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Good news for us really. Can see Best being a fairly loyal player, but it does concern me when it looks like players can't get into their national squad when they deserve it. Potentially motivates them to find a new club, a la Jose.

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Good news for us really. Can see Best being a fairly loyal player, but it does concern me when it looks like players can't get into their national squad when they deserve it. Potentially motivates them to find a new club, a la Jose.

 

I really don't see Best wanting to leave when he's playing. Maybe if he was fourth choice but we are basically as big club as he can hope for in his career. But that doesn't take anything away from Best, just that I can't see any of the "top 6" ever wanting to sign him.

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Good news for us really. Can see Best being a fairly loyal player, but it does concern me when it looks like players can't get into their national squad when they deserve it. Potentially motivates them to find a new club, a la Jose.

 

:lol:

 

If you're making a point in general, I'm with you. Newcastle is the best club Leon can hope for though.

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http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3915683/Leon-Best-All-my-mates-are-in-prison.html

WHEN Leon Best writes to his pals in prison, he always remembers just how lucky he is.

 

Brought up on the tough streets of Nottingham's notorious St Ann's estate, it would not have been hard for the Toon striker to walk down the totally wrong path.

 

But while some of his mates went one way, the steely determination and focus which have helped him become a Premier League hitman enabled Best to realise his dreams.

 

If you think most top flights stars don't appreciate the gifts they've been given, you should spend some time chatting with Leon Julian Brendan Best.

 

The refreshingly candid 25-year-old knows exactly where he is from.

 

He knows how easily he could have slipped into a life of street strife and no good.

 

Without his beloved mum Irene's help he certainly wouldn't be sat talking to SunSport as a Republic of Ireland international eyeing a win against Everton today that could take the Toon up to second in the Prem.

 

He is also ready to help fire Ireland's Euro 2012 finals dream next week in the two-legged play-off with Estonia.

 

Best is about to become a father for the very first time and is a lesson to any young lads trying to make their way in the game — no matter where they are from.

 

He said: "Coming from the area I was brought up in, I could have gone down the wrong road as a kid. I have some close mates of mine who have been caught up in some very bad things.

 

"Me personally, I was caught up in a few little mix-ups myself. I can see how easy it is for people to get dragged in. It's such a thin line but even though it's very hard, you have to make your own decisions.

 

"I had teachers shouting in my face saying that I wouldn't do anything with my life, how I would end up in prison.

 

"From then I knew what I wanted to achieve and even to this day, when I see them they say they are happy for me now. It shows you can get good from bad. I still have friends in prison who I write to. Everything you ever hear from them is how they wish they could change things, how they wouldn't have done what they did.

 

"I am so grateful for the chance I have been given. They seem to get a buzz from what I am doing right now. I send them pictures, stuff of me and even the other players.

 

"It keeps them going. Just a small thing for us like a photo is so huge for them. When you see that it opens your eyes up to what could have been. It is a thin line between right and wrong. You can easily get caught up in a little mix-up and you are down the wrong road.

 

"You have to be strong-minded though and make your own decisions. I always knew that football was my saviour and so it has proved.

 

"My mum helped me enormously. She still lives in St Ann's. It's a hard place to get out of but she just guided me in the right way. She showed me the right paths to choose."

 

Best is now a key man for Alan Pardew's revitalised Toon after being branded a flop by some following his move from Coventry in February 2010.

 

A new striker, almost certain to be Sochaux's Mobido Maiga, is sure to arrive in January.

 

But Best will just keep on keeping on. His partnership with red-hot Demba Ba has yielded 11 goals so far and he is firmly part of the furniture at St James' Park.

 

Best, who has bagged three of his own this term and had a hand in all three at Stoke on Monday, added: "It's crazy to think how well we are doing considering the players we have lost. When guys like Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan left, people were talking about relegation.

 

"Sometimes though you need a change to go forward. People looked to them to produce but now there are the new guys and the others — it's a whole team effort.

 

"It's more equal now. A few years back I was at Yeovil but I remember always watching Match of the Day thinking 'Yeah, that is what I want'.

 

"This is the best time of my life. I am playing in the Premier League, in the top five, and have a kid on the way. I am settled, happy. I just didn't feel right before. But now I feel nice.

 

"My attitude when I first started at Southampton was bad. Let's just say I wasn't the best behaved back then.

 

"I was young and never listened to anyone. I always thought that I knew what best. But you learn.

 

"I was never fully focused when I was younger. I always thought someone was against me — it was like I always had to prove something.

 

"I went to Coventry but I had injuries. It just didn't feel right but this one point in my career, everything is right.

 

"I've never run away from anything. That's how I was brought up.

 

"My mum is a strong woman. She won't back down from anything and I think the manager saw that in me. He saw how much I wanted it. He liked that and gave me the belief.

 

"There have been times at Newcastle when I have been injured or unhappy and I have taken it out on people close to me.

 

"I have arguments and Steve Stone, who is one of our coaches, is one I normally target. I don't mean to and afterwards I pull him to one side and we patch it up.

 

"That has brought us closer. You can only hold your feelings in for so long before you erupt."

 

If Newcastle's dream start refuses to wilt, expect those feelings to explode like nothing before.

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