Source: Northern_Echo
Ping-pong king Guthrie aiming to prove his class
THERE is discontent within the ranks at Newcastle United.[LNB] Danny Guthrie is ready to lead a revolution he wants a table-tennis table introduced to the games room at the club's Darsley Park training complex.[LNB] Since his days with Liverpool, Guthrie has become something of a ping-pong king and is willing to take on anyone who comes his way to prove he is No 1.[LNB] But there is a problem.[LNB] Steve Harper's dartboard and the pool table mean there is no room at the training ground and Guthrie's challengers are having to go to his house to test him out.[LNB] Nile Ranger, Danny Simpson and Leon Best have all come off second best, now Guthrie has his eyes on fixing a date to defeat his latest rival Andy Carroll.[LNB] I will have to ask Steve Harper, he is in charge of that sort of thing, maybe we could get rid of the pool table, said Guthrie. I don't know if he plays but he would probably be good at it because he is good at everything.[LNB] It is something I want to put right because I am terrible at darts. It's too far away. I can hardly reach the wall.[LNB] When I am at home I play a lot of table-tennis, that's where I have to play, so I have got one up in my house. I am pretty good at it. Whoever comes to the house, we will always have a game.[LNB] Guthrie's talents go back to his Academy days at Liverpool, where he would spend many lunch-times playing table-tennis. Such is his interest, he tried to watch it when the Commonwealth Games were on and on YouTube. It is a great way to relax, he said.[LNB] Guthrie is going to need more time to relax now that he is fit again, having returned to the Newcastle team after recovering from a knee injury in last Saturday's 2-2 draw with Wigan.[LNB] Having been such a crucial member of the Championship title winning team, the 23- year-old was devastated to have been ruled out for three months on the eve of the Premier League opener at Manchester United.[LNB] It was brilliant to get a start after so long, I enjoyed it, he said. Now he is looking at making an impression in the remainder of season.[LNB] Newcastle have to prove we are a Premier League club and I have to prove I am a Premier League player, he added. The team has to show it belongs here and from personal point of view I have to show this is my level.[LNB] I have ambitions to be a top player and I think I have that ability as a player if I can get a consistent run in the team.[LNB] That is what is needed.[LNB] Career-wise you never know what is going to happen.[LNB] You can have a good two or three months and then you can end up getting called up into the England squad. I believe in my own ability. It is just about putting it all together.[LNB] A failure to win any of their last three home matches, losing two, has increased the pressure on Chris Hughton ahead of today's trip to West Ham United.[LNB] And knowing that Sunderland's trip to St James' Park is just eight days away, more pressure will inevitably fall the manager's way if things do not improve before that game.[LNB] But Guthrie thinks it is wrong to question Hughton's position, just months after helping Newcastle to promotion after turning around the fortunes of a club that had been in decline.[LNB] The pressure is on again after last week, he said.[LNB] These are the games where we need to be picking up points, of course. Everyone wants to be playing against Chelsea but I feel the really big games are the ones against the likes of West Ham, who are likely to be around us.[LNB] It is unfair to question Hughton. But it's the way football works and we all know this sort of stuff happens.[LNB]
