The phantom of the Toon!

As revealed here on NUFCblog.info yesterday, it appears that Shola Ameobi's cheek injury is not as bad as was first feared.

That isn't strictly true though to be fair as his injury is still pretty severe, but the good news is that his recovery period could be shortened significantly by the use of a protective mask, which was an option that had previously been deemed too risky.

This is why Shola will be heading off to America to see a specialist who deals in custom made protective masks of the kind that are usually reserved for NBA players. Amoebi will jet out to Detroit baby, Detroit, this week to meet up with Jeremy Murray who will fit the mask that will, hopefully, allow the Fenham Eusebio to return to action in as little as two weeks.

Ordinarily I wouldn't be too fussed about missing Shola through injury as it's kind of one of things that I have got used to over the years, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and Shola is needed at his home-town club.

"We've got good news on Shola," said Alan Pardew. "We're sending him to America; there's a basketball guy who specialises in protective masks for American NBA players. He's the only guy in the world who does that kind of thing and we're going to use him to protect Shola's cheekbone, so Shola could be back in two or three weeks."

I'll remain sceptical on that to be honest, although in fairness Shola wouldn't be the first of our strikers to wear the gimp mask. Leon Best became somewhat of a cult hero at Coventry City due to his rich goalscoring form when he had to wear a similar mask, so perhaps that Midas touch could rub off on Shola? Maybe Bestie could give Shola some tips on wearing said mask?

"Shola's sending out the signals that he'll play with it if he's given the guarantee that it will protect him and I think it will," Pardew stated. "The guy designs the mask to reflect the injury. I'd say the NBA is more physical than the Premier League when it comes to cheekbone and eye socket injuries; you've got arms everywhere and rebounds and stuff, so if someone in the NBA, a 6ft 8in giant, is wearing one of those masks, I think I'd feel confident wearing it in a football match."

"Shola's is a nasty injury and if he doesn't feel confident going into challenges then there's no point, so we've got to get him out to America, get it made and get him comfortable with it."

Rebounds and 'stuff' eh Pards? Very technical.....

On a serious note it sounds like a sensible move to make IF the player is willing to go along with it, and this is where I have my doubts. It's fair enough saying that Shola is sending out the signals, but the problem with signals is that they can be easily misinterpreted. Either Shola wants to risk it, or not, surely?

If he comes back early then great, but he needs to make sure that he is 100% sure about it. Any injury doubt can play on your mind, and the last thing you want in the heat of battle is second thoughts about going for a 50/50 ball or for a header.

Still it would be amusing to see anyway!