Janmaat’s warning

DARYL JANMAAT says it is time Newcastle realised they are in danger of being relegated as he admitted to concern over mental weakness and lack of character in the squad. The Holland defender collected his prize of North East Football Writers’ Player of the Year this week and stunned the crowd, including head coach Steve McClaren, when he delivered a speech in which he returned a damning appraisal of the team’s performance in 2015. ‘It is a strange situation for me to be standing here,’ said Janmaat. ‘I am proud to win this prize but not proud of the poor results of Newcastle in 2015. ‘At the moment we make too many mistakes on the whole pitch. The team is not playing well. We are second-bottom and we are in a relegation fight — everybody has to know that. We need more character and we need to be mentally stronger.’