IT started with a dramatic 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in 2008, ended with Sunday’s crucial 2-0 win over West Ham, and contained more highs and lows than a fairground ride at The Hoppings. When Jonas Gutierrez looks back over his seven-year career at Newcastle United, even he cannot believe the extent of the emotional turmoil he has been through.

From lifesaving chemotherapy to survival-securing goals, Championship promotion battles to the despair of the drop, Gutierrez has experienced the vast range of feelings that passes for normality when it comes to the Magpies.

Signed from Real Mallorca at a time when Newcastle were still dipping their toes into the continental market, he left St James’ Park after his final game on Sunday as a firm fans’ favourite.

For the majority of a fraught afternoon, the Magpies support serenaded the 31-year-old with a fervour that is reserved for the handful of players to have achieved cult status at a club where legends endure through the ages. It might have been a horrendous season on Tyneside, but at least Gutierrez ensured it finished with a heart-warming flourish.

“Of course this has been a really big part of my life,” said the Argentinian, who has accepted he will not be offered a new contract when his current deal expires next month. “It has been seven years, and when I was younger, I wanted to spend a long time at one club. I came here, and seven years later, here I am.

“Not many players stay that long at one club, and I am proud to have been able to do that. I have not been able to play that much in my last two years because of my illness, but apart from that period, I have really enjoyed playing here.

“One of the best things has been the way the fans treated me, and it was amazing to be able to finish like that. There have been a lot of ups and downs over the seven years, but I have really enjoyed it and, as a player, I have always tried to do my best. You can have bad games and good games, but you always have to try your best.”

On the field, Gutierrez has seen his status transformed from exciting, if unpredictable, winger, to experienced old head holding things together at the heart of midfield and providing a valuable alternative option at left-back.

On Sunday, he reverted to his former role, surging down the left wing to provide the cross that enabled Moussa Sissoko to open the scoring and cutting in adeptly to drive home the 85th-minute goal that confirmed Newcastle’s survival.

That is how he will be remembered by the Magpies support, although sadly his on-pitch exploits have been overshadowed by the successful battle against testicular cancer that has dominated his personal life in the last 12 months.

This time last year, Gutierrez was about to embark on a life-saving course of chemotherapy that hospitalised him for lengthy periods and led him to question whether he would ever be able to walk again, let alone play football.

When players talk about having to overcome challenges in order to pursue their dream, they are usually referring to the everyday hurdles that seem so significant at the time, but which can ultimately be overcome with little alarm.

With Gutierrez, it is different. When he talks about football not being a matter of life or death, he is not merely paying lip service to some hoary old cliché. For him, mortality is not something to be bandied around lightly.

“When I was having the treatment, all I was thinking about was my recovery and getting better,” he said. “In those moments, the last thing on your mind is playing football again.

“It is only when the doctor says you are okay that you can start your life again. I started to think, ‘Oh well, let’s see what happens’, but even then I didn’t know how my body was going to react when I started training again.

“One day, I did a two-minute run, then the next day it was four. And so on. By the end, I was able to do a marathon too!

“The doctor told me the fact I was a footballer and fit already was a big help to being able to recover and come back. When you train all the days all year, your body has a memory of being well and fit. My body felt sorry for itself for a couple of days, but then it got stronger.”

The improvement enabled Gutierrez to return to England last November, and in March, he came off the substitutes’ bench against Manchester United to make what was, in effect, a second debut for the Magpies.

His return coincided with the dreadful run that saw Newcastle fail to win in ten successive games under John Carver, and having accepted that his time on Tyneside is up, the South American is able to reflect on the last few months with a candour that is not available to most of his team-mates.

“This club needs to change,” he said. “It has to improve and move forward. My thought is that this club has to fight in the top ten – that has to be the target for this club, no less than that.

“That has to be the change for the future. We have to learn about this season, the mistakes that we have been making here, and make sure we don’t do it again.

“I have finished my contract, but whatever happens now, I will always be a fan. I have Colo (Fabricio Coloccini) here, who is a very good friend, and I discuss this club with him a lot. I say it one more time, this club and this city deserves to fight in the top ten.”