Danny Guthrie insists Newcastle will prove critics wrong

Jul 12 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

DANNY Guthrie could not care less if Newcastle United are tipped for a relegation struggle – and insists the players will revel in the challenge of proving their critics wrong once again.

Guthrie remembers how many people were willing to write the team off in the Championship last season because of the turmoil and confusion that followed relegation and Mike Ashley’s decision to put the club up for sale.

And, having defied the gloomy pre- season predictions last season in spectacular fashion, Guthrie is confident the Magpies can do so again as they look to re-establish the club as a Premier League force.

If anything, United’s players appear to enjoy the fact others do not share their confidence, the team spirit which galvanised the dressing room feeding off the negativity and the pessimism.

“You know, a lot of people wrote us off before a ball had been kicked in the Championship,” said Guthrie, who will face stiff competition for a place in his favoured central midfielder role from a fit-again Joey Barton.

“Whatever is thrown at us in terms of pre-season predictions, we’ll just ignore it. We have to. If we had worried about what people were saying about us 12 months ago we might never have got promoted.

“There was so much doubt last year, it doesn’t bother us if people are saying we’re going to struggle in the Premier League. It was nice to prove people wrong and, hopefully, we can do that again this season.”

Newcastle, though, will have to get

used to a completely different sort of campaign.

The most important thing for the Magpies this season will be to avoid another damaging relegation to the Championship, repeating the heartbreaking scenes of the last day of the 2008-2009 campaign following a 1-0 defeat at Villa Park.

However, Guthrie feels that Newcastle have the ability to surprise a few people once the talking stops and the season gets under way.

Having been the team everyone wanted to beat in the second tier, Newcastle will become a team everyone thinks they can beat on their return to English football’s top table.

He said: “We’re going to be more of an underdog this season. Last year we were the team everybody wanted to beat, the scalp everyone wanted to take.

“It’ll be completely different coming back into the Premier League.

“We were the top team in the Championship, but the roles are going to be slightly different this season.

“We know it’s going to be a lot harder for us, home and away, but we’ll still go into every game believing we can win it.”

Meanwhile, Newcastle United’s newly-discovered spending power has seen them credited with making a significant bid for another striker.

Sporting Lisbon forward Yannick Djaló is the latest player to be linked with a move to Tyneside.

Newcastle have already had a similar-sized offer turned down for Paris-Saint Germain’s Mevlüt Erdinç this month and have been told they will have to increase their £4.5m offer for Djaló by the player’s agent.

Chris Hughton will have to decide whether to do that this week as it becomes clear Newcastle have made the signing of a new centre-forward one of their main priorities before the close of the transfer window.

United’s manager is also waiting for a decision from former Everton prospect Dan Gosling. The defender has spoken to several top-flight clubs after he became a free agent following a contract dispute at Goodison Park and has indicated he will make a decision this week.

However, United will not discover whether Tom Cleverley will be allowed to join them on loan until after Manchester United get back from their pre-season tour of America in two weeks’ time.

The 20-year-old has been taken on the trip by manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who is yet to make up his mind on whether to let the midfielder go out on loan after last season’s successful stint at Watford.