Worth A Read: Souness/Kluivert Interview
While browsing this mornings papers I come across a a canny
article in the Daily Express, written by Niall Hickman. Check it out
and notice the lack of cynicism and sly digs at our club...
Graeme Souness has suffered the ultimate indignity for
a snarling snap-at-your-heels Scotsmen - having to admit he is a new
man. The Newcastle manager is no longer the one-man nightmare of old
as fatherhood has changed his outlook not just in football, but life.
His five-year old son James has helped transform Souness from the
hardest man in the game to a gentler, more caring individual. Souness,
whose side take on lowly West Brom today at St. James' Park, said:
"You learn from your mistakes in life and you change as things happen
to you.
"I am 51 years old with a five-year old kid and you have no idea how
much him being there has changed my outlook on life. I am older and
hopefully a bit wiser, but I am also handling the pressure better
due to good medication for my blood pressure.
"My son's favourite player is a certain Newcastle Skipper. The name
Alan Shearer does keep cropping up. I feel very privileged to have
two elder sons and now a young son and it has changed me in many ways,
hopefully for the better."
Souness has enjoyed watching from the sidelines as his resurgent team
have won three matches in a row since Sir Bobby Robson's controversial
sacking. Now he insists his side can return to the top four this season
and reacquaint themselves with the Champions League.
He said: "I see no reason why we cannot get back into the top four
or five. We certainly have the players to do that and although there
will be a few new faces coming into the squad here is an excellent
and undoubtedly one of the best in the Premiership. You only have
to look at the names on our team-sheet to realise that."
One reason for Newcastle's improvement has been Patrick Kluivert's
form, with the Dutchman netting three times in just three starts for
the Magpies. In fact, Kluivert is convinced Newcastle have the best
strike force in the Premiership.
Kluivert said: "The four players we have got at Newcastle in myself,
Shearer, Craig Bellamy and Shola Ameobi are the best in the League.
All four of us know where the goal is and I have been hugely impressed
by my team-mates.
"I didn't know much about Shola but he is going to be a fantastic
player, while Craig Bellamy is amazing in the way that he covers so
much ground. His pace is astonishing, too.
"As for Alan, he is just one of the all-time greats. Even in Holland
they would recognise his name instantly and everyone there knows what
a hero he is in the North-East."
Kluivert may have been considered something of a gamble when he switched
from the Nou Camp to Newcastle this Summer, but the 28-year old has
so far behaved impeccably off the pitch. If Souness can harness his
mercurial talent he could prove a major bargain, even on astronomical
wages, and Kluivert is desperate to prove himself on Tyneside.
He said: "The goals I have already scored have just whetted my appetite
to get more. I want to score as many as possible and get Newcastle
back into the Champions League, where they belong. A club this size
should play in the biggest competition in Europe and that's my job,
along with the other players, to make sure it happens.
"We have some vital games coming up to get our season back on track
and nothing but a victory against West Brom will be good enough."
Newcastle then face a testing trip to Israel in midweek, taking a
2-0 advantage to Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin, but success in Tel Aviv will
see them into the UEFA Cup group stages.
Kluivert said: "We need to concentrate on the West Brom game first
and then move on to Europe, but obviously we want to win the UEFA
Cup.
"We feel we are good enough to go far in the competition, but we have
to back up our hopes with action."
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Shearer, Elliott & Bowyer Looking For Milestones
Today
Alan Shearer will make his 250th Premiership appearance for
Newcastle today at St. James' Park and our No. 9 needs just 2 goals
to make it 350 club career goals. Robbie Elliott will also make his
50th appearance in the Black & White shirt where as Lee Bowyer
needs a brace to make it 50 career League goals. For Shearer to reach
that magical number he will need to do what he did on the 5th of October
2002 - the last time we faced West Brom in the Premiership at SJP.
He grabbed a brace that day and it would take a foolish man to bet
against him doing the same today. Here's hoping...
Shay: Woodgate Sale A Big Mistake
Quotes from Shay Given in today's Journal:
"I still think it was a big mistake to let Woodgate leave. We desperately
needed a top-class replacement for him, but we didn't really have
enough time to find one and so we've been left short in that department.
"We've brought in Ronnie Johnsen and his experience will be
valuable in the short term, but I think everybody knows that we have
been left badly weakened by Woody's departure.
"When the new manager came in he immediately said that was
an area he was looking to strengthen and it has to be our number one
priority in January. If we don't invest in that area I think it is
inevitable that our chances of success will be lessened.
"Robbie Elliott has come in and done superbly well, but if
we get any injuries, even with Ronnie here, we're going to be stretched.
Shay on Souness
"A lot has gone on this season, but it's the nature of the
game that players and managers come and go. I didn't really know what
to expect from the new manager because I didn't know him before he
came here, but I think everyone has been impressed.
"The first thing he has tried to do is make us more resilient.
He felt we'd become a soft touch away from home and we've done a lot
of work on the training pitch to remedy that. It's been different
to the sort of stuff we'd been doing before, but it's been good for
us, as we saw at Southampton last weekend.
"We've got a bit of momentum going now. People seem to forget
that we've got a very good squad here, particularly in terms of strength
in depth. It's only in the centre of defence that we're a bit light,
but everywhere else, there is competition for places.
"This is the best squad we've had since I've been here and
it is definitely capable of winning something this season. The new
manager has brought in some new ideas so we definitely have a chance
of finally getting our hands on some silverware. I've heard people
describe us as a soap opera and it has certainly been an eventful
start to the season.
"But we've won three games in a row and we've risen up the
table. I'm still confident that we can win something, after all, soap
opera's have happy endings sometimes don't they."
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