For the second season running Newcastle have been hit hard by their long list of injuries. At one point in January we had sixteen first teamers out injured and it is the worst season suffered by a Premiership club in terms of the number of injuries the squad has suffered.
Last season wasn’t much better as Grahame Souness kept reminding us.
Is it pure bad luck or is there something else causing these injuries that can be fixed?
Glenn Roeder has rightly stated that this season has been adversely affected by injuries and for next year he has said that Newcastle should do well as long as we don’t have injury problems again.
Well – that’s not good enough.
We shouldn’t allow the club to hide behind injuries because there has to be a reason why we have so many injuries compared with other clubs.
Why the club have not even started an investigation as to the causes of the injuries is alarming, to say the least.
The club needs to chronicle the types of injuries the squad has had, where and when the injuries occurred and then from these facts fathom out what the cause of the injuries were – and get the problem fixed.
We keep hearing it could be the fairly new training pitches at Little Benton, the training regime and such like – but it’s not good enough to leave the reasons unknown (remember reasons = excuses) otherwise they can be used again next season for why we are not successful.
Next season at Newcastle – and for Glenn Roeder specifically – is the moment of truth. No more excuses – it’s results or bust.
Roeder has to prove – with all his good intentions, hard work and dedication to the cause – that he indeed has the skills necessary to make Newcastle successful again.
It’s hard to question Roeder’s commitment but the jury is still out. He does deserve the support of the Newcastle fans and so that injuries don’t cripple us again let’s get that one sorted out – once and for all. There is going to be so much at stake next year in terms of where Newcastle finish and what that will mean in terms of European competition and revenue earned from the league position – that we should leave no stone unturned.
It is a surprise the club has not even mentioned anything about an injury investigation. They need to initiate one – and the sooner the better.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Ahmed Bilal // Apr 25, 2007 at 2:08 AM
I know you trust Roeder, but somehow I don’t see how he can guide Newcastle out of the woods.
He could provide stability, I suppose. But consistently being part of the top-four is beyond him, just like top-four consistency is beyond Martin Jol.
2 Ed Harrison // Apr 25, 2007 at 6:31 PM
I think we would like to think that Alan Shearer will take over in a year or two – and do what Keane has done at Sunderland.
The worry is that Alan seems to be liking his current job with IBM and Umbro too much.
We’ll see what happens.
3 Ahmed Bilal // Apr 26, 2007 at 3:46 PM
Btw, just thought of something.
If they can’t use the injury excuse, does this mean that Roeder will be out of Newcastle by September?
4 Ed Harrison // Apr 26, 2007 at 4:20 PM
Just a correction – in my above comment on Shearer – I should have said his work at BBC and Umbro …. (not IBM).
5 Ed Harrison // Apr 26, 2007 at 4:23 PM
Ahmed – it is very clear that if Roeder makes a poor start next season his job will be in jeopardy – it’s a very bad time to sack managers – but we’ve already done it with Dagleish, Gullit and Bobby Robson.
That means whoever they signed in the summer are then dubious buys – depending on who the new manager is – but they always want to get their own players….not surprisingly.
6 Ben // Apr 27, 2007 at 9:09 AM
Im not a Newcastle fan but my best mate is and so we are always taking the piss and keeping an eye out for each others teams.
I said when you bought Duff (nicking him from spurs) that you were the wrong team to do so. Reason being you had already got a numerous injury prone players! When you bought Owen same thing. These are players you know will not play a whole season yet you bought them when you already had a full medic centre!?
Spurs have been through this and you have to try and get rid of these players (Darren Anderton). I dont think Roeder is the main for Newcastle.
7 Ben // Apr 27, 2007 at 9:10 AM
man not main! sorry
8 Ed Harrison // Apr 27, 2007 at 10:10 AM
Ben – we are hoping we learnt something on how to correct injuries with Dyer – and Owen has been working on his hamstring – which has always been weak.
So we’ll see specifically how Owen holds up next season – the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Duff was a strange buy for us – we didn’t need a left winger – we had N’Zogbia and O’Brien – two very good young players.
Damien has been a little disappointing – but has shown good form these last few weeks – but agree he is injury prone.
Next season is the big test for Roeder – we’ll see if he has the skills – he has the determination and drive.
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