Keegan Says 'Save The Handbags For St James' Park'!

Last updated : 05 April 2008 By Footy Mad - Editor

Keegan: "They are more together now, I can see it. When I first came I thought a couple of them wanted to hurt each other in training.

"I had to stop it sometimes and say, 'Hey, whilst I want training to be realistic, you should not want to hurt each other because you might need to play with that guy on Saturday.'

"I felt there was a bit of frustration which you get when you are at the bottom, but it is all gone.

"The club is so together at the moment, you can see the respect for each other. You have got to realise what training is.

"Training is working together, sometimes against each other for a match, not working together to hurt each other. I felt there was a bit of that."

"You shouldn't be surprised, it happens at a lot of clubs when results are not going well, the frustration comes out.

"I am not saying they were maniacs or anything like that. Sometimes I was saying, 'Hey, we don't want to hurt each other, we want to get ready for a match. We want to save some of that aggression, within the rules, for Saturday.' It's not criticism, it happens at a lot of clubs.

"Players think they should be in the side, other players have opinions of each other which are sometimes misguided by the situation they find themselves in and their frustrations come out.

"All that aggression was probably because of the situation and not quite channelled right. It is now and that is why we got this performance against Spurs. And the guys who are not in the side are doing what is right to get back in.

"They can't argue. Normally, they would come knocking on the door saying they should be in the team but certainly in training, the ones who aren't in (the side) are doing it right. We have real good spirit and that is why we have got the results. If you haven't got everyone rowing the boat the same way, you ain't going to win a football match."