Source: Daily_Mail
Newcastle's Peter Lovenkrands talks to Sportsmail
ShareMeet Peter Lovenkrands for the first time, and with his soft Glaswegian accent, you'd be convinced the Dane is in fact a Scot.[LNB]But you would certainly expect Lovenkrands' Newcastle United team-mates to know the former Rangers and Schalke striker's true background, not least as a current Danish international with 22 caps.[LNB]And then there's Nile Ranger.[LNB] Piledriver: Peter Lovenkrands scores against Blackpool[LNB]Lovenkrands takes up the story (add your own Scottish accent).[LNB]'We were playing Arsenal away and we were warming up in the corner. Nicklas Bendtner came running down and obviously we started talking to each other in Danish.[LNB]'When he ran away again, Nile turned to me and said 'do you talk Danish?' and I said 'WHAT? What are you talking about?' Then he said 'But aren't you erm, erm...' And I said 'Scottish?' He said 'yeah, that's it'. I couldn't believe it.[LNB]'All the time I have been here and because of my Scottish accent, he just presumed that is where I was from. Never realised I was Danish. I told all the lads and they have been taking the mick out of him ever since.' [LNB]With a Scots wife, four-year-old German-born daughter who speaks with an English accent and her two-year-old English sister who, will eventually speak English and Danish, there is quite a mix in the Lovenkrands household.[LNB] Scottish influence: Lovenkrands in his Rangers days[LNB]Lovenkrands has already started picking up Geordie inflections. 'Aye, I have, like,' he said. 'But when we go to America, I suddenly adapt an American accent. I don't know why and my wife hates it.[LNB]'I don't sound Scottish when I speak Danish back home, but I do think in English, or Scottish, and sometimes I forget little words that I do not use all the time.' [LNB]Lovenkrands' accent might have been very different if he had ever met former Toon boss Sir Bobby Robson who wanted to sign him from little known Superliga team Akademisk Boldklub 10 years ago. [LNB]Rangers hijacked the deal, and the plane he boarded from Copenhagen.[LNB]He said: 'I was due to meet Sir Bobby and was on the way to Newcastle, but I got a phone call to say 'fly to Rangers first and meet them first.' [LNB]'They offered me an opportunity so I went there instead. Newcastle weren't very pleased with me but I felt it was better to start out in the Scottish League. [LNB] Opportunist: Lovenkrands has seized his chance in the first-team[LNB]'There was Champions League going on at Rangers and I felt I would develop as a better player if I went there and that I would play regularly. My brother Tommy had just signed for St Johnstone too and I knew I would have him with me so that was the biggest factor.[LNB]'If I'd met Sir Bobby, he might've persuaded me, but I have no regrets about not coming to Newcastle then. I would not change what I did. I have had a fantastic career. And I cannot fault anything that has happened to me at all. I met my wife in Scotland.[LNB]'No doubt I would have had a different accent had I come here, but Nile Ranger wouldn't have known any better.' [LNB]Lovenkrands finally joined Newcastle three years ago but left after relegation. He was re-signed by Chris Hughton and played his part in last season's promotion with 13 goals.[LNB]Andy Carroll's departure, Leon Best's injury and Ranger's rawness have given him a fresh chance this season alongside Shola Ameobi. Five Premier League goals later, and with a year left on his current deal, he is eyeing an extension.[LNB] Miffed: Nile Ranger though his team-mate was Scottish[LNB]But with Alan Pardew aiming to invest much of the Carroll cash in strikers, Lovenkrands knows he will face fresh, youthful and potentially expensive competition.[LNB]He added: 'I expect the club to sign strikers. You need to fight for your place and if new strikers come along, I will fight again.'[LNB]Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, who faces Birmingham at home, has warned his players they are not on their summer holidays yet.[LNB]He said: 'You can sense on the training ground that our focus has dipped and I am not happy about it.[LNB]'It's a difficult period when you get past that 40 point mark and we're experiencing that. The hunger and character of the team is what's driven us and if we let that fall away then we won't win. These next two home games are very important to me. We want to finish in the top ten and to send the fans away for the summer looking forward to next year.'[LNB] NEWCASTLE v Birmingham: Taylor to start in defence after Williamson setbackBen Arfa suffers training ground setback ruling him out for seasonAll the latest Newcastle news, features and opinion[LNB] Explore more:People: Chris Hughton, Bobby Robson, Andy Carroll, Nicklas Bendtner, Leon Best Places: Newcastle, Copenhagen, Birmingham, Scotland, Germany, America
