Smith is backing Hughton

THERE may still be uncertainty surrounding the manager’s job at St James’ Park, but Alan Smith insists the Newcastle United squad are in no doubt who is the boss. Since being asked to fill the void left by Alan Shearer at the end of last season, Chris Hughton has gone from being a coach to the man making the decisions in the dressing room. While many feared he might have been unable to make the transition smoothly, Hughton has proved to be a good motivator during extremely difficult times on Tyneside. The players, who have backed him for the job in recent weeks, are also respectful of the influential role the caretaker manager has played in transforming the fortunes of a club still in turmoil off the pitch. And Smith, who has been handed the captaincy this season, has revealed there is complete unity within the Newcastle camp, from Hughton and his assistant Colin Calderwood through to the players. “Chris is the manager, he’s in charge and he gets on with it. Simple as that,” said Smith. “What we’ve got at the club are players who, when we go over that white line on to a football pitch take responsibility. “Chris is the boss, he makes all the decisions. We just get on with it and try to do the best we can, and we are completely clear on that. “There seems to be momentum building behind us and that’s great. Chris and Colin have done well, all the staff have been great but we’ve got to keep it going. It’s great to feel as though you have momentum behind you, but we’ve got two home games this week and we have got to look to win them both.” With Queens Park Rangers due at St James’ Park tomorrow, victory could push Newcastle five points clear at the top of the Championship before the visit of Bristol City on Saturday. The fact they can contemplate being in such a lofty position after nine matches offers an insight into the way Hughton has successfully united the players together while Mike Ashley’s attempts to sell the club goes on. Smith, however, claims he was always optimistic that Newcastle could push for a top two place, even if there were plenty of cynics across the country suggesting otherwise. He said: “In the summer, I didn’t see why we couldn’t do well. I think a lot of people probably said with everything that was going on that it would be too much of a distraction for us. That’s what the coaching staff have done so well, they have taken all the distractions away and we’ve just got on with it as a group. “We’ve knuckled down and worked hard because I think we felt we had a point to prove. We’re a good enough team to get out of this division, but there is a long, long way to go yet and we know that.” After the comprehensive 4- 0 win at Ipswich Town on Saturday, Newcastle are looking to maintain a 100 per cent record on home soil against QPR, with Hughton expected to partner Nile Ranger and Andy Carroll up front once more. ■ Ranger and Ryan Donaldson have been named in the England Under-19s squad for next month’s Europpean Championships qualifiers with Finland, Slovenia and Slovakia. Midfielder Geremi will join up with the Cameroon squad for their World Cup qualifier with Togo, while Zurab Khizanishvili will be with Georgia for their qualifiers with Montenegro and Bulgaria. Gutierrez and Coloccini, meanwhile, are in the Argentina squad for their qualifiers with Peru and Uruguay. ■ Abdoulaye Meite will not be leaving West Brom on loan for Newcastle, insisits head coach Roberto Di Matteo. The 28-year-old centre-half, who has yet to make a league appearance this season, finds himself behind Jonas Olsson and Shelton Martis in the pecking order and is battling it out with Leon Barnett to be considered third choice. But speaking about the possibility of a loan move, Di Matteo said: ‘‘That is just paper talk. ‘‘He’s been on the bench for the last two games and I have no reservations, if we need him, to put him in the squad.’’

Source: Northern_Echo

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