Newcastle
Await 5th Round Draw
Newcastle's comfortable victory over
Coventry City yesterday has secured our place in the draw tomorrow
afternoon. The Premiership sides have emerged relatively unscathed,
with all the current 'top 4' sides in the draw.
Newcastle and Hartlepool are the only representatives of the
North-East in the draw, although Hartlepool face a replay against
Brentford.
The numbers for the draw are:
1 Derby County or Fulham
2 Manchester United
3 Blackburn Rovers
4 Chelsea
5 West Ham United or Sheffield United
6 Bolton Wanderers
7 Arsenal
8 Everton
9 Nottingham Forest
10 Brentford or Hartlepool United
11 Leicester City
12 Burnley
13 Southampton
14 West Bromwich Albion or Tottenham Hotspur
15 Newcastle United
16 Charlton Athletic
The draw is live on BBC2 and Radio 5 Live from 1.30pm. Ties
to be played on the weekend of 19th/20th February.
Shepherd
Has A Pop At Sir Bobby
Chairman Freddy Shepherd has blamed
Souness' fall-out with Bellamy on Sir Bobby Robson and also
criticised our former manager for sticking his oar in over his
recent comments.
Shepherd said:
"Graeme Souness has been unfairly blamed for what has happened
in the past week.
"But the seeds of the Craig Bellamy situation
were sown before he arrived at the club.
"Many of the problems Graeme is having to deal with are down
to the way the previous manager handled discipline.
"If Sir Bobby Robson had taken a harder line, I am convinced
we would not be facing this situation.
"Sir Bobby Robson had no business commenting on Bellamy last
week and making allegations about what he thought had happened
in the dressing room.
Oh the seeds were sown much much earlier...
Meanwhile Sir Bobby defended his recent comments about the events
of last week, saying:
"It's Graeme Souness' team now and, like every manager, he
has the right to make his decisions and stand or fall by his
results.
"That's fine but you can't rewrite history and say I'm to blame
for the latest row because I chose to use different methods."
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Bellamy:
GS Didn't Like My Style From Day 1
Quotes attributed to Craig Bellamy,
published in the News of the World.
"When Graeme Souness leaves Newcastle I would walk back to
the club - that's how much it means to me.
"I have been accused of being a disruptive influence and being
difficult to work with.
"But you ask Mark Hughes, Sir Bobby Robson, Bruce Rioch or Gordon
Strachan about me. I never had any problem with them.
"I have only ever had a real problem with this man (Souness).
"It started from day one when he came in and told me in front
of all the rest of the lads he didn't like my style of play.
"He said in front of everyone I am not a striker because I cannot
hold the ball up.
"He made it clear he did not see my as 'the man'. And from then,
little by little, I felt that he had been chipping away at me.
I'm not stupid.
"If you are not liked you know from the start that's the case.
I feel Souness wanted me out from the start and it looks like
he has got his way.
"I would say there was a conflict of personalities. But all
I ever wanted was to win things with Newcastle.
"If I do leave I would love to go back to Newcastle when Souness
goes.
"In fact, I would walk there. I would pay my own expenses -
that is how much the club means to me.
"But I still do not know if I will be leaving.
"No one from the club told me about Birmingham's interest and
the first I found out about it was on Sky Sports. I still don't
know if I will accept the offer from them.
"If things do not work out with that move then I will stay at
Newcastle.
"The manager has said I will not play for him again and that
doesn't surprise me after everything which has gone on.
"Maybe I will have to sit in the background and see if there
is a change of manager before I get a chance to play for Newcastle
again.
"This has been a stressful week for me. A lot has happened and
it looks like I have had my dream of bringing success to Newcastle
taken away from me.
"I have been badly treated. I have been training on my own and
none of the professionals have been allowed near me.
"This has been the hardest week of my entire career. I have
had problems with injuries and felt homesick in the past but
nothing has come close to the way I have been feeling this week.
"Have I had any support from my team-mates? That is a hard one
because they cannot say anything because that would have caused
problems for them.
"If someone asked me: 'Was I out of the first-team because of
my reputation?', then I would say: 'Yes, I think I was'. But
everyone has opinions and they are all different.
"Am I annoying? Maybe I am. But that is only because I expect
certain standards in training and in games. If those standards
are not maintained I will let people know. Maybe that's why
things have turned out the way they have?
"But I want to make it clear to the supporters all I ever wanted
to do was to win a trophy for this football club. If I was not
good enough as a player or person then I would accept that.
But I don't think that is the case.
"I set myself targets and I'm annoyed they are not going to
be recognised now. The fact I may be leaving here and those
targets have been taken away from me makes me feel awful.
"Steve Bruce is a Geordie and it's ironic he could have been
my boss instead of Souness. But that is all I'm going to say
about it.
"I hope the club win the FA Cup for the fans because they are
the best in the business.
"If Souness brings them a trophy then fair play to him - it
would be fantastic and I would celebrate that achievement.
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