Chris Hughton rewards Newcastle players with Christmas Day off
Chris Hughton has given his players Christmas Day off as a gesture of appreciation for their efforts in making sure his club are sitting pretty at the top of the Championship table.
23 Dec 2009 - 20:02:44
Hughton ensured his charges benefited from the season of good will to all men by telling his players to put their feet up at home with their families on Tyneside instead of reporting for a festive training session ahead of the Boxing Day visit to Sheffield Wednesday.
Speaking ahead of the televised Hillsborough clash, Hughton told reporters at the club's Darsley Park training ground: 'What we have done is given the players Christmas Day off from training. It is something that they have deserved.
'They are a very trustworthy group of players. We do travel in the evening though, as per normal, and stay overnight. But allowing them to send the day at home with their families is something they thoroughly deserved.
'We are where we are at the moment because we have had a bit of everything. We obviously have experience and quality considering last season we were a Premier League side.
'But probably the biggest area that has seen us where we are is that we have had a real desire as to want to bounce straight back up. We saw that in the first game this season and we have been able to ride some difficult periods when we haven't played so well.'
The festive treat is a reward for performances this season under Hughton that mean Newcastle are now 10 points clear of the chasing pack in pole position in the promotion race - a situation that had exceeded Hughton's expectations.
'I think that coming into Christmas ten points clear is more than I could have wished for at the start of the season,' Hughton added.
'That is more so because we were very much going into the unknown. We didn't know what to expect.
'We got a feeling of the shape of things to come after the first game at West Brom when we come away feeling it was a very good result. They way the players have applied themselves we thought that the spirit would be good and that we had a group of lads who would be determined to put us at the right end of the table but to be where we are now is beyond our initial expectations.'
Despite the commanding lead, Hughton is confident his players will not starting taking promotion for granted.
'We know we have to guard against complacency but it would not have just been this club in the past that would have been in the position we now find ourselves in. there have been numerous circumstances like this,' Hughton said.
'How do your guard against getting carried away? All you can do is trust the players to continue to do the things that we have done already this season form day one and ride the storms. What we do know is that it is not all going to go our way.
'We are going to have tough periods. We are going to lose games. We are going to lose games that we feel we should win. It is about them bouncing back and that is what we have been able to do so far this season. We will need to do the same to make sure we rind ourselves in this position at the end of the season."
Hughton is also ready to strengthen his squad when the January transfer window opens after being told he will be backed to make signings by club owner Mike Ashley.
'What I have been told is that I will be supported in anything I want to do and of course from my position that is all I can ask,' the former Tottenham assistant manager added.
'We need to make sure we have the right numbers. We have some big decisions to make on players that we have here. There are a couple of areas we know where we have to strengthen.
'We won't be bringing in lot. If we have difficulties in a month or two months' time we know we have loans to be able to use but the important thing for us is to keep this squad as tight as what it has been.
'You are continually looking and assessing but this is also a period where it changes and a player that wasn't available a while ago now becomes available. So it is something that will continually change and consequently that is why so much business is generally done in the last week of the month. It is a continual process but we have to make sure that come the end of January we have a squad as tight as what we want.'
