Newcastle squad stunned by Hughton axing

Newcastle captain Kevin Nolan said players were ‘shocked’ and ‘upset’ after the sacking of manager Chris Hughton on Monday.

The club chose to remove Hughton from his position after Newcastle’s 3-1 loss to West Brom on Sunday, indicating that they were after someone with more managerial experience.

Nolan said the players would miss Hughton, who was a popular figure within the dressing room.

“We are all upset that Chris is going. He helped a lot of the lads here with their careers when he was a coach and then as manager,” Nolan said.

“We will never forget our promotion from the Championship last season and we have to do what he told us. Stick together, make sure we keep the unity Chris has built up and get through this difficult period.”

“It goes without saying we were shocked by the announcement. Sometimes at clubs, when a manager goes, there will be some players who are pleased to see the back of him, either because they are not in the team or they have a grudge against him.”

“But everybody liked Chris. He was very popular, not just with the players but everyone who worked for the club.”

Newcastle are 11th in the Premier League standings but have enjoyed some notable successes this season, including thrashing local rivals Sunderland 5-1, defeating Arsenal away from home and knocking Chelsea out of the Carling Cup.

Nolan admitted Hughton was crushed to be leaving the club but said the 51-year-old had left St James’ Park with his head held high.

“Chris was gutted about what had happened. You could see that,” Nolan said.

“But it said so much about him that, even though he was obviously disappointed to be going, he was still telling me and Joey (Barton) that we had to make sure we had a good season.”

“There was such a dignity about the way he left, which is how he conducted himself while he was the manager.”

“We have not had the greatest run recently. But we are half-way up the table and he was very confident we would still do well and spoke about how he believed in us.”

Reserve team coach Peter Beardsley will take charge of the first team in the interim, with Dutchman Martin Jol is the favourite to replace Hughton in the long term after he quit as Ajax manager on Monday.