The Newcastle United Blog

I always liked Nicky Butt when he was at Manchester United - a good player who always seemed dedicated to the cause and a good team player because at another club he could have played a lot more often.

When Bobby Robson signed him for £2 million in July 2004 - to replace Gary Speed who had moved to Bolton Wanderers - most fans thought this was a good acquisition for the club. As we now know his first two years were not good - and he was loaned out to Birmingham for the whole of last season - and if they had not been relegated he would have signed for them.

But Nicky Butt - to his immense credit - has shown that old grit and has had a great season at Newcastle.

He is also down to earth and one of the players Newcastle will have to rely on to get them out of the mediocrity that has been this season.

In an interview published today in the Newcastle Journal (Paul Gilder) Nicky speaks a lot of common sense.

While the Chelsea result was a good one and the team played with guts - Nicky asks why couldn’t they have done that more often this season - certainly if they had we would be much higher up the league table.

Here’s what Nicky had to say:

"The supporters would be justified in wondering why we can’t play like that every week - we’re asking ourselves the same question,"

"We’ve done well against all the big teams at St James’s Park, but we’ve let ourselves down on occasions as well."

"When we produce performances like we have against the top-four teams at St James’s Park, it makes you feel even worse. Maybe there’s a reason why we haven’t done that on a consistent basis and it’s a question that we have to ask ourselves when we look in the mirror.

"There was no particular secret to our success in bringing Chelsea’s winning run to an end - it was just about giving our all. We were disappointing (at Portsmouth) and the fans and the manager let us know that. We didn’t perform as we should and we had a meeting last week and brought a few things out in the open. We knew we had to play for each other and play as a team because when we put our heads together and do that, we can compete with the best. We deserved a point - if not a win."

"We’ve been up and down this season and we need consistency if we’re going to get anywhere," said Butt  "It has also been difficult with all the injuries and the facts speak for themselves. I hope we can get everyone fit for next season and wipe the slate clean because we’re as disappointed as the fans about what has happened."

"We haven’t performed to the level we should have done and we want to kick on next season. If we’re honest, we’re not going to make any waves this season but we just have to amass as many points as we can. But the main thing is to look forward to next season and try to get everyone fit because when all our players are available, we’ve got as good a team as almost anyone going forward and hopefully we will be up there challenging the big teams for things."

Not surprisingly Nicky is backing Manchester United for the title:  "You know I’m going to say that Manchester United will do it," he added. "I’ve got a lot of friends there - I was there a long time, I hope they do it and I genuinely think they will. I think they have been the best team this season and I think they will beat Chelsea to it. But anything can happen in football and both are top teams with top players."

Good for you Nicky - let’s hope his continuing good sense (and gutsy performances) can rub off on some of our under-performing players.

100% comitment is what we need next season - if we get that from all our layers we will do so much better next season than this. One of Glenn Roeder’s major challenges next season is to get that commitment from the squad….and he will only have one season to succeed.