Jonás Gutiérrez not phased by argy bargy

Nov 28 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

“All I am thinking about is getting Newcastle back into the Premier League.

“January does not mean anything to me.

“It’s just another month for me. Regardless of what happens in terms of other clubs I’m not going anywhere, 100% I’m staying here.

“My family is happy living here, the club is great, the fans and the people, that is the most important thing in life.”

And, having sampled the North East’s passion for football, Jonás has wholeheartedly backed Newcastle’s bid to be one of the host cities should England win the race to stage the 2018 World Cup. He added: “It would be fitting for Newcastle to be a part of the World Cup.

“I have come here to play football and I cannot believe the passion there is here for the game. I love it and if England do host the World Cup then St James’ Park has to be one of the venues because it is such a fantastic place to play football.

“I have grown to really like England, the people, the way of life.

“It’s incredible how knowledgeable they are about football and how much they care about their teams.

“It’s not just Newcastle, but Sunderland as well. I don’t think there are many better places in Europe to play than here.”

Such matters, though, can wait. By his own admission, Jonás has no chance of playing in the World Cup in nine years time. The only place he wants to play is back in the Premier League.

He said: “We are learning to win away from home.

“It hasn’t been easy, but we have learnt from our mistakes and we have put four wins together in a row, home and away. All the games we play in this division are going to be hard. We are the big team and it is always a battle. I think we found it a little bit difficult to adjust at first to win the games.

“In August, it was very hard because it was all new to us as players, but we are better prepared for it now.

“It will always be difficult for us, teams are desperate to beat us. They work so hard against us in every game we play so I think we are doing really good things at the moment.

“The most important thing and all we care about is being in the Premier League again next year. The fans think the same.

“If we win the league, we’ll be more happy perhaps, but it doesn’t really matter if we are second as long as we are promoted.

“That is the goal we have set ourselves. If we are in the Premier League again we will be happy whether we finish this season in first or second.”