Remember when the whole country was laughing at us?
Posted on February 24th, 2010 | 45 Comments |
I’m sure we all know the reasoning behind this which goes back to the summer. Recently relegated and with a team in disarray that seemed to generate negative news stories and revelations on a daily basis, an owner that didn’t know whether he was selling or staying and a management duo in Hughton and Calderwood that were never sure if they were going to have a job the next morning, let alone next week, were among contributing factors that led to us all being ridiculed by fans of teams across the country and gave a carte-blanche to the newspapers to print some horrendous stories.
The former Tottenham defender has been far from vocal during his time on Tyneside but in an interview today, Calderwood lifts the lid on what is driving the players on. Calderwood had this to say:
“At the start of the season we were probably relegation candidates in a lot of people’s eyes. We shouldn’t forget that, and the fans shouldn’t forget that as well.”
“The rest of the country thought we might ‘do a Leeds’ and go down again.”
“Just as soon as you sit back and relax, go back to that moment in pre-season when, more or less, people around the country were laughing and scoffing and hoping we would fail, and we’re still proving them wrong.”
That’s about spot on really. I certainly remember a large percentage of our fans, let alone other fans, being of this mindset and “that moment in pre-season” surely must be the embarrasing 6-1 defeat at Leyton Orient. However, could it be that the result at Brisbane Road could have been the most important drubbing of the season for us?
I would argue yes. It was only really after that result that things started to get done. Big earning players who had failed to produce started to be moved on and a committee made up of senior players was formed, a new dawn where players didn’t form their own cliques and were encouraged to discuss their feelings and interact with each other was born. Calderwood thought way back then that togetherness could get the team performing. He said:
“We had to consolidate and everyone had to pull together at some point.”
“They did, and what we were left with was a real good group of players, with a solid attitude, and, I mean this, a hardness in them.”
“If we could keep the basics right, we thought their ability would give us a chance.”
Keeping the basics right has served us well so far this season, with our defence being one of the key areas and often enabling us to nick a goal and a scrappy win. At times it hasn’t been pretty, but the priority has to be to get promoted by any means neccessary. Failure to do so would be a catastrophe which is why I’m ok with winning ugly. Overall though, Calderwood has been pleased with what has happened so far this season and has praised the players attitude and application by saying:
“They’ve really grasped the opportunity, or the threat of not being successful in this division, really, really well.”
“It’s worked out well so far, and I hope no one would ever underestimate it and think, if we did cross the line, that it had been easy.”
Some of our performances this season have backed up the view that at times it hasn’t been easy. To be fair, we were never going to win every game this season but overall I’m happy that the results are going our way, and that we have a team that seem to want to play for each other and the shirt.
I’m just happy we’re no a laughing stock anymore!
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
mackems
All true enough. The banners held up by the villa fans on the final day still rankle, but for the chance to get back up and beat them again one day – complete with banners of our own. Having said that, this is all a bit premature. The fight for 1st and second is still very much alive. We will have plenty of time for champagne and cigars if we get there.