James Perch may be a fringe player at Newcastle, but the utility man feels he'd have been 'mad' to leave the club in the transfer window.
Team not discussing league position just yet
James Perch may be a fringe player at Newcastle, but the utility man feels he would have been "mad" to leave the club in the transfer window.
The 26-year-old was the subject of an approach from an unnamed club last month but manager Alan Pardew rejected the offer.
Leon Best was also linked with a move to Celtic but Pardew is short of cover at the moment - and that could mean his squad men playing a vital role between now and the end of the season.
Perch came off the bench to help secure a 2-0 win at Blackburn in midweek and has reiterated his desire to stay at the club.
"I don't know why you would want to leave here," Perch told the
Shields Gazette.
"You'd be mad to leave a team that looks like it's really going somewhere with the best fans in the country behind you.
"Why would you want to go somewhere on loan, whether it was true or not? We saw it with Bestie not wanting to go to Celtic, and I don't see why he would.
"He's playing at Newcastle in a good team. It's exciting times at the moment here."
Excitement
That excitement could not have been predicted in the summer, when things looked bleak after the departures of Kevin Nolan, Jose Enrique and Joey Barton.
But Newcastle are now just three points behind Chelsea in the race for a Champions League spot and Perch feels the team have proved their point.
"The people who talked about that are people you probably won't see or hear now," said Perch. "We have stuffed that down their throats. We knew that in the dressing room that we had a good team and a good squad.
"The togetherness of the squad's unbelievable. This is what happens when you have a good squad and good belief.
"The fans are in on it too, and they came all the way to Blackburn on a cold Wednesday night.
"It's superb, you have to look at them and think 'fair play, you've came a long way to support the boys'."
The big question now is whether Newcastle are capable of reaching even greater heights and possibly bringing Champions League football back to Tyneside.
"We haven't discussed league positions just yet," added Perch. "We go game by game, and check the league table after it and move on to the next game. I'm sure we'll look at it closer towards the end of the season to see where we are."
