Premiership: Magpies Cort-ing second opinion

Newcastle have already named the day for striker Carl Cort to undergo surgery if a second opinion confirms that is the way forward.

United boss Bobby Robson today revealed that the club has booked a slot, believed to be with American specialist Richard Steadman, to ensure that any operation is carried out as quickly as possible.

The 24-year-old frontman is to be sent to see the Colorado-based knee expert in a bid to solve a problem which has failed to disappear despite four months of rest.

Newcastle are currently trying to contact Professor David Dandy, the man who has been working with the player in this country, to inform him as a matter of courtesy that they are ready to send him overseas.

‘‘We are endeavouring to fix up this second opinion, and to do that, we have to first of all inform the first surgeon of our thoughts,’’ said Robson.

‘‘We have had difficulty contacting him and we have had difficulty contacting the second guy for his opinion because, without giving too much away, it happens to be Thanksgiving weekend.

‘‘We’re trying to do it right. We don’t want to go on a second opinion without informing the first surgeon that that’s what the board would like.

‘‘We want to do the best for the boy. He’s a valuable commodity. He’s a financial investment to us and we have to protect that investment, and we want to be right for the boy.

‘‘We’re not looking at the investment, we’re looking at the boy, so we hope that in the next few days, we’ll be able to solve both problems and get hold of both surgeons and deal with it.

‘‘We have a date pencilled in for an operation anyway. We don’t want to miss out on that date, we don’t want that one to be delayed.’’

Cort has endured nothing short of a nightmare since his £7m move from Wimbledon in the summer of 2000.

A troublesome hamstring injury required surgery and then he was only a matter of weeks into his comeback when he turned an ankle in a post-season friendly and was sidelined for another three months.

To make matters worse, he was only days away from resuming in the first-team in August when he damaged knee ligaments in training, and it is that latest misfortune which is behind the current state of affairs.

Cort has shown in his fleeting appearances to date - just 15 - that he has a big future at Newcastle, but only if he can fight his way out of the treatment room and back on to the pitch.