Newcastle
Is Ashley Newcastle’s real probem?
It is times like these that one pities managers such as Sam Allardyce, whose hasty sacking has proven to do more to the detriment of Newcastle United than it has to bring any progression.
One cannot expect a club to be completely transformed in half a season even in Newcastle’s case whereby they can boast of having the only manager in the league who has actual super-human powers, or so we are told anyway.
It is difficult not to jump on the everyone-laugh-at-Newcastle bandwagon, their continuation as the Premier League’s laughing stock has been completely assisted by the fanfare that surrounded Kevin Keegan’s appointment. The appointment of Keegan, who has never won a trophy and who admits to having not seen a football match in several years, was contested primarily on the grounds that he loves the club and is a Geordie (and of course those renowned superpowers).
Now although this may help pine to the fans imagined notions of the club being put first before profits (cue Michael Owen joke), this is not enough for, for example, Delia Smith to take over as Norwich manager or for Sylvester Stallone to replace David Moyes. [NB: When searching for more celebrity fans, one may wish to draw attention to the rumour that Adolf Hitler and Colonel Gadaffi were/are also Everton fans: these are of course just rumours, but has inspired my next article on why Everton is the most appealing club to controversial autocratic leaders].
This is not to compare Kevin Keegan’s footballing brain to that of Delia Smith or even Adolf Hitler, he did manage to gain relative success at Newcastle in his first tenure as a manager, finishing second place in the 1995/6 and 1996/7 seasons, and he was also England manager (although lets not think of this as a success in itself *cough* Steve McClaren *cough*). The problem is not just with Kevin Keegan’s appointment (that is just me jumping on the bandwagon), the problem is not with the fans (50,000 every week so we are annoyingly reminded every time we come within shouting distance of a Geordie), the problem that Newcastle now face is with the new owner of their beloved club.
It seems that since Mike Ashley took over the club, expectations have risen not only within the so-called ‘Toon Army’ but also outside, at the start of the season I expected Newcastle to be the Premier Leagues surprise package, challenging for the European places, they had a brilliant manager who had changed a lacking Bolton side into a team able to challenge for the UEFA cup places, albeit over time.
The problem with Mike Ashley is that he is a fan before he is the owner of the club, now this again does appeal to all of our dreams that the whole structure of the club wants the same as us as football fans, but we also have to remember how much of an emotional sport football is. There are times when even fans of the bigger clubs go on a losing streak or get one too many draws in a row and will start asking for the managers head on a plate, and that’s why we have the big guys at the top of the club to manage things in a rational way. If Mike Ashley wanted quick fix solutions to get Newcastle up the top of the table, then why didn’t he get rid of Allardyce at the start of the season?
The reason is because there are no quick-fix solutions, Newcastle is a club that has got so stale that despite the profits it makes, the wages it pays, the fans it has, and in some respects- some of the players it has, it has no stability. The manager’s position at Newcastle United is rotated more than Liverpool’s first team, and there is no wonder that the players seem unsettled and practically clueless.
What Newcastle United need is one manager (you may think this is Keegan), that has a clue what he’s doing, and will be given time to do his job. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were any of the top clubs in the Premier League (alright, maybe except Chelsea), why would it be any different with NUFC, patience is a virtue, and so is human rationality, so it would be advisable for Ashley to choose his next manager on his merits and then stick by him, because at this rate one must question whether Keegan will jump before he’s pushed or jump after the ship has sank down to the depths of the Championship. But at least he’s a Geordie, right?
Tags: Mike Ashley 
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sam allaerdyce a brilliant manager? come off it !!
keegan did more at man city in 3 year than allerdyce did at boton in a decade .
if you hadnt checked newcastles results during sam’s reign you would see it’s why we are in the position we are .
a loss and a draw to derby , last min goalsagainst fulham and birmingham , any supporter worth their salt was screaming when we lost those games knowing fine well they would bite us in the backside innthe second half of the season .
sam was calling to ’stop the rot’ from the first month of the season .
the one thing keegan will get is time this is not keegans team this is big sams team big sam should be to blame if we stop up then u will see keegans team judge him then ok
fyi KK isn’t actually a Geordie, he was born in Doncaster
You don’t know what you are talking about. You’re just another loudmouthed blatherer who for some reason unbeknown to me, decide that they have a right to pass comment/judgement on our club without any comprehension of the situation or any factual knowledge. It shows how little you know about football if you think Sam Allardyce should have been given more time with us - he should have been sacked after the Liverpool home game - I’ve never seen a more negative, inept performance in my life. He and he alone is responsible for the plight of our club at the moment and Keegan is having to work with the shower of S**t that BSA left him with. Keegan’s been in this position before with us and got us out of it- I hope he does it this time if only to shut people like you up.
I would like to point out that Newcastle’s current problems are not KK’s fault, they are not Mike Ashley’s fault, they are not even Fat Sam’s fault.
It is purely a result of years of miss management by Freddy Shepherd. Ashley had all the right in the world to sack Sam. Did Sam get time, No. Was it unfair to sack him, probably. But when you spend umpteen million on a club, then pay off another umpteen million in debts you have the right to put your own man in place.
Like you said Rome wasn’t built in a day, so lets judge Mike Ashley, KK and Newcastle on next season, when he has his squad, and his players…
Biff, I hope he does it this time too. I do hope Newcastle stay up as well, and Im sure they probably will. The main thing I was attempting to get at with the article, maybe not put across so well, was that in the culture of the premier league at present, managers are switching around so much, nobody gets a chance to prove anything. And stability is absolutely essential to a football teams success. Im not saying Allardyce was some kind of footballing mastermind, he certainly wouldnt be my first choice, or even close, but my point was that he may as well have been given til the end of the season to prove he wasnt the right man for the job. I would be very interested to hear your opinion on why Newcastle are where they are. And I dont mean just this season, i mean generally, for a club with such incredible potential. Obviously you will be more informed than me, being a newcastle fan, I would be interested to hear what you have to say about that.
I totally agree with everything Stacky said to be honest, and I do agree Ashley had the right to put his man in, I just questioned whether it is not dangerous to have such volatitlity in a club that is performing so below their expectations and potential.