Charity Shame

As hopefully a few of our readers will have noticed it`s National Nurses Day this coming Saturday. In a campaign to gain some recognition for the hard work the profession does, for seemingly little recognition, Dr Noreena Hertz has been aiming to get each and every Premiership player to give up a day`s wages to go into the nursing hardship fund.

So far many big hitters have signed up including Thierry Henry, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and both Old Firm captains, Neil Lennon and Barry Ferguson. In fact 230 Premiership footballers have so far pledged in, including the entire squads of Fulham, West Ham, Watford and Reading as well as 20+ members of Sheffield United`s and Bolton`s squads.

What makes it sad to see is the fact that, despite paying some of the highest wages in the Premier League (Rolls Royce as our chairman called them), not one Newcastle player has bothered to contribute. Glenn Roeder and Freddie Shepherd (as well as future boss Sam Allardyce) are all signed up so why haven`t they had a word in the players` shells?

Again it embarrasses the club and shows just how detached the current SJP squad have become from the common man/woman. Only Chelsea, with their squad of paupers, and Boro have also pledged '0`.

If anyone reading this does have the ear of a player at the club can they please point them in the direction of the website. It`s www.maydayfornurses.com Here`s hoping it`s a table we can actually get into the top half of.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.