Stability key for Newcastle United says Chris Hughton

Oct 30 2009 by Steve Brown, The Journal

AMID glowing pride and gratitude at being made its permanent manager, Chris Hughton insists Newcastle United “needed” this week’s resolution of ownership if it is to look to the future.

Hughton was promoted from caretaker to full-time boss on Tuesday, with a contract running until the end of next season. And if that hands the club a much-needed element of stability after months of chaos, so too he says, does Mike Ashley’s decision to take the club, for the time being, off the market.

The uncertainty of the past has been a distraction, Hughton added, without which the Magpies can now look forward. They may do so without a new investment of £20 million being channeled solely into player recruitment, but Hughton has been told he will receive support in the transfer market. For now, it is otherwise ‘as you were’.

But as he prepares his United squad to face Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Monday night, Hughton believes his side have been further emboldened by the “galvanising” manner in which, against the odds, they battled to victory over Doncaster Rovers last Saturday.

Of his appointment, he said: “I feel a sense of pride at managing a great club. It’s a very proud moment for me. What it does is give this club the stability it needs in managerial terms.

“Also, the sale of the club has been high in the headlines over the last year, but the fact we can now look forward and plan for the future on and off the pitch is something this club has needed. It’s a way of looking forward.

“You try not to make it a major distraction and try to focus on what happens on the football pitch. But distractions are always very much there in the domain of the players and it’s certainly a better situation if you don’t have that.