Thursday, March 19, 2009

Knee laughing matter

"There is no hiding from the fact injuries have been the bane of my time at Newcastle. It is frustrating, however, and people will probably laugh, but I know I’m not injury-prone." Er, I don't know who these "people" are, Little Saint Mick, but they certainly aren't Newcastle fans.

And to add insult to injury it's all the more galling to hear you confess that it was your own over-eagerness to play for the national side rather than the one that pays your wages that indirectly contributed to the knee injury that kept you out for most of the 2006-7 season: "I’ve then rushed my preparations for the World Cup. I played half-a-game for Newcastle. After being in plaster for so long my leg was de-conditioned and with hindsight, I should never have gone to Germany with England. It’s easy to say that now, but if I had my time again I would still have gone because it was a World Cup. I’m not thinking what could have been, but with hindsight my leg was half as strong as it should have been."

You have to wonder, though - where were the club doctors and medical professionals in all this? If he really wasn't in a fit state to play, then surely someone should have intervened to blow the whistle on his ambitions?

While Little Saint Mick seems to be doing his best to antagonise us fans, his strike partner Obafemi Martins has been buttering us up like a fat lass with a crumpet: "I always say that they're among the best fans ever, people in Newcastle are really good people".

"For the fact that they love me", he said, "I have to share the love as well, I have to love them back. They love me for the job I'm doing". While that's largely true, Oba, we'd love you even more if you and Little Saint Mick were doing your jobs a little bit better. What was that Steven Taylor was saying about taking chances? Given the possibility of us kicking off on Saturday evening in the relegation zone is actually more a probability, he's got a point. Let's hope we have, too, come the final whistle - preferably three...

And finally, Chris Hughton has announced today that ASBO should be back to fitness for our last four or five matches. I could say it's nice to know that when it comes to the crunch we'll at least have someone who's up for a fight - but then you'd already thought of that punchline yourself, hadn't you?
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