HE HASN’T GONE away you know.
Stephen Ireland made his long-awaited Newcastle United debut against Manchester United in the scoreless draw at St James’ last night.
This afternoon the Corkman insisted he will repay the Magpies’ faithful for their ‘touching reception’.
“I was actually quite touched and surprised by the reception the Geordie people gave me,” Ireland told the Shields Gazette.
“Even when I was warming up, the fans were clapping and cheering me. I was really impressed and taken aback by it.
“I’m grateful and appreciate it a lot. They’ve accepted me and want me to do well, and that’s all you want.
“I’ll now try to repay them by working as hard as I can. Whenever I get the ball, that’ll be in my mind. First and foremost I want to work hard for the team, and help us achieve a high finish.”
Until last night, the on-loan Aston Villa midfielder has spent his time in the north-east in the treatment room.
He was discilplined by manager Alan Pardew last month for visiting a nightclub with Ireland striker Leon Best on a Friday night.
And this week he has spent much of this week at the bedside of his girlfriend who was hospitalised in a car crash recently.
When the exiled Boy in Green was intropduced in the 69th minute, he didn’t waste much time in shooting for goal.
His audacious volley on goal is three-quarters through this extended highlights package. In truth, he did little else.
Despite his slow start to life on Tyneside, Ireland now was five games to earn a move to Newcastle.
“The fans have been brilliant, and it was electric,” Ireland went on. “I haven’t played in front of fans like that before in my life.
“It’s massive for our team – the teams that come here are petrified, and you can see that by the way they react. To do it for a whole 90 minutes is impressive.”
