N'Zogbia Missing His Mobile Phone?
By Nu Mad
Updated Thursday, 5th July 2007
Newcastle United's pre-season 'boot camp' in Austria is set in a luxurious backdrop and the only taste of army life is that the players have been instructed "NO MOBILE PHONES", which will hit one player badly.
We doubted Glenn Roeder's authority last season when our 'insider' told us that very few players respected the 'then' Toon manager.
And I think we saw for ourselves when we were losing at Fratton Park and a quick camera view into the Newcastle dug-out showed Charles N'Zogbia laughing and joking on his mobile phone! Can you imagine that happening down the road at the Stadium of Sh*** with Roy Keane?
Apparently it was an on-going thing, and it was normal to see some players texting during Roeder's team talks.
But NOT under Sam Allardyce, the United stars have been ordered to cut off contact with the outside world and all mobile phones are banned.
Evening Chronicle: "After landing in Graz yesterday morning the United players then made a 43-mile road trip to the resort, which the Austrian national team will use as their home base during next summer's European Championships, which they will host with Switzerland.
"United are staying in Stegersbach, which is in the federal state of Burgenland, only a couple of miles over the Styrian border.
"The Toon's pre-season base boasts five-star facilities in the Austrian countryside and a main training field that satisfies FIFA dimensions. And on arriving at the luxury resort, Newcastle found out that while there was a media shutout at their base, they were joined by Hungarian champions Debrecen who arrived there last week and will leave on Saturday.
"Also arriving before United's stay is over are Bundesliga outfit Hertha Berlin will check in to begin their pre-season preparations.
"Facilities at the site include the obvious such as training pitches and gym facilities but also pool spas, golf and tennis facilities.
"In addition to the tremendous outdoor facilities at the Balance Resort Stegersbach , United will also have the benefit of several high- tech conference rooms during their seven-day stay.
"United actually cycled across the resort this morning at 8am local time before their first training session at 10am after biking to their training ground after arriving yesterday.
"United will also have the benefit of top-class restaurant facilities but the squad's diet will be carefully monitored by the Newcastle backroom staff who have nutrition high on their priority list, especially with Big Sam's modern outlook on football.
"Newcastle's coaching staff of Nigel Pearson, Lee Clark and Terry McDermott were all on board yesterday's flight and they will be joined by new coach Steve Round."
