http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/newcastle-see-photos-of-im-a-celebrity-1438506 Plenty of pics on the link- thought I'd share it if nobody has seen it yet. Glad to see they're having a bit craic [B]Alan Pardew wants his stars to show more balls this season â so he's tried to make them eat some! Newcastle players staged their own version of Iâm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! to lift spirits at the training ground, including a Bushtucker Trial that included cooked testicles. Toon manager Pardew and his players handled snakes, tarantula spiders and an iguana as they plotted how to put a lethal bite on Swansea on Saturday, while and groundsman Mike Curran tucked into his unusual lunch. The Ant and Dec tribute lunch came as Pardew faced the challenge of getting striker Papiss Cisse out of his own fix. The Senegal star is facing a ban from playing for Newcastle this weekend after a row over withdrawing injured from his countryâs friendly match this week. Senegal want to invoke FIFAâs five-day rule, preventing Cisse from playing for his club, claiming they did not get official proof of their manâs back injury, strongly denied by United. The Iâm a Celebrity... style fun helped the squad deal with the Cisse row and losing Yohan Cabaye and Jonas Gutierrez to injury for this weekend, although both should be ready for next weekend. Pardew explained: âAnt and Dec are big fans of Newcastle, so in their honour we had a bit of a Bushtucker trial. "People have been running out of the door - like Andy Woodman, our goalkeepers' coach. "Steven Taylor was putting hairy spiders on everyone. Itâs been fun. âWe have not had the best of weeks, we all are just as much annoyed as the fans after last weekendâs performance and result, so it has been a nice morning. âI had a little hold of the iguana, the spider. "I didnât eat anything, though. "We are all brave when it is on the telly but when the hairy spiders are there in front of you itâs a bit different. "The groundsman had a go at the eating - he had some fox's balls or something...â Defeat at home to West Ham on Sunday means Newcastle are 11 points adrift of last seasonâs 11-game total, and looking to make up lost ground. Demba Ba should recover from a shin injury and Cheick Tiote is back after suspension. With Fabricio Coloccini still banned, Steven Taylor has been appointed skipper. But it is Cisseâs problem that is being urgently probed. Senegal were sent details of his back injury that caused his half-time substitution last weekend, but a communications problem has kicked off a dispute. Pardew said: âI want to be diplomatic. I donât want to fall out with Senegal. Hopefully the communication, the lines, will come together and we can put it right on Friday. We have Demba and Papiss [who are Senegalese], so we donât want this. âIt is not an ideal scenario leading up to a game when a guy we are trying to get to hit his best form has this over him. "We have a bit of an issue going on at the moment with the federation. We feel weâve covered all the bases to give them the information but they seem not to have received it, so weâre in discussions with Senegal and the FA about his availability for Saturday. âWe gave a report and an email, straight after the game, that at half-time he was feeling his back and we took him off the pitch. We also sent reports of the injury, or the doctor did. "We didnât, as far as Iâm aware, get too much information back and now it seems Senegal are upset that he didnât appear for them. "Somewhere down the line, something appears to have been lost in translation.â The problem comes as Pardew tries to get Cisse back to his prolific scoring form of last season. He added: âWe need to create more opportunities for him. We are trying to work on procedures in the team, more chances for him. I think he will find his best form and his form is mirroring the team a little bit. âWe have not changed the system. Cheick has had this disjointed season. Cabaye has a groin problem and that has meant he has not been at full capacity, so thatâs been a big thing behind Cisse. âFacing three midfielders has proved a problem for us, we have that same scenario on Saturday against Swansea because otherwise one of the strikers will have to play on the side. "A big part of our success last year was that those two midfielders coped with the threat of three midfielders, with the help of Demba.â[/B]
Yeah saw that on the official site, Steven Taylor chasing people round the club was pretty funny. Rest of the article seems to allude to this article http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newc...s-eager-to-get-more-control-72703-32243688/2/ where Pardew essentially admits we've been playing crap in midfield and hints at switching to 4-3-3.
Good to see they're spending their time at the training ground wisely. It's not like they need to practice actually playing football or anything.
I think so, yes. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2012/11/14/nufc-starlet-adam-campbell-hit-by-knee-trouble-72703-32228203/
Shame we could do with him at present as an additional option for impact from the bench. At least its not serious.
