Promotion will not be easy - José Enrique

Sep 26 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Newcastle’s players have had to eat humble pie after relegation but it’s getting easier to swallow in the Championship. Chief Sports Writer Luke Edwards reports.

IF any of Newcastle United’s players were still operating under the mistaken belief they are too good for the Championship, they would be taking arrogance to new levels of blindness.

It was never said overtly, yet there was always a subtle suggestion inside the United camp last season they were too strong to go crashing out of the Premier League.

Bubbles have been burst since then and egos have been deflated. United are where they are because they deserve to be, even if some are still struggling to come to terms with such a dramatic full from grace.

The last four months have served as a grim reality check for United – for the fans who once danced to a Champions League tune and players who believed they were worth every penny of the millions of pounds paid both for and to them.

Relegation was the nightmare scenario which turned into a depressing actuality, a dire situation which may yet get worse before it gets better, if lessons aren’t learnt from the defeats at Blackpool and Peterborough, or if the warning shots fired during the performances against Cardiff City and Plymouth Argyle are not heeded.

Newcastle have better players than most of their Championship rivals and an expensively constructed – albeit small – squad are already looking good for an immediate return to the top flight. Arrogance, though, has already played its part in one spectacular downfall.

“It’s definitely a worse league than the Premier league,” said José Enrique, one of the well-paid players who chose to remain at the club in an attempt to put right last season’s wrong. “It’s long ball most of the time for big strikers.

“There are more quality players in the Premier League and it is easier to play in the Championship because the standard is worse.

“Sometimes in the Premier League you lose 1-0 and your opponents have had one chance. It’s so difficult. In the Championship, that does not happen.

“That does not mean getting promotion will be easy. We have many more games and there are five, six or seven teams who have very good squads and will be challenging.”

Had United not slipped to a comprehensive defeat at Blackpool and not seen its reserve team dumped out of the Carling Cup at Peterborough this week, over-confidence may have been a problem travelling down to Ipswich today.