PARDEW ON RANGER: JUST AS WE SUSPECTED

Yesterday we speculated on these cyberpages that the reluctance of Alan Pardew to play his most talented striker, one Nile Ranger, was not about football. About the same time we were writing it, Pardew was confirming it.

“We keep talking to him about professionalism, and his timekeeping’s improved, and his training-ground standards are improving," Pardew told Newcastle's Evening Chronicle. “That bodes well – he’ll improve as a player. He’ll only get better.”

Alan. Buddy. Teach him to tell time after we're not relegated, please?

The Green Bay Packers in American football just won the Super Bowl in part because they stopped being picky about a talented young running back's practice habits. The Packers didn't come to their senses until they were one loss from extinction. Let Newcastle United not wait so long.