La Manga was no jolly '“ let's hope bromance bloomed on Newcastle bonding trip

Many fans believe that the last handful of days have been more of a week's holiday for the players of Newcastle United, who quite frankly are failing at their jobs.
Steve McClaren, Newcastle United managerSteve McClaren, Newcastle United manager
Steve McClaren, Newcastle United manager

But were they really lying back with their feet up on a beach ordering jugs of sangria and running riot on the local strip?

Of course not, they’ll have been working hard on the training pitches in the highly rated La Manga Resort.

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It’s no secret that United and many other Premier League sides regularly jet-off to warmer climates after failing to advance to the next stage of the cup.

The missed opportunity of progressing means that many teams go almost three weeks without a competitive game and the monotonous day to day training at home may become more damaging than people realise; so a “holiday” to Spain may work in United’s favour.

Let’s clear it up though, it’s hardly a “holiday” by any means. The team were undergoing training drills, set play routines (which will be a lot more energy consuming in the heat than they would be back in the freezing temperatures back at home) and spending plenty of their free time in the gym.

Fair enough a lot of the lads probably took their golf clubs away with them for a few rounds on the resorts greens but is that really a big deal?

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It could even be beneficial if the players do spend more time together than they would ever do on Tyneside.

I think many fans are under the impression that these players live in each other’s pockets, go out for meals together and regularly see each other outside of training but it’s never like that at clubs. The players will more than likely greet each other with a ‘good morning’ and that’ll be about it until the next training session.

Obviously the rare bromance blooms – just look at Yohan Cabaye and Mattieu Debuchy but that was a little strange if I do say so myself.

Hopefully, this trip away may bring the squad a little closer together, the players may mix in different circles rather than the French table, English table, Dutch table etc and surely this will only be an advantage on and off the pitch heading into the remaining games of the Premier League campaign which the only target right now is to survive.

Gallowgateshots.com is a South Tyneside-based Newcastle United fan website