'Giraffe head' ignores club doctor's advice... - 06/03/2003

David Beharall at his pre-match lunch

My old mate Lloyder’s (David Beherall) has been on the phone again – he can’t keep quiet about his new wheels. He looks a lot like Andy O’Brien but he’s got a massive long neck. When he was about to buy his last car, the club doctor got wind of it and insisted he buy something with plenty of headroom. As a result he bought a Land Rover but I bet he’s just broken club rules by selling it and getting a Mercedes SLK – just slightly smaller!!

He’ll never get the roof on it! Not sure he’ll be able to call it a convertible, the roof’ll have to be permanently off so he can fit his head in. It’d be all right if he played in Spain, but Oldham – just a bit wetter and colder than Madrid or Seville!! I can just see the newspapers now…”Centre-back out with neck injury, David Beherall is out for six weeks with a crushed neck after attempting to drive to training”.

Sorry mate, if you had a website you’d be able to have a go back…but you haven’t!!

Talking of injuries, I’m having to miss tonight’s game at Kingston Park. I felt my hamstring tighten against Everton reserves last week, I had a few days off training and although I’ve been back recently, it’s not quite right. You’ve got to be careful with hamstrings, and there’s simply no point in taking the risk. It’s a bit of a shame as I enjoyed last week’s game, no disrespect to Gateshead, but the athletics stadium doesn’t make for a good atmosphere. With the improvement made to Kingston Park, it’s now a great little ground and with 1400 on the gate, it was good to wear the captain’s armband. I don't know if this is a long term thing, but after the Sunderland game I'd expected one of the more senior players to take over, no complaints though, it's great for a Geordie to captain the side - and if ever Alan Shearer fancies a swap...

It was also good to see Big Dunc again, he’s a funny bloke and we had a bit of banter on the pitch. I actually caught him in the second half and he went down. I told him he was diving and, not surprisingly, he told me where to go - all a bit of a laugh.

Last night’s game was a big disappointment, there’s no point adding to what’s been said about the original postponement, we all know it was ‘a strange’ decision. I think the Gaffer’s got the full squad to work with; one of his toughest jobs is trying to keep everyone happy. I looked at the names on last night’s sub bench and all of them are quality players. This is the biggest and best squad we’ve had at the club, and I’ve been here for years, but squad rotation does have it’s drawbacks and it’s sometimes easier for a manager to keep players happy if a few of the squad are injured. It’s one of those things that managers have to deal with, the first part is getting the squad together in the first place, and the second part is keeping everyone happy. One thing about the Gaffer, he’s got the club to a great position, and which senior player will want to leave when we’re doing so well in Europe? We must be close to winning something.

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