Former Super Eagles’ forward, Shola Ameobi, has been singing the praises of his old mate, Kevin Nolan. The former Newcastle striker said that Nolan has shown his leadership credentials by being named captain at every club he played at.
Ameobi added that Nolan has ‘always been local’ and ‘dragged the team along with him’. The pair were central figures during Newcastle’s successful promotion challenge of 2009/2010 seson, each scoring double figures as Newcastle were promoted as champions of the second tier.
Now though, both Nolan and Ameobi have arguably an even bigger job, keeping Notts County in the main league set-up and avoiding potential disaster, if they drop into non-league football.
Nolan was recently appointed Notts County’s manager and they are third from the bottom of League Two, one point above the relegation zone and two points ahead of rock bottom.
After a transfer embargo was lifted in late January, Nolan added free agent Ameobi to former NUFC players, Adam Campbell and Alan Smith, who were already at the club. “Nolan was a natural fit to go into management.
His standards were always high and he expects that from the players around him. That’s what he was like as a captain. He is taking that into management and he will bring honesty.
The manager (Nolan) has always been one who backs up what he says. He makes sure players are accountable for what they do on and off the pitch. When you’ve been in a situation and it’s been a tough time, a new manager freshens things up, but it’s important to get consistency.
That’s the one big thing that Nolan has been harping on about. When you do that, it gives you a good base to go on to succeed. But I’ve only been in a week and you wouldn’t think that it had been a difficult time here,” Ameobi said.
