Krul runnings

His last run out in the first team was the debacle at Stevenage when he was left badly exposed by his defence but even by his own admission Krul was far from at his best that day.

And it seemed that a long run in the team and the re-emergence of Harper coming back from a psychological point of view appeared to be playing on his mind a bit.

As he left Broadhall Way, you could only feel sorry for Krul because he knew he wasn't going to get the chance to make amends without a long wait.

That long wait it would appear is over and since he found himself on the bench his attitude has been fantastic.

To throw into the mix, Krul has also had to contend with vicious rumour that he will be shown the door at St James' Park come the end of the season as reported in the Sunday Press.

But with denials by the player himself - who was furious with the story and even confronted the said journalist about the piece - and his manager, there would appear to be a calm after the storm.

Harper will still be at Newcastle next season and perhaps seasons to come after that, but why should United sell one of their best goalkeepers in the summer?

Surely the common sense is to loan out Krul or Fraser Forster next season.

Krul is a different animal to the introvert and more guarded Forster.

But the Hexham-born keeper will probably feel he has every right to come back to the club's Benton base in June and demand the number 1 slot.

Even if that will be outlandish there is nothing wrong with such confidence in my opinion.

The main thing is both Krul and Forster are tied down to contracts and the destiny of the Toon goalkeeper brigade is in the hands of the backroom team.

Throw into that the rapid progress of England youth international Jak Alnwick and it's looking good.

It's a position that every other department (defence, midfield and attack) would love to be in and certainly something to strive for.

For Krul if possession is nine-tenths of the law then he has a distinct advantage over Forster already ahead of next season, he's got the Premier League games (surely harder than SPL) under his belt and it would be far from a gamble throwing him in at any stage next season.

Many may disagree in the Forster v Krul battle - but it's a lovely problem have for Newcastle United.