The Damned United pales next to story of Magpies and Harper
Apr 11 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal
Steve Harper thought he had seen it all at St James’s Park – then his golf partner Alan Shearer returned to lead Newcastle’s survival fight. Mark Douglas reports.
Having worked under so many different managers – Shearer is the fourth this season – Harper is well placed to comment on his impact. Shearer maintained last week that he could not transform the club in such a short space of time but the changes he has made have left an impression.
The players eat with each other now – a tactic borrowed from Sir Bobby Robson. Training is 20 minutes longer and more intense than it was under Chris Hughton, while the players are punished for tardiness and must all take ice baths.
Harper believes it has contributed to a huge change in mentality from the squad. “It has given us a massive lift, yeah,” he said. “The manager is a massive name and very well thought of by the fans here. It’s not that long ago that he was a player and it has given everyone a lift. Iain Dowie (Shearer’s assistant) has come in and done really well, as well. And the training has been really good, the tempo has improved. The sessions are longer and more competitive. We just have to do it on a Saturday afternoon now, and take it into games.”
More difficult for Harper has been calling his old golf partner “gaffer”. He sprinkles the term liberally as he speaks to the Press ahead of the trip to Stoke, but admits it was tricky at first.
“There have been a couple of slips but, yeah, he is the gaffer for seven or eight weeks – whatever it is going to be – and that is the way it is. I’m calling him gaffer – it was hard the first couple of times but it is becoming automatic now,” he said. “He was a player here so knows quite a few of the lads – Michael Owen and Nicky Butt as well. But anyone who thinks we are going to get preferential treatment from him does not know Alan Shearer.”
Harper gave a man-of-the-match performance to keep the score down in the closing stages of last weekend’s defeat to Chelsea, and Newcastle will be hoping for a similarly authoritative display at Stoke today.
Newcastle’s backroom staff have been studying Rory Delap’s missiles all week but the unpredictable trajectory and distance that he applies to those throw-ins is part of what makes them so effective. It means that Harper will have to rely on his wits to combat that threat. “Yes, we have been working on throw-ins. Paul Barron is very thorough and that is a big threat from Stoke. We have done work on Monday and Tuesday and again this morning. We have watched the DVD and will be looking at it again,” he said.
“We have looked into it. Some throws are looping, some are flat, some are in more dangerous areas but you can not go in with a pre-meditated attitude. You have to judge each ball as it comes in, as it takes flight. We are not underestimating Stoke’s home record, but it would be nice for us to impose ourselves on them and that is what we will be trying to do.”
