Source: Northern_Echo
Routledge ready to settle at Newcastle
NINE seasons eight different clubs. Even by the peripatetic standards of the modern-day game, Wayne Routledge has been a footballing nomad since breaking through from Crystal Palace's youth team in late 2001.[LNB] A multi-million pound move to Tottenham four years later was supposed to be the switch that took his career to the next level, but loan spells at Fulham and Portsmouth confirmed a failure to make the grade at White Hart Lane.[LNB] A £1.25m transfer to Aston Villa provided an opportunity to re-establish his reputation in the topflight, but he left Villa Park one year later without a single Premier League start to his name.[LNB] Loftus Road was his destination on that occasion, and while his 12 months at QPR were arguably the most successful of his career, the London club's off-field problems scuppered any hope of a promotion push.[LNB] All of which brings us to January, and 26-year-old Routledge's decision to make Newcastle the eighth club of his restless career.[LNB] Whether transience or turmoil, mishap or misfortune, something has always prevented the Sidcupborn midfielder from settling down.[LNB] So as he strode into Newcastle's press room before travelling to Swansea for today's televised Championship clash, the business Routledge was completing was significant.[LNB] Just a fortnight after joining the Magpies, he was finalising the purchase of a house. After a decade of searching, perhaps he has finally found somewhere to call home.[LNB] I just want to be settled,[LNB] said Routledge, who has caught the eye with a series of dazzling right-wing runs since making his Newcastle debut four games ago.[LNB] I've been a nomad over the last few years, constantly moving around, and that isn't good for any player. I want to put down roots, I think that is important here.[LNB] I've reached a point where I don't want to be moving around the whole time, I want to be able to concentrate fully on my football and to do that I need to build a career at one club.[LNB] Hopefully, that will bring out the best in me when I'm out on the pitch, knowing I'm settled in my life.[LNB] Newcastle is the perfect place for me to do that.[LNB] I want to settle down. I thought that would happen at QPR, but it didn't because of a variety of reasons. Now I'm at Newcastle, I want to be here for years.[LNB] By swapping QPR for Newcastle, it can be argued that Routledge has jumped out of the frying pan into the fire, swapping one basket case of a club for another.[LNB] But while the Magpies have had their share of crises in recent years think tribunal hearings, players signed from You Tube and supporters demonstrating against the owner they would still have to go some to match the turmoil that has engulfed QPR in recent years.[LNB] The club has had seven permanent managers in the space of 18 months, former boss Jim Magilton was suspended after an alleged dressing-room fight with Akos Buzsaky and, four years ago, there were even claims of a gun being brandished in the boardroom.[LNB] Even Newcastle would struggle to match that.[LNB] There was a lot going on at QPR, off the pitch, said Routledge, with considerable understatement.[LNB] There were so many outside influences there, which I don't really want to go into.[LNB] All the players wanted to do was play football, but things that went on off the pitch started to have an impact.[LNB] Every club has periods of turmoil, but that's behind me now. I'm at Newcastle, and everyone knows this club is a Premier League club that should be back in the top-flight.[LNB] Certain things happen at football clubs and in teams where it doesn't click together, but that's in the past. All we want to do is focus on getting this club into the Premier League.[LNB] Routledge was one of six players to arrive at St James' during the January transfer window, and there has been an inevitable bedding-in period while the new recruits have become acclimatised to their new surroundings.[LNB] Some, such as Danny Simpson and Fitz Hall, boasted extensive experience of living in the north.[LNB] Others, such as Routledge, had spent the vast majority of their existence on the other side of the north-south divide.[LNB] My mum's side of the family are from Liverpool, so I've spent a bit of time up there, he said. But I've only been this far north on the team bus.[LNB] It's all new to me. I've been shown around by a few of the players, with the rest of the new boys. Danny Guthrie has taken us to a few shops and places like that.[LNB] It's just a matter of trying to fit in to my new surroundings as quickly as possible.[LNB] The Geordie accent isn't a problem, but it does take a bit of time to get used to![LNB] They speak a lot faster up here, so sometimes when people talk you have to recycle what you've heard, go through it in your head and then respond.[LNB]
