Shola’s Chuckle Brothers plea to Ashley.
Posted on August 17th, 2009 | No Comments |
Speaking in the afterglow of his hat-rick demolition of Reading on Saturday, which he dedicated to his mentor, the late, great Sir Bobby Robson, Shola said:
“Chris and Colin have done some fantastic things in what is an impossible situation” adding “If the owner doesn’t sell the club we’ve got two guys there who we believe in.”
“There’s been a lot of turmoil upstairs and it’s something we as players can’t do anything about. All I have seen is that the lads really respect Chris and Colin. It’d be great to have a manager but if that doesn’t happen we have got two guys there who can lift us and get us winning games to get back into the Premier League. I’ve seen a response. Even players you’d assume wouldn’t want to be here.”
“The sky’s the limit this season in the Championship and, regardless of what’s going on upstairs, it’s not a matter of hiding behind excuses,”
The Fenham hitman continued:
“Every time Chris has come in before has been when a manager has left or we’re not playing well. In that situation it’s difficult for a manager to set out his stall in terms of how he wants to play.
“This season Chris has been there from the start and has been able to instil in us the way he wants to play and the type of characters he wants in the club.
“Chris and Colin have said that we’re professionals and we have to do a job. We want to do the best we can regardless of what’s going on upstairs and that’s galvanised us. We need to stand up and be counted.
“Fingers crossed I’ll be injury-free. I can shoot us back into the Premiership.”
Hughton meanwhile, paid a tribute of his own to the West End assassin in a general ‘love-in’ atmosphere at SJP.
The manager said of Ameobi:
“There’s no doubt he’s a good player and he showed his quality against Birmingham. It’s well documented that his form has been up and down here at times and, of course, he’s had some injury problems, but there’s no doubt about his quality. We’re getting used to every day somebody being mentioned (leaving) in the Press but there’s been no interest in him that I know of. There’s no doubt that he had a big (hip) operation and an unusual one in footballing terms that hindered his progress.
“But I can only speak for the period of time I’ve been here. We’ve experienced a team that didn’t do well enough to stay in the Premier League and Shola falls into that category the same as everybody else. His form was up and down last season.”
Speaking on the manager’s role at St James’s Park, and continued speculation regarding fellow ‘Spurs old boy, Joe Kinnear, he added:
“I’d be happy to do this job for as long as I’m asked to do it,”
“As for Joe (Kinnear) coming back – I haven’t heard anything. I’ve spoken to him because I worked with him and he had an operation of course, it’s normal I’d ring him to see how he is.
“I certainly haven’t been told anything to that effect (that he’s coming back). I have spoken to him, asked him how things are and he’ll ask how things are here. But I’ve most definitely not spoken to David O’Leary.”
Before joining Newcastle United, Hughton was a much admired coach at Tottenham, enjoying a short, but largely successful spell as caretaker manager in 1998, and another one for just one game. More recently he was an assistant to Martin Jol at ‘Spurs, when they took the club from their usual mid-table mediocrity to two successive fifth place spots in the Premiership.
Hughton’s assistant, Colin Calderwood, another ex ‘Spurs player, has previously been manager at Northampton Town and Nottingham Forest, where he enjoyed a great run of form and promotion to the Championship. However a disappointing start to their Championship campaign led to Calderwood being dismissed on 26th December, 2008.
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