Beye not afraid of the drop

Defender insists Magpies are too good to go down

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 15th October 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Beye not afraid of the drop

Beye: Staying positive

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Habib Beye insists Newcastle have too much quality within their ranks to become embroiled in a relegation battle.

The North East club have endured a turbulent start to the current campaign, slipping to third from bottom in the Premier League table and seeing manager Kevin Keegan resign along the way.

An ongoing takeover saga involving owner Mike Ashley and potential investors continues to drag on, while suspensions and injuries have played havoc with the first-team squad.

Beye has only recently returned from an Achilles injury of his own but is confident that the side he is about to step back into are more than capable of clawing their way out of trouble.

Respectable

He told the Evening Chronicle: "We can still have a respectable season. We won't go down. We have too much quality.

"There are still 31 games left to play and a lot of points and pride at stake.

"I remember this time last year we made a good start and we were doing well, but after that it turned bad so it shows how it can change.

"We made a good start against Manchester United and Bolton.

"But it becomes harder because of what has happened.

"If you win two or three games in a row, the season changes very quickly and we have three games out of four coming up at home. What can we do? We can try to win a lot of games and see where it takes us. And then we still have the FA Cup."

Comeback

Beye is now in line to feature against Manchester City on Saturday and is convinced his injury problems have been left firmly in the past.

He added: "I feel good now and I don't feel the Achilles problem at all.

"I can now run properly and work with the rest of the team as usual.

"It will be good against Manchester City. It is also good for the manager to have players fit again for him to pick from.

"Now I need to play some games to complete my comeback. This is the first time I have been able to run properly since the summer.

"It has been hard for me before that to play, that's why I stopped after Arsenal because it was too painful.

"Now it is safe and I don't feel a thing."