Christmas Carroll and beyond
Posted on December 14th, 2010 | 354 Comments |
Andy Carroll has insisted that he’s staying at Newcastle United despite the replacement of Chris Hughton with Alan Pardew as manager.
Carroll was in a buoyant mood yesterday, no doubt helped by the fact that the CPS have dropped the latest assault charge against him due to a lack of evidence.
In an interview with The Chronicle he appeared to confirm his commitment to the club.
“I’m just going to go out there and carry on doing what I have been doing. I’ve always worked towards being where I am now, and want to stay here – it’s as simple as that.”
Carroll expressed his appreciation for all that Chris Hughton had done for him – both on and off the pitch – and then turned his focus to the new manager.
“He’s gone now, and I just need to keep on working on what he’s taught me, and with the new manager, I’ve got to listen to him,” said Carroll.
He then went on to talk about Saturday’s game against Liverpool:
“All the lads stuck together after what’s happened. To play the way we did against Liverpool was great.”
“We knew what we were going to do for the two long balls. Nobby (Kevin Nolan) got the first one, and Joey got on the end of the second.
“We knew what their weaknesses and our strengths were, and played on them. They gave me enough space and time to have a shot, and that’s exactly what I did.
“With everything that’s gone on, the performance lifted everyone. They still stuck by us after everything, and it was great to see.
“It hasn’t been the best week, but the team spirit’s great, and we’ll work hard, whether it’s Chris or Alan Pardew in charge.
“There’s been a lot going on in the last week, but the team spirit’s been great, and everyone’s stuck together and worked hard in training.
“We came out proved that it hasn’t broken us.”
It seems that Andy Carroll is happy to brush aside the alleged interest from clubs like Chelsea and Spurs, although I wonder if a good enough offer might persuade Mike Ashley to part with our star striker.
Hopefully Pardew negotiated some say in the matter when he joined the club. Pardew clearly rates the striker, saying:
“Andy Carroll is an outstanding young player who has got a hell of a future in front of him over the next 10-15 years if he manages to keep himself sane in the mad world that he’s now in.”
Although sanity is overrated in my opinion.
Great new! He wants to stay, we need his goals and commitment