Bambi the 'Super Eagle'?As esteemed colleague, Bowburnmag wrote yesterday, Fenham hitman, Shola Ameobi, wants to follow his dream in the African Nation’s Cup, and possibly even the 2010 World Cup with Nigeria. As that story reported, Ameobi has already represented England at under 21 level no less than twenty times (with seven goals), though his chances of getting into the main squad have always been rated at ‘slim’ to ‘none’. He has also been asked to represent Nigeria before too apparently.
Ameobi said of this:
“In the past, I chose not to so I could concentrate on helping Newcastle.”
On the sudden change of heart though, he quickly added:
“But I have reached a stage in my career where I would love to play international football and realistically it’s not going to happen with England.”
However, on hearing the news of a potential international renaissance for the ‘Fenham Eusebio’, Newcastle United manager, Chris Hughton remarked: (more…)
Toon's 'Three Amigos'.Toon midfield dynamo, Danny Guthrie, has been expressing his admiration for Newcastle United’s ‘Three Amigos’, Jose Enrique, Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez. As Newcastle United prepare for a wet Monday evening at Deepdale in Preston, Guthrie mused on how they have defied the stereotypes about fancy foreign players who aren’t up for a good scrap in the English Championship.
On their spirit, and the so-called ‘English mentality’, Guthrie gushed:
“You might talk about the so-called English mentality, about being able to fight when your back is against the wall and showing strength in adversity,”
“But the foreign lads have also shown plenty of spirit and that’s really good to see. You sometimes hear stories about players who don’t really fancy a battle when they come over to play in this country, but Jose, Jonas and Fabricio have really knuckled down. It would have been easy for them to fob it off once we had been relegated, but they have stayed and they have got on with it.
“People have preconceptions about what foreign players are going to be like and whether they have the stomach for it, but they have been brilliant and haven’t been fazed by anything this season.” (more…)
Big Marlon: Enjoying life in the dressing room.In his most recent interview, on loan Toon assassin, Marlon Harewood, opened his heart on Aston Villa, getting back into form, new strike partner Andy Carroll and the spirit in the Newcastle dressing room under the ‘Chuckle Brothers’ dream team of Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood.
Harewood, who has been under some pressure to perform after a lean spell where he hasn’t been getting much match practice, explained how he finally feels that the cobwebs have finally been blown away, and he is ready to perform for Newcastle United.
Harewood kicked off:
“I do feel as if I’m getting back into the groove.
“It’s nice to be back involved on a matchday again and I can feel myself getting stronger and sharper. I’ve had to get used to the players here but I feel it’s starting to come together. If I can get a few goals as well I think that will help me.”
Moving on to the spirit in the dressing room, and the chance to get in some much needed playing time, Harewood added:
“I couldn’t believe the spirit in the camp. It’s unbelievable. I didn’t expect to come into such a warm environment.
“When you read everything that was going on in the summer, I didn’t expect to find a team which pulls together so well.”
Chris Hughton's roman emperor look.Although much criticism has been levelled at the communication skills of our erstwhile Owner and Managing Director, it isn’t an accusation that could be made about Newcastle United manager, Chris Hughton, recently. The quiet man turned up the volume slightly since his permanent appointment, with the ammunition of recovering from a recent mini-slump and being at the top of the league after 16 games.
Speaking on the team’s fairly recent rocky patch (a couple of defeats preceded by a pair of lacklustre draws), Toon’s Cockney Colossus said:
“I think expectations had got higher and higher after our start to the season, but the little slump was a timely reality check. It reminded everyone that we are not going to simply walk this division. We are not going to run away with it.”
“We have a six-point cushion again and that is good, but we have to maintain our recent form. We have seen how difficult this division is now because we didn’t know too much about it before we actually got into the games. If you look at the season so far, everyone is taking points off each other. (more…)
Loven 'Nice and easy'It has been noticed that Toon’s great Dane, Peter Lovenkrands hasn’t been quite himself recently, with just three starts on the green stuff so far, and nothing much happening when he does cross the line. Yesterday, he revealed a little of the private anguish behind his recent poor form.
Lovenkrands wailed:
“You of course want to play more games, but I have had a few personal family problems lately. And I’ve missed a few games because of these,”
But on a more positive note he added:
“But now things should be back on track, so I can focus on football again.”
“I hope that this will lead to more games that I start, but I will take it nice and easy and see what happens.”(more…)
