Jose: We won’t rest until we’re the North East’s top dogs again

Dec 20 2009 by Steve Brown, Sunday Sun

NESTLING currently in a league apart from Sunderland but well above Middlesbrough, Jose Enrique wants Newcastle United to be the North East’s top dogs once more.

He believes victory over the Teessiders today can only help in that pursuit.

The Magpies were relegated along with Boro at the end of last season, when the Black Cats escaped the drop.

After years of traditionally being the region’s No 1 club, Newcastle now find themselves playing second fiddle to their Wearside rivals but atop the Championship, with Enrique – content now where once, in the Premier League, he and his misfiring team-mates were running “scared” – eyeing a swift return to the top flight and its upper reaches.

First though, Boro.

Local hostilities with the Riverside outfit may not be so pronounced as those shared with Sunderland, but derby or not, this afternoon’s clash remains vastly important even to a Spaniard.

With experience only of the derby between hometown club Valencia and previous employers Villarreal before he arrived on these shores, two and a half years have at least educated Enrique in the understanding that Tyne versus Tees ranks a little lower than Tyne against Wear.

But he nevertheless insists that if United are to reclaim their stature as the North East’s leading football club, before they pursue Sunderland they must first conquer Boro.

“I hope we can be top dogs in the North East again,” he said.

“We have a long way to go because we are in the Championship, but I think we can get back into the Premier League and then we can be up at the top end of it.

“The last year has had some bad moments but I think we will get back to the Premier League.

“If we do that I think this team can be a big team again in the Premier League.