King Kevin Nolan in tune with The Toon.
Posted on April 17th, 2010 | 90 Comments |
It’s no less than the players deserve either as questions have continually been asked of them by critics, press and opposing teams. All questions have been answered where they should be, on the pitch, and part of that can be attributed to players such as Kevin Nolan who have stuck their head above the parapet, rolled up their sleeves, stood up and been counted or any other number of cliche’s that can be used. In fact Kevin Nolan has become quite the face of Newcastle United recently, not only for his goal scoring exploits and application on the pitch, but also for his comments and leadership off it. Some of his goals this season have been vital and without them we would not be in the position we find ourselves in today. Leading by example, something not seen since the days when Alan Shearer or Scott Parker donned the black & white stripes with pride and sadly something we missed so badly in our hour of need last season.
How times change, and although we haven’t been playing against the elite of England this season a job has still had to be done. Of course it’s a team game and credit should be shared amongst all the squad, but having individuals such as Nolan in the ranks can only be a good thing. We are now beginning to see signs of the Kevin Nolan that played for Bolton, the one that has clocked up 272 Premier League appearances, played in Europe, in cup finals. Right now it is Newcastle who are benefiting from his experience, although his exploits have not gone un-noticed by neutrals who voted him Championship Player of the Year.
Aside from his goals, all 17 of them, I have been impressed with his all round play. Sure he has had off games, but who doesn’t? And can we really be so critical of a player having a bad game when last seasons megastars were guilty of the very same thing on a much more frequent basis? I don’t think we can, not when he has done so much for the team on the pitch and in the dressing room.
Born leaders are hard to come by, Nolan is one, and when paired with his experience that will stand us in good stead as we prepare to fight for survival in the Premier League next year. Whether leadership and experience will be enough to keep us safe remains to be seen, but one thing I am confident of is that this set of players, led by Nolan, will not give up like that last Newcastle side that occupied the Premier League.
Well done Kevin….. Michael Owen should take note.
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
Just been out to the garden and I’ve just been hit on the head with a lasagne, Black Forest Gateaux and Garlic Baggette… Must be the fallout from Iceland!