 IT is a feeling not quite like any other, that horrible, nerve-shredding, stomach-churning moment when something precious slips through your fingers and smashes into tiny, irreparable pieces on the floor. For some it is a precious vase, a family heirloom or a valuable piece of art. For Newcastle United it was the Premier League title. The vast majority of United followers will not need to be reminded what it feels like, the agonising pain, the frustration and the heartache as Kevin Keegan’s valiant side imploded and Manchester United pipped them to the prize on the last day of the 1995/6 season. If there is a football club which has learnt the hard way you should never take anything for granted when you have a double-figure lead at the top of the table it is Newcastle. Chris Hughton’s side may be on a six-game winning streak, but the 10-point buffer they have built between themselves and the play-off places can disappear just as quickly as it has been built, particularly when we have still not reached the halfway stage of this Championship campaign. Peter Løvenkrands was not part of that terrible experience at St James’ Park more than 13 years ago, but he has suffered enough. In his one season with Schalke in Germany’s Bundesliga, the Danish international saw a 12-point lead evaporate as the club’s dreams of a first title success turned into a catastrophe. Schalke do not only play their football in Gelsenkirchen, the German city twinned with Newcastle-upon-Tyne, they are the country’s mirror-mage of the Magpies, renowned for the passion and loyalty of their support but ridiculed for the lack of trophies to go with it. Løvenkrands has also suffered a similar experience in Scotland with Glasgow Rangers, and if anyone is showing the vaguest hint of complacency inside the United camp they had better not do it in front of him. “There are so many games to play and if we went on a run where we had two draws and two defeats the other teams would catch us up at the top of the table,” said Løvenkrands, who has scored two goals in his last two games playing as a centre forward. | 
Article
