The sense of loss in Newcastle at the death of Ivory Coast midfielder Cheick Tiote has been reflected by over 1,000 Newcastle United fans signing a petition to have his shirt number of 24 retired the BBC reported Wednesday.
Tiote -- who was a member of the Ivory Coast squad that ended a 23 year drought winning the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations -- died on Monday after 'suddenly fainting' during a training session with his second tier Chinese club Beijing Enterprises.