: "I have nothing but admiration for Eddie. I loved working with him.

"Even though I didn't get to play as much, he was definitely one of my favourite managers, I feel like if I continue into coaching or management myself, I will take so much from Eddie tried to instil into the group.

"What he tried to instil in training sessions, I absolutely loved. Eddie is somebody who is always thinking and trying to work out what he's coaching and what he is working towards."

Howe made it clear he was not "pushing" Gayle towards the exit door and has respect for the number 9 who helped blast Newcastle out of the Championship in 2017, a promotion that supporters will hopefully feel will be their last taste of second tier football.

Looking back on his emotional exit, Gayle, who has three children all born on Tyneside and kept his house in the city because he enjoyed it that much, said: "The only frustration for me was not playing a bit more. It came to a point where I wasn't playing and I was looking to move on.

"I said to him: 'I appreciate everything you have done for me, but I think it's best for me to move'. Eddie said that he thought that was the case as well, he said I'm not pushing you but you aren't going to play as much, so it's best both parties go separate ways and that's how it ended.

"Overall, I loved it in Newcastle really. The North-East people are so polite, they come up and speak to you and make you feel at home.

"I really enjoyed my time there. The place is so football related, you love that as a player and I felt that the whole city was right behind us. You could feel it throughout each season."

Gayle's move to Stoke proved to be a testing experience that would result in him leaving earlier this year by mutual agreement. The 34-year-old striker is hoping to win promotion with his new club Derby County after signing a deal with the Rams mid-season.

His legacy on Tyneside isn't just his goals. His most famous strike arguably came against Barnsley with his celebration a cheeky nod to the "going up, going down" song from the 2016/17 campaign.

When Gayle was a player at United he, along with Paul Dummett, Matt Ritchie and Rob Elliot, set up their own coaching academy in the area. The former striker was eager to put something good back into the area and it is still paying dividends for youngsters now.

The sessions were launched in 2017 and are still going strong now and are renowned for youngsters not only learning top tips from Premier League stars, but also having fun in a professional environment.

The old coaching guard of Gayle, Dummett, Ritchie and Elliot are still involved in the academy but are focused on different footballing missions. In what now looks like the famous Back to the Future picture, with characters fading in and out from time to time, only Dummett and Ritchie remain at Benton but Elliot is doing a grand job at Gateshead as boss and Gayle is hoping to fire Derby back to the Championship.

Gayle said: "It's still going. Rob Elliot has branched off and doing great things with Gateshead who are flying at the moment. He's pushing towards promotion and hopefully he can be successful. I'm sure Matty (Ritchie) will get involved with coaching in the future and I'm sure he will play a part with Eddie somehow because they've got such a good relationship.

"Like myself, Matty really enjoys Eddie's approach to coaching. So I am sure if I can work as hard as Rob and Matty all three of us will be coaching at some point."

Gayle remains a player for now and wants to keep going as long as he can but a career in coaching seems to be the natural progression for the centre-forward who has netted 138 career goals.

When asked about coaching in the future, Gayle said: "I am sure at some point I'd love to get back up the road to get more insight into what goes into training. The training sessions under Eddie Howe were fun and created a great environment.

"Every player spoke about that themselves and I know Eddie reads a lot of books. There is a lot of mental stimulus and psychology that goes into it too. That is obviously something that can improve you. Eddie has done very well and I enjoyed it and a lot of the players feel that way as well."

For now, Gayle is focused on life at Derby County, a new challenge but the goals have followed him to Pride Park with three to his name in just five starts for Paul Warne's side. He reflected: "Derby are a great club, they've obviously been through some difficult times but they seem to be in a good place at the moment.

"The move came about because they had a few injuries and were missing some strikers. It was almost like an emergency signing and they were allowed to do it. I was struggling to find a club to be honest. Obviously, with FFP nobody is spending any money at all, almost not spending anything, so it was quite a stressful time for me.

"There was lots of people and clubs talking, and then almost disappearing. It was difficult for me so when Derby came in I jumped at the opportunity and I am really excited to get started."

"When things have not gone well, you appreciate the good moments even more. It definitely felt like that and now I am looking to savour every moment if I can. I want to just enjoy it for what it is. It is not going to last forever and while it is going good you just want to enjoy it."

Look out for the second part of the Dwight Gayle exclusive in which he talks about life under Rafa Benitez and Steve Bruce.