TOON BACK WITH BANG
LIVE sport returns to the UK this afternoon with racing from Newcastle.
But two miles away from the Gosforth Park racecourse, Newcastle United have already had their first faller.
Steve Bruce’s side resumed full-contact training with a bang – and in Isaac Hayden’s case, with a crash, bang and wallop.
Anyone logging on to the club’s official website to watch the Magpies being put through their paces in the blazing sun at their Little
Benton training base can see for themselves the players were at full pelt.
Fabian Schar in particular, as Hayden can testify.
The tough-tackling Swiss clearly could not wait for Project Restart’s phase two to kick in – quite literally.
During a practice game, Schar clattered into Hayden with a full-blooded challenge which would not have looked out of place in the red-hot atmosphere of a local derby.
The scenes of teams ramping up their work up and down the country shows, at long last, football is entering the final furlong to restarting.
And Hayden was only too happy to be on the receiving end of his team-mate’s ‘welcome back’ gift.
“I didn’t even get a foul,” said Hayden with a grin. “The referee wasn’t the best.
“But seriously, it’s great to be out there again and, let’s face it, I’m not one to shy away from contact. It’s certainly nice to be involved
like that again. Everyone wants that competitive edge. It’s what we’ve been missing.
“Individual training is one thing, but you lack that competition and desire to win.”
Newcastle are back in Premier League action in less than three weeks when they host Sheffield United behind closed doors at St James’ Park.
By then, it is expected that owner Mike Ashley will have gone, with Amanda Staveley’s Saudi-backed consortium in charge. While his long-term fate is up in the air, Bruce will almost certainly be in charge of a team who have pulled away from the drop zone and are eyeing a top-half finish.
The Magpies are also in the last eight of the FA Cup.
“We want to finish the season as strongly as possible,” added Hayden. “It’s massive that we now have an end-game to focus on.
“Training is building up for a purpose. We have three weeks to do a lot more contact training, more shape and team-based stuff.”