Archive for tag: Richard Akenhead.

The Mackem behind Newcastle United’s current success.

October 20th, 2011 | 86 Comments |

Richard Akenhead.
Richard Akenhead: Building superhuman Magpie machines.
When you look at Newcastle United’s great start to the Premier League campaign, it certainly isn’t due to some great tactical masterstroke. We have been playing the same old 4-4-2 with lots of endeavour down the flanks and a pretty high pace, much like many other Premiership teams.

However, one of the things which has been very noticable are the great fitness levels and work rate put in by the lads throughput the games, and a significant part of this may be due to a student from Northumbria University and his PhD research project, which has been part funded by Newcastle United.

Sunderland born Black Cat’s supporter, Richard Akenhead, is a PhD student at Northumbria University who has been using the latest technology including “GPS” (Global Positioning System) and miniture accelerometers to help build Steve Austin like superhuman football machines who can run faster and longer. The fruits of this work now seem to be showing, with both Newcastle’s midfield and defence currently being ranked as the most hard working in the Premiership in terms of distance covered during matches. Newcastle United midfielder, Yohan Cabaye was recently named as the most hard working player in the Premiership after covering a distance of 83.5km over our first seven games, or 128.9 metres per minute. Since the Tottenham game that figure is now 95.1 km according to the Premier League Index. (more…)