"I'm not a racist. I'm black and white."

By Peter Donnelly
January 31 2003

Jonathan Woodgate passed a medical and agreed personal terms with Newcastle United on Friday and was unveiled in a press conference at St. James' Park with Sir Bobby Robson. Read all about it here.

It's United's 3rd biggest signing at £9M with Shearer of course leading the way and Laurent Robert second with his £9.5M fee.

It's certainly one of the most promising signings Newcastle made in a while, with Woodgate definately boasting our defence.

Our latest signing said,

""I've been at Leeds since I was 13 and loved it there. I made some good friends but I've moved on now. I wasn't pushed out of Leeds. They accepted a bid from Newcastle and said I could talk to them.

The chairman has had some stick he doesn't deserve. He's an honourable man who looked after me during my court case - and I'd like to thank him.

There have been some hard times for me - but I'd like to think I've become a better person.

Newcastle have got a great young set of talented players and a great manager - and hopefully we'll bring trophies to the club. There are plenty of reasons for me to come here. The players, the manager and 55,000 supporters for each game.

I've known Kieron Dyer, Andy Griffin, Alan Shearer and Gary Speed for a few years, so hopefully I'll settle in well. I am really excited at the new challenge of joining Newcastle United - one of Europe's biggest clubs.

The court case was a bad time for me but I'm not a racist player - ask Michael Chopra, Harpal Singh, Kieron Dyer - they'll tell you that.I am not a racist. I am black and white."

On our charge for the title he said,

"I believe so - why not. Arsenal have got to come here that's the big game. Hopefully we can win that."

Sir Bobby said,

"In my opinion he is perfect for us. He is an England player. He won't need any settling in, he is ready made and he will get better.

He's only 23 and has a long future. His signing is in keeping with the policy of the club which is to bring in young players with talent.

We've come a long way as a club in the last two years. The club is very ambitious and we're close to the big boys - Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool - they are where we want to be. Signing him shows our ambition and drive.

I also felt it was prudent to buy English because there are a lot of foreign players at the club and the balance has to be right.

It has been a difficult time for Leeds United and we understand the problems this signing has caused them. They will have to sort them out the best way they can.

Terry Venables is a great colleague and a great friend. He's also a tough coach. He has said needs time to think about whether or not to carry on as Leeds manager but I think I know what Terry will do.

It was important to buy an English player, we have a lot of foreign players and he's a Northern boy.

We finished 4th last year and we haven't gone backwards. Any signing is a gamble but you minimise your gamble. I'm confident he will be a fantastic player for Newcastle.

There's never ever in football a complete jigsaw - but in a way he is the final piece of the jigsaw. We have an exquisite squad. The players themselves see a chance (to win the league.)"

On other signings,

"I've been far too busy to think about the Kleberson deal - we made an offer, it was rejected. End of story I think."

Nice words by Woody then, especially his "I'm not a racist. I'm black and white," line, which I certainly liked. I'm sure the Toon Army will be 100% behind him on the racism issue, we all hate racism and I think Woodgate feels the same way, he would have learned a lot of lessons in the past few years.

Apart from a mix-up between the journalits and the 'director' and a couple of repeated questions the press conference was good and Woody had nothing but praise for his new club. More on his arrival asap.