A late twist on the Tyne

Liam James says Newcastle were in trouble long before last week

KEVIN KEEGAN did predict in the Ewood Park interview room on Monday night that there would be another twist in the Premiership title race. He wasn't wrong, was he? But aside from yesterday's amazing defeat for Manchester United the real twist may have happened at Newcastle's training ground on Friday.

The twisted ankle which hastened Keith Gillespie's departure to a local hospital, will keep the Northern Ireland international in the wings when the Magpies play Aston Villa in what is now yet another vital title match for Newcastle this afternoon. Keegan will thus be spared the dilemma of whether to stick with a losing formula or bow to critics by restoring Gillespie.

His absence from Keegan's side has become a cause celebre beyond Tyneside. The popular belief is that Newcastle would never have relinquished their grip on the Premiership if the prison officer's son from Bangor had remained part of the Newcastle manager's plans.

When Gillespie's live-wire wing play was helping the Magpies soar in the first four months of the season, the "crack'' on Tyneside was that Andy Cole had been the real makeweight in the pounds 7m deal which took him to St James' last year. The truth is the most significant crack in Newcastle's challenge appeared at Old Trafford on 27 December.

They did not just freeze on the night and show the points failure which has derailed the bandwagon. They left with one of their precious assets frozen. Gillespie ruptured a thigh muscle and after David Ginola was sent off at Arsenal two weeks later Keegan decided he needed more up front. He made his move for Faustino Asprilla. The result - five defeats in eight games and more goals from a central defender, Philippe Albert's three, than from Beardsley, Ferdinand, Ginola and Lee.

Keegan points out that Gillespie's form dipped when he made a quick return after his injury in late January - and that the 21-year-old has only recently regained his sparkle in training.

Gillespie's rehabilitation has not been helped either by revelations that he lost pounds 62,000 in a week at his local accountants (turf) - and by speculation that he is destined to return to Old Trafford, where he was one of the Fergie Babes alongside Paul Scholes, David Beckham and the Neville boys. "Of course it's frustrating sitting on the bench, but I'm committed to Newcastle,'' Gillespie insisted. He has four years left on his contract.

The odds are against Gillespie collecting a championship medal next month, though not now as bad as they were on Friday night as he lay in hospital, but Keegan has told his players to forget their defeats at Anfield and Ewood. "What's gone has gone,'' he said. "We've got to concentrate on winning our last five games. If we slip up again and miss out by a point, that really would leave us gutted.''

The fans, even those who rue Asprilla's arrival and have called for Gillespie's return, remain firmly behind the man they still regard as their Messiah. That much was confirmed by the 3,500 who turned up to watch the first day's training after the Blackburn defeat.

But these are fretful times for the despairing foot soldiers of the Toon Army. Graham Fenton, who struck those two late blows at Blackburn on Monday, happens to be a lifelong Newcastle fanatic. So does Tommy Johnson, and Brian Little was born in Newcastle. Another twist on Tyneside this afternoon might be too much to bear.