Let’s get this straight! - 26/11/2002

Let’s get this straight!
Thankyou Marcelo

There’s been a lot written about me in the press recently, most of it has been blown out of proportion and I’m happy to set the record straight. After losing my place in the side I was upset, but isn’t that normal? You ask any player if they’d be happy when they aren’t playing, how many will say ‘yes, that’s good?’ I’m a professional footballer, I love my work and I love to play for Newcastle United and the fans of Newcastle United. If you’ve read the web site you’ll know that a big ambition of mine is to help the club win a trophy for the fans. Do you think that I’m going to leave the club because I’ve missed a few games? It’s simply not true. I spoke to a journalist at ‘The Journal’ and perhaps other people have picked up what has been said and added more words to make it a bigger story.

I look at the squad and I see many players who haven’t been picked, some that have playing regularly and now can’t get in the side – that’s football, and some that weren't playing but are now involved. The gaffer has a right to pick who he wants, that’s his job. I may not like being left out but I do accept his decision.

It is disappointing not to be playing, especially when we’re facing such massive games at the moment, with the Champions League and games against teams at the top of the Premiership. Getting on the field at Old Trafford felt good, I came on for the last 20 minutes and enjoyed being back, it wasn’t much time to make a difference, but that didn’t stop me from trying. What I can say is that I’ll do everything I can to stay in the team, and this does not include speaking to journalist after journalist telling them that I want to move! I know that it’s on the pitch that counts and that’s where I want to be.

Now what I’d like to do is to talk about the game, the players, and play my football...

I know quite a lot of the Inter players…Cordoba from Colombia, Crespo, Vivas and Zanetti from Argentina, Recoba from Uruguay. All of them fantastic players and I’m really looking forward to the game. I've played against most and I know that we're in for a tough, tough fight. As for their style of play, I think after playing Juventus we can expect a similar game. OK they have different players, but we know that they will be heavily organised, hard to break down and technically also strong. But this is what we should expect, this is what this stage of the Champions League is all about, and this is why I had to thank Marcelo Salas! He may not be too happy about his lack of appearances for Juve, but we were all very happy when he helped beat Kiev and saw us through to this stage. Now after getting a great result against Juventus, it’s time to go to work again. We've learnt our lessons from the first three Champions League games, I hope that we’ll make a better start this time! We have the ability and it's about playing to our potential. If we can do this then we are in with a chance. I know the fans will be looking forward to the game, let me tell you that it’s the same for me.


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