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 Saturday
13 August 2005 By Richard Huggan
But Jermaine, this was all over two years ago now... Reports in the British media over the last month have singled out Jermaine Jenas as being the unhappiest member of the Newcastle United dressing room. Rumoured interest from Arsenal, Spurs and Manchester United seems to be where this has stemmed from, but there has been silence from the player and a strong denial from his manager that he is looking for a move. At least a £10 million price tag has been placed on his tiny head, an absolute killing for the Magpies if they manage to receive it. For this is a boy still living off the reputation of a goal spree that took place towards the tail end of the 2002/03 season. Just what, exactly, has he done since? In my eyes JJ has been an invisible man for this football club for far too long and has never been made to pay his dues and learn what it is to battle for a first team spot. Sir Bobby Robson could see no wrong with his £5m purchase from Nottingham Forest and constantly selected the youngster come rain or shine, despite protests from the Geordie public. Graeme Souness then arrived and instantly earmarked Jenas as a pivotal member of his squad, going so far as to make him deputy captain. Perhaps it is me in the wrong here, perhaps I cannot see what these “football men” see in Jenas. Can all of these established football managers really be wrong about an individual? What do Bobby, Sven, Graeme, Arsene, Alex, Steve and Martin see in the twenty-two year old that thousands of Newcastle supporters do not? Alright, so he looks good on paper. He is a twenty-two-year-old England international who has captained an established Premiership club and led the England Under-19’s. He is a former PFA Young Player of the Year. He has height, he has pace and he can shoot with both feet (or at least he could two years ago). The lad is supposed to have a very level head and be mature beyond his years, he has been called a future England captain. All well and good, but apart from that spell between January and May of 2003 – when has he lived up to the hype? The season following that one was something of a damp squib. He scored three goals in all competitions from thirty-nine starts and seven substitute appearances as Newcastle stuttered and crawled to a disappointing fifth place finish in the Premier League. Do not forget that JJ started that season in Malaysia with the somewhat infamous "chipped" penalty against Chelsea, though. Perhaps that was a worrying sign of what was to come? Or perhaps something so simple was the catalyst? The Golden Boy of the Quayside had failed for the first time in his career wearing the famous black and white stripes. He was condemned by his manager and by the public alike for such a half-hearted and arrogant display – but after all, it was only a pre-season friendly. The fact that this episode was a prelude to the heart-wrenching Champions League exit to Partizan Belgrade, where JJ was only named as a substitute, may also carry some clues as to his turning into the invisible man. Jenas arrived on the pitch on that fateful night at St. James' Park for Gary Speed at the beginning of extra time and his only contribution was to "miss a sitter" (in the words of the Evening Chronicle) on 106 minutes as he headed a perfect Aaron Hughes cross achingly wide: further reason for JJ to retreat into his shell. However, he did bury his penalty that night as Shearer, Dyer, Woodgate and Hughes missed. What followed that season was the relentless selection of JJ by Robson at the heart of a stuttering United midfield, when it was clear to many that the Nottingham-born starlet should be rested or even just dropped, for his own sake if nothing else. That never happened though and Jermaine and Newcastle faltered badly, ending up doing an end of year "parade" to an almost empty St. James’ Park after an infuriatingly inadequate 1-1 draw with Wolves in the last home game of the season. JJ had a terrible season, quite simply. If that was bad, then things were about to get catastrophic as Nicky Butt, Stephen Carr, James Milner and Patrick Kluivert arrived on Tyneside and Sir Bobby Robson was sacked after an indifferent start to the season. Along came the massively unpopular appointment of Graeme Souness, apparently two days from the sack at Blackburn if rumours in Lancashire are to be believed, and Jenas did not look like getting any better anytime soon. Two goals in all competitions last season is what we got from perhaps the most over-hyped player on our books, two bloody goals, from forty-two starts and six substitute appearances. Not good enough. It is not even as though his general play was anything special over the last two seasons either, discarding his appalling contribution in terms of goals and assists. If you find backwards passing conducive to good football, or twinkle-toed tackles a useful attribute for a central midfielder, then by all means, give us £10 million. Please. Do not worry that he seems to have lost the shooting boots he was wearing in 2003 (perhaps his feet have grown?) or that he also seems to have lost the youthful freedom he used to play his football with, just remember that he is a twenty-two-year-old England international who has captained his club side. Are you seeing what I mean, yet? If Jermaine Jenas was not English, we would struggle to acquire £3m for his signature. If he was exactly the same player in terms of attributes and contribution, just with a different nationality, paying £10m for him would seem like madness – at least based on form. If you are a Tottenham or Arsenal fan, surely you must see that you would be paying £10m for seven goals in 2003 and twelve England caps and nothing else, barring infamous "potential", perfect for Spurs then, one could argue. If you are a Middlesbrough fan, then who are you kidding anyway? Too far North would by my polite dismissal of your apparent interest, but there are other reasons that I could raise, but will not. Perhaps Middlesbrough is too much of a "goldfish bowl", like Newcastle, with it being a one-club city? I mean, am I part of the problem? Are people like me part of the problem? Have we made JJ’s position at this club untenable? Souness says Jenas is unhappy being alone in the public eye in Newcastle. I will not deny that we are fervent supporters of our club, maybe even a little extreme at times, but would it really be that different in London? The fact of the matter is that should JJ remove his finger from a certain orifice, he could be worshipped on the Quayside (and not only by young girls.) It seems to me that like Kieron Dyer, JJ has been found out by the Geordie public, only unlike Dyer, Jenas seems unwilling to change his ways, he would rather just run away. Jermaine Jenas is not a well-liked member of the Newcastle United squad by people who know their football. The young lasses and lads may like him, but the truth of the matter is that the vast majority of us know better by now after learning the lessons of the "Bling Bling Crew". Go to the nightclub Sea or Tiger Tiger on a Monday or Tuesday and you will most likely see at least one of them knocking back some alcopops, perhaps save for the elder statesmen of the group these days. Kieron Dyer was almost ostracised at the beginning of last season, but has since battled to regain public respect by performing on the football pitch. He is still not loved like he should be, and never will be because of his character, but he has begun to turn himself around. JJ could take note of his close friend’s revival if his preferred move to Arsenal or Tottenham does not materialise. For an invisible man to feel trapped in a city the size of Newcastle is ironic indeed. A man who manages to hide with regular success in front of 52,000 football supporters seems to be overwhelmed by the glare of the local press and the watchful eyes of the local people. There is a simple answer to this problem though, save shipping him off to the Big Smoke for a ridiculously high fee, and unsurprisingly the solution lies with Jenas himself. Grow up, shut up and start acting like a professional footballer. While we could do with the money to strengthen some quite frankly desperate areas of our squad (left-back, left-midfield and two strikers are nigh-on essential additions), Jenas also owes it to us to turn himself around and I suppose we owe him another chance, in turn, and Dyer has had enough of those. The lad could be fantastic if he got his head right and I fear that should he move to London then he will become just that, but there is nobody stopping him doing it here other than himself if he is honest with himself. He should banish the excuses of the “goldfish bowl” and of the loneliness, stop going out on the booze and settle down with a nice young girl, get his head right and become the player he should be for this football club. Playing alongside the obvious class of Emre and Parker can only aid this - Souness has put it on a plate for him. Otherwise, he can fly off to the capital for all I care, if we get more than £8 million then fantastic, hopefully the joke will be on Spurs or the Gunners when all is said and done. Lee Bowyer will score more goals and cause more trouble for the opposition anyway, a claim even the fiercest critics of our Cockney firecracker surely could not deny. Time to go? In the end I suppose it is up to Jermaine. We win either way… which makes a nice change. © Richard Huggan
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