Just when you thought all was well at Newcastle…

There is never a dull moment at Newcastle United. After their very public trials and tribulations of last season it did look as though things had settled down and gone quiet at the club.

Stability

With the team playing well and sitting top of the Championship, a return to the Premier League looks likely. The Chairman no longer looks as though he wants to sell and there seems to be some stability both in the boardroom and on the pitch.

The past on and off field exploits of the likes of Kieron Dyer, Lee Bowyer and Joey Barton all looked to be a thing of the past and the discipline problems seemed to have been largely sorted out by a mixture of the good work of manager Chris Hughton and the success being achieved on the pitch.

Allegations

All of that has been thrown into doubt by allegations in several English newspapers yesterday that club captain Steven Taylor is in hospital with a broken jaw and won’t play again this season, whilst striker Andy Carroll was also receiving hospital treatment for a hand injury.

Whilst Newcastle have refused to make any comment, the reports suggest that there was a training ground bust-up between the two players on Sunday and that Taylor was admitted to Newcastle Royal Infirmary on Sunday evening. He has been kept in hospital for at least two nights.

Prolific

Recently, Steven Taylor has been missing from the side with a knee injury but Carroll has been in prolific form, scoring nine goals in his last ten games. He is no stranger to this sort of controversy and he is due back in court next month to answer his bail in relation to an alleged assault in Newcastle back in December.

Whilst there are bust-ups on training grounds all over the country on a weekly basis, this is a really unwelcome distraction for Newcastle at a time when things were starting to look good for them. It is also true to say that it is rare for these bust-ups to require both parties receiving hospital treatment and one of them being admitted and sustaining an injury that keeps them out of the game for a significant time.

Serious

Let’s be honest, an overnight stay in hospital for a broken jaw sounds like a pretty serious assault to me. I must make it clear that these are, at this stage, unfounded allegations, and as such, should be viewed with doubt unless and until the matter is officially brought into the public domain.

Many people say that for a team to maintain a serious promotion or championship winning challenge, there must be a great team spirit with an all for one and one for all attitude amongst the players. Serious punch-ups between the captain and the main goal scorer do not fall within that category.

Quickly

When skipper Andy Griffin and striker Ricardo Fuller fell out publicly for Stoke in a game at West Ham, manager Tony Pulis acted quickly to pour oil on troubled waters and he moved Griffin out of the club on loan fairly quickly. Newcastle manager Chris Hughton will have to be equally decisive.

You cannot expect a whole football squad to all love each other but you can expect them to behave professionally. Carroll will have his mates at the club and Taylor will have his. An incident like this can cause unhealthy splits in the dressing room and the manager can’t allow that to happen.

Blip

It is possible that Chelsea’s current blip has something to do with a damaged team spirit following the John Terry revelations. It may not have, but it certainly won’t have helped.

I hope this latest incident at Newcastle doesn’t cause too many problems because the long suffering Toon Army deserve something to cheer about. Both Taylor and Carroll are excellent young players with a great future and hopefully they can quickly recover both physically and mentally and get on with the job of being professional footballers at a great club.