Sheff Wed's fate provides reality check for Toon

Dec 26 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

NEWCASTLE United’s domination of the Championship is not taken for granted at St James’ Park. Mark Douglas reports.

“Certainly if we need a reminder of how difficult this could be then we just have to cast our minds back to the Sheffield Wednesday team that came to St James’ Park earlier this season, played so well they were arguable the better team on the day but didn’t get the result they wanted.

“At some stage they will be scoring goals and winning games and we have to make sure it is not on Boxing Day.” Further evidence of the revival is provided by Danny Simpson, who skipped the summer hardship and joined Newcastle when the club was beginning to gather momentum.

He now speaks of a winning mentality to rival his parent club Manchester United and the statement doesn’t prompt a smirk or a joke, just respect for the way the black and white thresher has churned the Championship wheat from the chaff. “I think some teams play us and think they’re beaten before the start,” he said. “That has happened even more when they look at the league table. It’s great but it’s not a trap we can let ourselves fall into. They might think that we’re already promoted but we’re not and we know that we’re not.

“Teams go to St James’ Park hoping for a point now whereas at the start of the season, because of all the problems that were going on, they were thinking they could do us.” They are high standards that he fell foul of recently when he was dropped for the Barnsley game by Hughton.

“For the game against Coventry I wasn’t at my usual standard and Chris just said ‘you can’t play well every game so sit this one out and react the right way’. And I did in training, so I was glad he put me back in.

“Nobody is undroppable at this club and that’s a good thing. We’ve got some quality players who can come in and do a good job. You can’t take your position for granted, you’ve got to make sure you’re at it for every game. That’s just part of Chris being a good manager.”

His desire to make his move to St James’ Park a permanent one is beyond doubt, but he will have to wait until the New Year for Hughton to make a definitive decision. That commitment to Newcastle United even stretches to attempting to indoctrinate a young family member through his choice of Christmas presents.

“I’ve got two brothers and one’s a (Manchester) United fan and the other’s a (Manchester) City fan,” he said.

“I’ve just bought him a Newcastle shirt, so I’m sure he’s all confused! The young one is a United fan, the other one is trying to make him a City fan and I’ve just bought him a Newcastle shirt.

“He’s only eight, so I’m sure he’ll be confused. I’ve not seen them much since I’ve been up here, so it was good to spend time with them on Christmas Day. But the main thing for me is to concentrate on Sheff Wed and Derby.”