Hughton confident United won't sell on deadline day

Aug 31 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

CHRIS Hughton is confident he will not lose any more players on transfer deadline day following the 1-0 win over Leicester City which moved the Magpies to the top of the Championship.

A stunning strike from Danny Guthrie was enough to take all three points against the Foxes and Hughton was full of compliments for the manner in which they saw off a spirited Leicester side.

But it is the news from United’s caretaker manager, who confirmed his interest in re-signing free agent Peter Løvenkrands, that no more players will be sacrificed to balance the books which will please supporters this morning.

United have also been heavily linked with Manchester United youngster Darren Gibson and The Journal understands he could also move to the North East this afternoon.

Hughton said: “I am hopeful that we will bring in one or two players and I’m even more confident that none of the present squad will be leaving us. Peter is one we are interested in, but I can’t say any others.

“We have good players here and it’s only right the young lads are given an opportunity in this squad because they deserve it.

“But we need some players in before 5pm because we realise that the squad is not strong enough to compete for the whole season. The club are aware of that.

“Once we have injuries, the squad is going to be stretched. (Fabricio) Coloccini was missing against Leicester, Jonás (Gutiérrez) has a hamstring problem and will be out for four weeks and Shola Ameobi has a stress fracture in his foot which needs to be monitored.”

United’s fans – almost 40,000 turned up at St James’s Park last night – sang the name of their caretaker manager for the first time in recognition of the sterling job he and first-team coach Colin Calderwood have done in such arduous circumstances.

But Hughton is uncomfortable with the praise and quickly diverted it back in the direction of the players, who have bonded so tightly in adversity.

He said: “The credit goes down to the players. They know they will be judged by what happens on the football pitch and that is what we have always said to them. As long as results are going well on the pitch, people will ignore the problems behind the scenes.

“We had to fight very hard against tough opponents and without that second goal it was never going to be easy for us at the end. But we held on and we are happy with the start to the season we have had.”

He continued: “What I did believe was that this group of lads could show a real desire to do well. I never felt it would be through a lack of effort. What we didn’t know was the division and what we would be up against on a game by game basis.

“I never felt that we would show less than we have. I am pleasantly surprised. There’s a togetherness in this group of lads.

“We have experienced a fair amount of upheaval and amongst all of this they have realised they can get on with the job in hand. They want to get this club back in the Premier League.”