Coloccini getting to grips with the game in England

Nov 7 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Fabricio Coloccini has the best haircut in English football although he told Chief Sports Writer Luke Edwards why he would shave it all off if things start to go to plan at Newcastle United.

IT is difficult to settle in English football at the best of the times and even harder when you are thrown curls first into a troubled club and a relegation battle which will drain the team’s self-belief and sap its confidence to critical levels.

Fabricio Coloccini must have wondered why he ever thought a move to the Premier League was a good idea as he struggled with the pace and power of an alien style of football, and Newcastle plummeted down the table employing four different managers in a vain attempt to arrest the slide.

Unable to speak the language with any degree of confidence and heavily criticised for mistakes, Coloccini would have been excused if he felt he did not belong at St James’ Park.

It was a desperately difficult first season in English football and few expected him to stay once relegation to the Championship had been confirmed following that excruciatingly painful last day defeat at Aston Villa in May.

Yet, despite his lack of English and the problems grappling with opposition centre-forwards, Coloccini – dubbed Sideshow Bob (pictured right) by many supporters – had discovered something special, something which has not only kept him at Newcastle this season but also returned him to something like the form which earned him 32 caps for Argentina.

If it is difficult to feel as though you truly belong somewhere unless you can converse comfortably in the native tongue, Coloccini does not need to be fluent in English to understand this.

“The best thing about playing for Newcastle United is the fans,” he said, speaking confidently through an interpreter. “I get recognised in the street and I get a lot of respect. It makes me very proud to represent them. It was not the same in Spain or Argentina.

“I like the attitude of the people in Newcastle, their attitude to life and the football team. The people have taken me to their heart and that means so much.

“To come here and be treated so well by people, I didn’t know what to expect, but this is a special place and it means a lot to me.

“There is a strong bond with the fans and I feel as though I owe them something. I have a lot of affection for the place, despite the weather.

“I stayed at Newcastle because it is a big club and a famous club. It is just an accident that we have gone down, Newcastle should not be in the Championship and I want to help get the team back into the Premier League.”