Newcastle strike might be on long-term industrial action

In the wake of Charles N’Zogbia’s strike, we felt inclined to re-examine a famous Newcastle anecdote from circa 2002 to investigate whether Shola Ameobi is in fact on strike too.

Here we go: “When Shola Ameobi first turned up for England under-21 duty Peter Taylor asked him if he had a nickname, a shorter way of saying Shola. [Ok, there's strikeable offence number one. Shola is already a shortened version of Foluwashola. No more England duty.]

“No” he answered.

“Surely when you’re training up at Newcastle the lads have a pet name for you. What does Bobby Robson call you?,” he asked.

“Carl Cort,” was the deadpan reply. [There you have it. Industrial action would certainly be necessary after such a name blunder.]