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The mere mention of La Manga on the Premier League circuit usually prompts unhappy memories of Leicester City’s infamous stay 16 years ago.

Back then, the Foxes arrived in the plush resort to improve morale ahead of their Worthington Cup final against Tranmere Rovers.

Stars like Robbie Savage, Stan Collymore and Ian Marshall were all in the Leicester squad at the time but the trip wasn’t remembered for football reasons.

Indeed, things soon got out of hand and a booze-fuelled encounter resulted in Leicester being booted out of the complex after fire extinguishers were let off and the players got too carried away.

Since then some Premier League clubs have opted against visiting the sporting club. Newcastle were the first team since Liverpool in 2007 to visit the site when they arrived this week.

Despite the unfortunate chapter in La Manga’s history 16 years ago over 1,000 teams have used the plush facility for pre-season trips and warm weather training camps.

And with Newcastle players tucked up in bed before 10pm every day of their stay, director of the complex Chad Harpur has hailed United’s squad as the hardest working group he’s ever had in La Manga.

He played down talk that Newcastle’s stay in La Manga was a “jolly” and told the Sunday Sun: “They have worked really hard. For any doubters out there they have been here, put their heads down and shown what a great group they all. They are nice people and very respectful.

“The players and staff have worked really, really hard. They are probably the hardest working team we have had here at La Manga.”

Harpur played for Chelsea, Leeds and Millwall during his career as a goalkeeper back in England before moving to La Manga to take over as sporting director of one of Europe’s premier resorts.

Newcastle have been joined by both Lillestrom and Rubin Kazan during their stay in the resort and it’s the preferred training camp of Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Harpur said: “You have to go into the real world after playing football and luckily enough the opportunity to come to La Manga arrived.

“I’ve been here three years and we have made significant improvements. To have an ex-player here is positive because I can look at the finer details.

“It’s the smaller things that make the difference at a complex like this.”

Harpur feels his experiences in England give him the edge at the La Manga Club. He said: “I have had quite a few clubs in the past, so I know what teams want.

“Ruud Gullit got me over to England at Chelsea when I was a youngster. Unfortunately, he got fired and Gianluca Vialli came in. He didn’t fancy me, that’s football - it’s an opinion.

“I had the same agent as Lucas Radebe who was at Leeds. So I went up to Leeds and signed a four-year deal. The ‘keepers up there were Nigel Martyn and Paul Robinson who were both England internationals so I learned a lot from them.

“I travelled with the team and it was the good times at Leeds. They were in the Champions League. Things weren’t an issue and the club were going from strength to strength.

“I realised I wasn’t going to play with Nigel and Paul ahead of me. I moved to Millwall and Tony Warner was the number 1 and he had the season of his life.

“I went back to South Africa and played in the Olympics before moving to Kilmarnock.

“Then I moved to Ajax Capetown who are affiliated with Ajax Amsterdam. But seven minutes into that I dislocated my shoulder. It was a tough time.”

Now, though, Harpur is right at home as helps teams prepare during breaks from domestic football.

He said: “It’s all on the site here, teams have everything they need. We can help them get ready for a new season or the next part of their league campaign.”