Skipper Alan Smith "No Holds Barred"
talking to The Chronicle
“I am just glad to be part of that dressing room, as it is as tight as it ever been since I have been here. Hopefully, we can make a good start against West Brom tomorrow. The players in there have a hunger and a desire to get us back to where we feel, as a team, we should be. You don’t get anywhere on reputations. There are going to be hard games this season, like going to Barnsley on a damp Saturday afternoon and Scunthorpe on a wet Tuesday night, and over Christmas it will be difficult. They are the games I call muck and nettles – they are the games which win you league titles. We know the fans will stick by us through thick and thin if we show passion every week. There is no doubt the ability’s there in the squad. We just have to focus on our jobs, knowing it is going to be very difficult. We have to make sure we have the right attitude and right frame of mind every time we go out on that pitch.
You know, as a football player, they will support you through thick and thin. There were 17,000 people there for the friendly against Leeds, which was a great crowd after what happened on the previous Saturday against Leyton Orient. We are not silly. We understand what our responsibilities are to the team as individuals. If we can show commitment, passion and good football, we will be all right. The clash with Orient is still a sore point among fans, especially the 1,500 who travelled to East London two weeks ago. Smith says: I don’t really know what happened – everyone was left scratching their heads. We put it to the back of our minds, and we should have won by four or five. It was one of those things. Sometimes, in the face of adversity, people stand up to be counted, and sometimes it helps in the long run. I am sure that result against Leyton Orient will help us long-term.
It is going to be an interesting season. I am sure there will be plenty of ups and downs, and it is one I can sincerely say the lads in that dressing room are looking forward to. Any player will tell you pre-season is pre-season. You want to win games, but come tomorrow we need to be ready for the real action.”
The Skipper "We Need The Fans"
Alan Smith said to nufcTV
"We need the fans more than ever - especially in the face of adversity. We want to show the fans how much this football club means to us and we want to stick together as a team. There are 15, 20 lads in that dressing rooms who are determined to get back into the Premier League. But we've got to get used to battling and grafting because every team coming to Newcastle, and for every team facing us, it'll be like a cup final for them. The dressing room is as close as it's ever been since I've been here, which is what we need through a difficult season. We'll need every player, we'll need the young lads as well and we'll need to support each other as we go along. All we are focussed on now is August 8 and getting off to the best possible start."
United sale is on verge of collapse
A well written article by Luke Edwards of The Journal read it here
Steven Taylor Insight
“I’ve read every week that Alan Shearer is going to be named manager. Then Joe Kinnear is going to get the job, then Kevin Keegan and then Alan again. I don’t get it. It’s a joke. The players are very frustrated because all we want to do is have a manager and a bit of stability. That’s all we ask for. The new manager should be given time to do things his way and, if he wants something, just give it to him. The chairman, if he loves the football club — not as a business, but as a club — would do that. I’m devastated that Alan hasn’t got the job. We haven’t got a clue what’s going on.
We’re taking responsibility. Who is going to help us? Relegation has brought us closer together. Last year, we probably thought we were too good to good to go down. It was boring around the place. It just felt dead. There was no life until people realised we could get relegated.
Until Alan took charge, we didn’t have meetings. People would walk into the changing rooms and out on to the training pitch and I wouldn’t see some lads until we were out there. Now we mix for an hour or so before we go out. We feel more humble and we didn’t have that last year.
Now, if set-pieces aren’t right, we practise until they are. Last season, it was almost a case of thinking ‘they’ll be okay on Saturday’ . They weren’t. Maybe it was a lack of leadership. We have to hold our hands up, admit our mistakes and put them right. There’s no big ‘I am’. We are Championship players. It feels like us against the world. Who will give the motivational talk before kick off? It depends which players are left."
Habib Beye Signs for The Villa
Beye, 31, has signed a three-year deal at Villa Park. Fans favourite has gone which is a shame as Habib was during his two years on Tyneside one of the few players one felt gave his all.