‘HE JUST FAINTED’
Club grieve for Cheick
CHEICK TIOTE’S family are flying to China in an attempt to find out more about his shock death.
His club, Beijing Enterprises, released a statement giving more details about what happened to the 30-year-old former Newcastle star.
But the cause of his death has not been revealed, with a post-mortem yet to take place.
According to the club, Tiote was training with his team-mates when he “fainted without any warning”.
The midfielder was rushed to hospital but doctors were unable to revive him and he died at 7pm local time on Monday.
Praise
A Beijing spokesman said: “Since joining the team, he had made an outstanding contribution and won praise from the club, the coaching team and his team-mates with his superb skills and professionalism.
“Beijing BG Football Club expresses our deepest sorrow following his passing.”
Tiote, a Muslim observing ® Ramadan, had been with Beijing since February after ending a six-and-a-halfyear stay on Tyneside. Tributes to the popular Ivory Coast international continued to flood in. Former Newcastle boss Steve McClaren, who worked with Tiote at Dutch side FC Twente before linking up with him at St James’ Park, said: “He was the kind of player everyone wants in their team. “He wanted to win every game, kick every player and win every tackle.” The man who brought Tiote to England, current Brighton boss Chris Hughton, revealed that when he first arrived at Newcastle, he had to tell him to ease up in training because he was so competitive. “He trained every day like he was playing a game,” Hughton (left) said. “I remember when he first came, we had to calm him down. “Cheick was a very quiet and humble lad who went on to have a wonderful career at Newcastle. “For what we wanted at the time, he was the perfect fit.”