 KEVIN NOLAN today vowed to remain focused on the task in hand after being named the Coca-Cola Championship’s player of the year. The Toon star picked up the accolade at a gala dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane last night in London after helping United pick up a point at Middlesbrough. Nolan has netted 13 goals this season and dedicated his FourFourTwo Player of the Year Award for the Coca-Cola Championship 2010 to his team-mates and boss Chris Hughton. He said today: “I am delighted to pick this up and I want to thank my team-mates, Chris Hughton, all of his backroom staff and the fans and, of course, my family. “It is going to be nice to take this home and see my daughter run around with it.” Nolan’s next task will be to help rally the troops ahead of Wednesday night’s home encounter with Scunthorpe United, with Newcastle protecting their unbeaten home record. Nolan told the Chronicle: “There are still a lot of games to go and we’re not there yet. “But the games come thick and fast. “There are only seven weeks of the season left and we’ve got plenty of games to play before then. “If we can keep racking up the wins, then hopefully promotion will come sooner rather than later. “That’s what we all want and everybody can then breathe a huge sigh of relief. “After that, hopefully we can start then planning for the Premier League next year and look at building on that.” And Nolan added: "People thought that we would do a Leeds and go down again, but we got together after the Leyton Orient game and that probably put us where we are now to be quite honest. "That 6-1 thrashing has played a massive part in our season. "We tried to play it down at the time, but we were all hurting. It actually made all the rubbish come to the top and it was a case of 'Are you in or are you out?' "Everyone should appreciate what Chris has done for this club. Mike Ashley realises what he's done. In pre-season, he didn't have to go to Leyton Orient, he didn't have to endure that, but he did and we thank him for that and that's why we want to repay him and win the title for him. "Our main aim is to get promotion and win the title and if we can do that I'll be a very happy man to have given it to Chris Hughton because he deserves it." And should United make their expected return to the big time, Nolan believes it will only be a matter of time before they are back challenging at the top of the English game. "To get a move to Newcastle was beyond my wildest dreams and when we went down there was never any question of me jumping ship and wanting to leave," the former Bolton man said. "I want to do what we did at Bolton when I was there and build a club up. "We'll be back in the Premier League soon and then hopefully in Europe and it'd be nice if I could see it through after helping to start it off." | 
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