Habib is happy to be out of Africa

Feb 9 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

HABIB Beye is delighted to return to a potential relegation battle with Newcastle United as it will be far more rewarding than his African Nations Cup experience with Senegal.

Despite being one of the pre-tournament favourites, Senegal were knocked out of the competition in the group stage amid reports of in-fighting and bitter internal politics.

It is a fractious and hostile picture backed up by Beye (pictured below), who insisted Senegal were doomed to fail because of poor team spirit and a lack of collective will.

As a result, despite finding a new manager at Newcastle and a team sliding perilously close to the relegation battle below them, Beye cannot wait to resume his United career against Aston Villa today.

“It was not a good experience at the African Cup of Nations, we went out in the first round and we did not play together,” said a clearly annoyed Beye. “It doesn’t matter if we had a lot of good players, we didn’t have a good team. There was no team spirit and no togetherness. Everyone knew before the tournament there was a problem in the squad. We had young players and old players and there was a problem between the two. We didn’t play together at all and it was not a happy place to be.

“I was very happy to go to the African Cup of Nations and join the Senegal squad, I was looking forward to it, but I knew we had problems in the two friendly games before the tournament. The spirit was no good and we lost to Angola 3-1 in our second game, that made it too difficult to qualify. We should have done a lot a better, but you cannot play if the team is not together.

“Because it was so miserable playing for Senegal it was a big relief to come back here to Newcastle and to be able to play for my team-mates again.”

Since Beye left for Africa, United have failed to win a single league game and have been knocked out of the FA Cup. In that time, the manager who signed him, Sam Allardyce, has also been sacked and the confidence in the side has been destroyed, despite the arrival of Kevin Keegan.

“It makes me very happy to be back here, but we must change results,” said Beye, who is expected to come straight back into the side to replace Stephen

Carr at right-back against Villa. “We have some very big games now because we need points badly before we can feel comfortable.

“We need to stay in the Premiership, we are low in confidence and we need to start winning games or we are going to be in trouble. That’s the most important thing now.

“It’s strange coming back and Sam has gone. I came to Newcastle because of Sam, I signed for him, but that’s football sometimes. There is a new manager here now and that’s all that matters. Kevin Keegan is a legend at Newcastle, he did a good job here before and we need to help him do that again. I was away with Senegal when I found out about Sam and I was very disappointed. I think we, the players, have to take some responsibility for that.”

And Beye has already been impressed with Keegan’s impact on the training ground as arguably Allardyce’s best signing looks to prove he still has a future on Tyneside.

He added: “Training is a little different under Kevin, but it doesn’t really matter. I am here to work, do my best for Newcastle and I will help Kevin Keegan as much as I can.

“I came back to training on Monday and I spoke with Kevin straight away. He said he was happy to see me and that he was looking forward to working with me. He makes everyone feel confident and relaxed and we need that because it’s very important we start winning games because we need points. If you don’t have confidence it’s difficult to play.”

Following his miserable African Cup of Nations tournament, rumours have been circulating that Beye has decided to retire from international football at the age of 30.

But he said: “People have said that I have stopped playing for Senegal, but I never said that. All I’ve said is that I’m very disappointed at what happened. All that is important to me at this time is coming back to Newcastle. I will think about what I am going to do about playing for Senegal later.”

NIGEL Pearson has become the first major casualty of the second Kevin Keegan era at Newcastle United last night as he left his position as assistant manager.

Keegan promised not to make any hasty decisions on the future of the extensive backroom staff he inherited from Sam Allardyce, but after four games he has dispensed with the former Middlesbrough skipper.

Pearson came to the club as Glenn Roeder’s assistant in October 2006 after a spell as caretaker manager of West Bromwich Albion.

The 44-year-old’s coaching expertise also saw him appointed assistant to Stuart Pearce with the England Under-21 squad last season, but he had privately feared he would have to leave St James’s Park following Allardyce’s sudden departure.