Alan Pardew was interviewed on Sky Sports this afternoon, and he said that Shola Ameobi would travel to Detroit this Thursday, to have his face mask fitted.
Shola Ameobi – to return to training next week
Shola sustained a bad fracture of his cheek bone against Fulham on February 2nd, and had it successfully operated on only last week.
He will now travel to the Michigan Hand and Sports Rehabilitation Center in Detroit for an appointment with top specialist Jeremy Murray.
Murray is renowned in the US for helping basketball players return to action in the NBA, wearing masks specifically molded for each individual case.
As you can imagine flying elbows cause lots of injuries in the NBA, and some of these are exactly like the injury Shola picked up at Fulham.
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew seems quite confident that when Shola gets his mask fitted, he will return to training next week, or at least that’s what he told Sky Sports.
Shola will have been out about two and a half weeks when he returns to training, so should still be fit enough, but of course the first thing he will need to get used to is playing in the mask, and being comfortable that his face is indeed protected.
So it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Shola could return to the Newcastle side at St. James’ Park the following Saturday, when the opposition is Bolton Wanderers. That’s a game Newcastle can win in front of 52,000 screaming Geordies.
That would be terrific news for Newcastle fans, and even more good news tonight, is that Ryan Taylor will play for the Reserves tomorrow, having recovered from his broken foot.
And Ryan is a good player, who will be looking to show Alan Pardew just what he can do on Tyneside.
And Ryan could well do a job for Newcastle through the end of the season, with his excellent free kicks and long throw-ins, and he’s got a good eye for goal too.
So both Shola and Ryan could be available for selection for the Bolton game a week on Saturday, which has to be good news.
For the record, 29 year-old local lad Shola has played 294 times for Newcastle over 11 years with 68 goals, and 26 year-old Liverpudlian Ryan has appeared 50 times with 6 goals in his two years at the club.
Howay The Lads!!
Comments welcome.
38 comments so far
Toonboy_84
Feb 14, 2011 at 6:03 PM
Comment #1Great news
Toonboy_84
Feb 14, 2011 at 6:04 PM
Comment #21st
All hail king Shola!
HWTL
free giveaways
Feb 14, 2011 at 6:07 PM
Comment #3Shola’s been busy with his shrimp company;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gOxLnxk-3Y
NUFCmagpie
Feb 14, 2011 at 6:08 PM
Comment #4it’ll be good to have Strolla back
GeordieGerman
Feb 14, 2011 at 6:46 PM
Comment #5Ryan is playing with the reserves tomorrow and he’ll be wanting to show Pardew what he can do.
Got me a bit worried this one. Will Pardew not be at the Birmingham game tomorrow then?
toonyoyo
Feb 14, 2011 at 6:51 PM
Comment #6never thought i would be pleased to see spoonfoot back but under the circumstances good news
jimiley
Feb 14, 2011 at 6:57 PM
Comment #7Stroller is our saviour. England call is imminent. Andy Carrot will be dropped by Capote to make way for the next Toon star. FC Ashley to demand 40 million for his transfer.
boater
Feb 14, 2011 at 7:06 PM
Comment #8Looking forward to see him back to veering between the sublime and the ridiculous, especially with his new batman mask.
Good lad Shola, gives the team more shape, scores the odd crucial goal, and helps brings Nolan in to the game more.
BeHonest
Feb 14, 2011 at 7:16 PM
Comment #9Does anybody know any detail about the extent of his cheekbone fracture? Was it a simple single break or was the damage more extensive? (often a broken ‘cheekbone’ actually means sveral bones will be broken. If that’s the case, the timescale being suggested for his return seems pretty optimistic….
The Entertainers
Feb 14, 2011 at 7:17 PM
Comment #10He’s the best we’ve got ! Tells it’s own story.
Sounds a bit harsh as he can play like a PL forward at times, but then there’s other times he just Doesn’t ! Too inconsistent
HaZ-NUFC
Feb 14, 2011 at 7:24 PM
Comment #11http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20110214/toon-try-to-tame-terriers_2281670_2293394
get your self 2 the game 2mora night
scottsellars...unsunghero
Feb 14, 2011 at 7:30 PM
Comment #12i am pleased he is back but its a shocking state of affairs that we need him so badly – 12 games left in shola games thats 2 blinders 1 decent game and 9 shockers
cheikmate
Feb 14, 2011 at 7:36 PM
Comment #13Looking forward to shola playing again a bet he would have got on the end of at least one of joses crosses, best isnt physical enough to win battles with samba n nelsen.
BTW even though i dont like to use the AC word, the cheeky f*cker was in grosvenor casino in town las week, few people shouted judas at him like n one even called him avatar lol.
cheikmate
Feb 14, 2011 at 7:42 PM
Comment #14Looking forward to the return of shola, he wud of got on the end of one of joses passes. best isnt as physical and will never win battles with the likes of samba and nelsen.
BTW i dont like to use the AC word, but the Ahole was in grosvenor casino in town last week. a few people shouted judas at him, and even one called him avatar lol.
cheikmate
Feb 14, 2011 at 7:44 PM
Comment #15aw and cheers for not posting for my first comment, then posting both at once.
giimps
Feb 14, 2011 at 8:26 PM
Comment #16If strolla is back, I cant imagine him wanting to shove his head in the muck and bullets.
Maybe better off trying something different and not reverting to a system which has its flawed from the outset.
stestickle
Feb 14, 2011 at 8:43 PM
Comment #17the way we played on sat you could easy put one young player in there nile ranger or airey ?
Spuggy
Feb 14, 2011 at 8:59 PM
Comment #18Nolan banned…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-12457238
giimps
Feb 14, 2011 at 9:06 PM
Comment #19Airey not quite ready yet, possibly for the weekend though, he knows where the goal is and works well with Ranger, looking good for the future along with quite a few others pushing for places.
jonny-intense
Feb 14, 2011 at 9:42 PM
Comment #20Good to have Shola back, whenever that may be. He’ll come in and do a job for us I’m sure. Might be good to have Ranger feeding off him as well, his pace and strength will help him past opposing defenders with a bit more first team practice.
I’m more heartened to hear of Ryan coming back though. I think he is massively underated for us, excellent kicker of a ball, dangerous throw ins and clearly the best winger we have at the club (bar Ben Arfa of course). If we were to go one up top I’d look to see:
Raylor Barton Tiote Gutierrez/Ben Arfa
Nolan
Strolla / Ranger
In an ideal world, I’d drop Nolan and put two strikers in but him and Joey might boss the midfield as a tandem if Tiote can hold.
shabunkin
Feb 14, 2011 at 9:44 PM
Comment #21@cheikmate …one called him avatar lol.
pmfsl @ avatar
tis bad we so reliant on shola tho . no investment and our good players get sold in the summer and im gonna have a rethink 🙁
jonny-intense
Feb 14, 2011 at 9:52 PM
Comment #22rethink?
jimiley
Feb 14, 2011 at 9:58 PM
Comment #23When FC Ashley sells the Bull and Tiote, then we will have a proper relegation fight on our hands. wee will stay up this season because we still have a few real quality players in the team, but Pardew will really earn his spurs if he can keep us up next season with the leftovers. Or do you really think FC Cashley will unlock the cheque book? ha ha ha ha. The cash is for the casino numbskulls!!!!
free giveaways
Feb 14, 2011 at 10:36 PM
Comment #24Agree jimiley, I’ve got a feeling Tiote and Enrique won’t be here this summer and that’s they way the club will be managed while Ashley is in charge.
nicolnj
Feb 14, 2011 at 10:43 PM
Comment #25chelsea almost lost to fulham today, so i guess we aint that bad, equal to chelsea in terms of performance, lol.
here’s a nice article on koochi signing:
http://www.blogonthetyne.co.uk/2011/02/kuqi-has-nothing-to-lose—but-1.html
Mo Drysdale
Feb 14, 2011 at 10:47 PM
Comment #26———————–Harper————————–
—–Simpson—–Williamson——Coloccini ——
–Gutierrez—Barton—Tiote—Nolan—Enrique–
—————–Best———-Ranger—————–
GeordieTwo
Feb 14, 2011 at 11:41 PM
Comment #27No way we go 3-5-2 away from home Mo. Jose stays at right back. I would think 4-4-2 with your lineup but with Jonas at the left and Joey at the right wing position. That is if Pardew thinks we can win this one. If not, probably 4-5-1 with Best up front to start (horrible negative football with lots of long high balls aimed at Best but usually eaten up by the goalie and centre backs). Hope I’m wrong. All the best.
newcastle29
Feb 14, 2011 at 11:57 PM
Comment #28Story on jose in the sun tomorrow!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3411363/Toon-tell-Jose-Enrique-reach-top-with-us.html
newcastle29
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:00 AM
Comment #29Liverpools up and comming striker, he looks a right handful!
http://www.footylounge.com/films/milankakabaros/raheem-sterling-v-southend-fa-youth-cup-video_84d91020d.html
ITUNDERASHELL
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:48 AM
Comment #30Newcastle 29,
Wow this boy is fabulous, I don’t know how old he is but get him signed and if Enrique does go to Liverpool make sure this lad is part of the deal and get van aarholt, we would then have a young and fantastic team down our left flank.
newcastle29
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:56 AM
Comment #31Yep the kid looks awesome, and looks like he can play anywhere in midfield or up front!!!
supermacnumber9
Feb 15, 2011 at 1:04 AM
Comment #32just been looking at brummie web sites – I don’t think they’re up for a hard league scrap with us just now as they have one eye on the Carling final with Arsenal on February 27 – I can’t see them risking injury in 50-50 tackles or getting a yellow card – so lets get stuck into them!
and unbelievably they havn’t sold all their final tickets yet! What sort of fans are they? Let’s rip into them! HWTL
singamagpie
Feb 15, 2011 at 1:51 AM
Comment #33I dunno what’s with the Spanish national team staff… Capdevilla is 33 and the next in line for that LB position is Arbeloa, who’s right footed. Enrique has been awesome all season long and yet they choose to ignore him.
Enrique has been linked with Manure, Bayern, AC Milan and Valencia. That’s 4 big teams from 4 of the world’s best leagues ffs. Only special players get linked with those club and jose is a special player. The spanish coaching staff must be blind.
coolcatcarter89
Feb 15, 2011 at 3:51 AM
Comment #34If Enrique stays with us I’ll bestow upon him more pink wafers then the lad could dream of!!
sir_norman
Feb 15, 2011 at 4:41 AM
Comment #35big responsibility for ameobi now.gve him all the support he need..all the best maskmeobi!!!
bills-son
Feb 15, 2011 at 7:41 AM
Comment #36Shola has no luck.
When Shearer retired he started the next season on fire only to get injured after a few games, ditto last season and then he fractures his cheekbone in the first game after AC leaves. AC only got in the team last season because Shola got injured – many fans forget that.
I don’t think Shola is a world beater but I think he is better than most give him credit. I also think he is better and plays with more confidence when he is the ‘main man’ and not playing second fiddle to Shearer, Viduka or Carroll. Now he has to play with a broken/healing cheekbone and a mask. This is Shola’s big chance to become a hero by scoring the goals that keep us up.
By all accounts he’s a really good lad and I hope he takes that chance and quitens a few of the psstakers.
cyprus
Feb 15, 2011 at 8:15 AM
Comment #37Start tonight with Best-Ranger, or just Ranger up front and if it goes wrong, throw on another 2 forwards in the last twenty minutes! Used to love it when Keegan (and Robson) did that kind of substitution, scaring the hell out of opposition!
toonhamu
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:05 PM
Comment #38You pretty much have to play in the Spanish league to get a look in at the Spanish squad, unless you’re Fernando Torres
Reina and Fabregas are quality examples of that – their loss is our gain though