The Newcastle United Blog

Kevin Keegan has been talking to the Evening Chronicle today, in advance of tomorrow’s massive game with Sunderland.

Kevin Keegan - lots of leaders in the team

Keegan is very pleased with the leadership shown by his squad recently as he said:

“We have got lots of players here who are leaders.” “When Alan was here, it almost seemed like they had one leader.”

“He was a strong character, a Geordie, and set massively high standards for himself and for others.” “Now we have got four or five who are doing that, it is not just one.”

“There is Michael Owen, Geremi, Abdoulaye Faye, there is Habib Beye, Mark Viduka and Nicky Butt – we have got plenty of experienced people who lead in their way.”

“It is not necessarily the way Alan did it or necessarily the way anybody else does it, but we are certainly not short of leaders.”

That leadership has proved vital in the last few games as many players have stepped up and taken responsibility for the team, after a run of nine games without a single win.

And that will also be important tomorrow, in a game that is a massive one for both teams.

It will also be a good commodity for next season, because Kevin has a number of very good players on which he can build a fine side for next season.

Four or five top new players seems all we need, and then it will be important to get off to a good start in August.

But first things first and we need a win tomorrow.