Man behaving badly

Perhaps it was because we’ve hardly featured in the papers at all lately, and certainly not as a club to point and laugh at. Perhaps it was because the imminent trip to West Ham and rendez-vous with Messrs Bellamy, Bowyer and Dyer had him reminiscing fondly and determined to resurrect our bad boy reputation of yore. Perhaps it was because he’s been spending time with an ex-con team-mate for whom assault is a hobby.

Whatever the reason, a pat on the back and gold star are due to Andy Carroll for upholding a fine tradition of Newcastle players publicly disgracing themselves, having earned himself a police caution for assaulting a woman near the Bigg Market on 14th September.

Given the opportunities Ameobi’s had of late, and the way he’s been playing, Carroll can’t exactly have been excelling himself on the training pitch either...