Newcastle skipper Kevin Nolan has given his support to under-fire boss Chris Hughton, claiming he should remain in charge at St James’ Park no matter what happens in Sunday’s Tyne-Wear derby with Sunderland (Black Cats 5/2 to beat Newcastle).
Speculation has been rife this week that the former Republic of Ireland international would be getting the hook in the coming weeks despite having got the Toon promoted last season.
The Tyneside outfit haven’t made a bad start to life in the Premier League after blitzing the Championship and are currently tenth with three wins from their first nine matches.
Despite having guided the team through a difficult period following relegation Hughton is still one of the favourites to become the next Premier League manager to get the sack.
Wednesday’s Carling Cup defeat to Arsenal did nothing to relieve the press on Hughton and Newcastle were forced to issue a statement insisting they had no intentions of sacking their manager, claiming they want to extend his current deal.
Despite the statement all the build-up to the Tyne-Wear derby continues to be focused on Hughton and whether or not he will be in charge for much longer.
The likes of Alan Pardew and Joe Kineaar have been linked with the job but Nolan has now come out to lend his support to his manager, insisting that he is “110 per cent” behind Hughton.
“No matter what happens on Sunday we are going to still be 110 per cent behind Chris Hughton,” Nolan told Sky Sports News.
“For the statements, for anything else we don’t care what anyone else says outside. As a group of players, as a squad, as a staff and I believe as fans too, we believe we are going in the right direction and the main focal point and the main leader in that is Chris Hughton.
“I think the talk is absolutely ridiculous on him having to win a game to stay in his job, it is absolutely ridiculous.
“No matter what, we want to see Chris Hughton in charge of us and we believe we are going in the right way with him in charge of us.”
Sunday’s visit of local rivals Sunderland (14/1 to be relegated) will be Hughton’s biggest test since he got Newcastle (9/2) promoted and could go a long way to sealing his fate as Newcastle boss.
He will be hoping the Toon can keep up their recent good record against the Black Cats having lost just three times in 16 Premier League matches against their local neighbours.
Having rested the majority of his big-name players for this fixture Hughton has no new injury concerns, although Steven Taylor did lose his race against time to recover from a shoulder injury.
Sunderland have an almost fully-fit squad to choose from after Kieran Richardson returned from a hamstring injury, with just David Meyler and Frazier Campbell sidelined with long-term problems.
The Black Cats will be looking for their first win at St James’ Park since 2000 when now chairman Niall Quinn won the match with a towering header.
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