ON-SONG YORKIES CALLING THE TUNE
Robles: I’ll keep up the fight to be No.1 for Ron
STEVE MILLAR NEWCASTLE and Brighton are slugging it out for the No.1 spot in the Championship charts – with a ticket to ride in the Premier League the ultimate prize.
But behind them there is an all-singing, all-dancing scrap for the play-off places.
And in that group are a trio of Yorkshire giants hoping for a return to the big time after too many years in the wilderness.
Huddersfield, Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday are all dreaming of rubbing shoulders with the billionaires of Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United next season.
All of them have history in the top flight, with Leeds crowned champions in 1992 before the birth of the Premier League.
Huddersfield were record breakers in the roaring twenties with three successive First Division titles.
And Sheffield Wednesday were founder members of the Premier League – although they have not played in the top flight since being relegated in 2000.
Now they are all aching for a chance to get back where they believe they belong.
Leeds sit a comfortable fourth after Friday’s 3-1 win at Birmingham and boss Garry Monk said: “The winning mentality is very clear, we have good group spirit, people are putting their bodies on the line and we are responding to setbacks.
“This is a very difficult part of the season, everyone is fighting for different reasons and games are extremely hard.
“But we want to keep our run going.”
It is a race to the finish which Peter Beagrie finds hard to call.
Beagrie, who played at Sheffield United, Bradford, Scunthorpe and Grimsby, said: “I think recent results show how intense the Championship is.
“Both Newcastle and Brighton have been beaten several times this season. And I look at the chasing pack and it’s great to see Huddersfield, Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday up there.
“The Yorkshire teams are doing so well and there’s definitely a feel good factor.
“It will certainly come down to who handles the pressure best.” JOEL ROBLES can still hear the painful words from Ronald Koeman uttered almost eight months ago.
The Everton boss had just signed Dutch keeper Maarten Stekelenburg in the summer and told Robles the brutal truth – that he would be his No.2.
The former Wigan man was devastated and went home with his head spinning, trying to come to terms with his new understudy role at Goodison.
But he decided to work his goalkeeping socks off and come out fighting.
And Robles has now become a big hit between the sticks.
To be fair, jostling for the shirt has been a career-long battle for the Spaniard, 26.
It started at Atletico Madrid in his younger days alongside rivals David de Gea and Thibaut Courtois.
It was the same when he joined Wigan and again when he signed for Everton, where first-choice Tim Howard was the man standing in his way.
Robles has never been afraid of a scrap in his bid to get to the top in his cut-throat profession.
Did he ever think, though, of moving on?
He said: “Yeah but you really need to get past the situation so that when you are given another chance you don’t throw it away.
“The most important thing for a goalkeeper is to have passion, train hard and enjoy your profession.
“I don’t have a problem with the other keepers in my life.
“You train every day together and you can’t have a problem with your team-mates.
“It’s impossible. You need to understand the situation because everyone wants to play.
“But if I’m honest, when Koeman said, ‘You are the No.2’ I was frustrated.
“All right, I respect the decision because it’s not my OLD BATTLES: Salgado and Bale in 2010 STEVE MILLAR decision. I respect the situation but I had to go home and try to understand the coach.
“Then I had to work hard and I also had to change my mentality.
“You need to train harder than you had trained in the previous month.
“I like to play. That is normal.
“Now I just need to enjoy the situation because I am playing well.
“The team is doing well and the club is doing well.
“But I needed to be strong. That’s important for a goalkeeper.
“You need to handle difficult situations. I am young but I have also had too many difficult situations in my career.
“I had that situation where I played 10 games, then Tim Howard came back and I went to the bench.”
Robles has taken heart and inspiration from the career of his pal De Gea (below) who struggled when he first went to Manchester United.
Now he is established as an Old Trafford great and the world is basically his oyster. He added: “Yeah, it was a fight for him here. “He’s a really good example for any goalkeeper to follow.
“He had his third year where he wasn’t at a good level for him and it was very difficult. “But that is normal in football.
“Everything is different England.
“The football is different but his mentality is a good example. We are friends and we speak.
“I don’t know when we play Manchester again but he is my friend.”