Robson Blasts Newcastle Crowd


By Matthew Jones
October 31 2003

Newcastle United boss Sir Bobby Robson has said that there is no way that the crowd and fans at St James' Prak can ever influence him over team selection. Newcastle United boss Sir Bobby Robson has said that there is no way that the crowd and fans at St James' Prak can ever influenc him over team selection.

Robson, who wasn't planning on bringing Shearer on at all, said: "The fans were magnificent - all 47,000 of them - but I knew what I wanted to do.

"My idea was to save Alan for the game against Villa on Saturday and for Thursday in Basel. If he had played for two hours on Wednesday, how good would he be for those games?

"I didn't want to bring him on at all on Wednesday, but Laurent Robert was so jaded Alan had to come on.

"I thought throughout we would win without Alan. I put out a good team, it wasn't a question of weakening the side - but football has a habit of kicking you in the teeth."

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