January 2008 Archives

As I awaited the announcement of Fabio Capello’s first squad as England manager rumours began to surface that Michael Owen was not going to be included in the 30-man squad.

Now it doesn’t take a genius to work out that Owen being dropped from the England squad for the first time since he burst on to the international scene at France 98 was a major story.

England’s Michael Owen was going to be plain old Michael again, which is a bit like telling Prince Charles that he is no longer Prince of Wales or Duke of Cornwall or whatever else he is these days.

Ah Dennis Wise. Dear old loveable, cuddly and fluffy little Dennis Wise. The man nobody in the game will have a bad word said about. The most respected man in English football. The visionary thinker, the master tactician, the cultured, artistic little Dennis Wise.

If any of these thoughts flashed across your mind when you heard the news about Wise' appointment at St James's Park you are either mad, deranged or a Chelsea fan! This is a guy who could fall out with a room full of nuns. But that does not necessarily mean his arrival at Newcastle United is bad news.

I'm already sick of Kevin Keegan's return to Newcastle United. No, that's not right, what I meant to say is Kevin Keegan's return to Newcastle United coincided with me picking up a rather nasty stomach bung shortly after the 0-0 draw with Bolton Wanderers last weekend.

Perhaps it was down to too much excitement, although I think it probably had more to do with the fact my girlfriend is a primary school teacher and is exposed to those disease ridden, germ infested things they call school children!

Then again, it's not like there was anything to celebrate on Saturday night was there? Two teams largely constructed by Sam Allardyce play out a largely dull goalless draw, hardly the cause for a night swinging from the lamp shades in some swanky down town drinking establishment was it.

His hair is grey, his face is wrinkled and worn, but his eyes sparkled and that was good enough for me. I’ve never been in a room with Kevin Keegan before, but when people talk about auras, when they talk about presence and when Simon Cowell talks about the X-Factor, I know exactly what they all mean.

Keegan oozed charisma, he oozed charm, he oozed determination and he oozed purpose. But what really oozed (I’ve used that word a little too much haven’t I?) from Keegan as he greeted the media for the first time since his return was his love for Newcastle, not just the club, but the city and its people.

Mike Ashley has always insisted he is a Newcastle United fan first, owner second. The appointment of Kevin Keegan has added undoubted weight to his argument. It was a choice made by a fan hoping to relive the glory days, not an owner scrutinising the CVs of prospective candidates from all over Europe.

Keegan is the popular choice, but he is not the overwhelming choice. He is not the choice of those who believe the game has moved on from 1996 and he is probably not the choice of United fans who do not remember those wonderful days when the Magpies were the envy of the nation because of the thrilling attacking football they played. In other words anyone aged 23 or under!

However, he is the romantics choice, he is the choice for those who believe Newcastle United need a manager who understands the unique nature of the club and what makes it tick, he is the choice for anyone who believes football should be played with an element of the cavalier.

Firstly, let me just say, that Harry Redknapp’s decision to stay at Portsmouth rather than become Newcastle United’s new manager is a blessing in disguise for the club.

Secondly, let me just say, the decision to sack Sam Allardyce without making sure who his replacement would be, other than the vague suggestion from ‘arry’s camp that he was interested, is the first major blunder of the Mike Ashley/Chris Mort era.

However, let’s us draw a line under that now. Yes, the new people at the top have made a bit of a mess of the process of replacing Allardyce. Yes, their first choice to replace him was a dubious one to say the least, but the point is, Redknapp isn’t coming and someone else is.

Well if Big Sam didn’t see the bullet coming then what hope did the rest of us have? I have to be honest it was a complete shock to me, so the only difference between Sam and myself on Wednesday night was that I was working until late and I don’t have a £6m pay off to look forward to.

Sam Allardyce arrived at St James’s Park with a big reputation and an excellent track record, but he never really convinced supporters he was the right man for the job. There were too many bad memories of watching Bolton Wanderers play for fans who like to see stylish football almost as much as they crave a piece of silverware to celebrate.

It would be too simplistic to say you lot wanted a return to the Kevin Keegan years, but, as I’ve said when results are poor, Sam didn’t have much goodwill to fall back on.

The wolves have been hungrily following the scent of Sam Allardyce as they hunt for their next managerial kill this season, but it might not be too long until they are also tracking Roy Keane.

Keane has been virtually untouchable since he arrived on Wearside. Not surprising when you consider he led a club which was in the bottom three when he arrived in September to promotion, but the chinks in his armour have been growing ever wider as the Premier League season progresses.

It would be foolish to argue Keane is a bad manager - he has already shown that he is not by what he achieved last season - but being a good manager and an un-criticised manager are completely different things. In his playing days, Keane could virtually walk on water, now that he is a manager he is finding out he sinks like everyone else.

If there is one place you don’t want to go in January it’s Stoke, but enough from the British Tourism Guide. The one place you really don’t want to go to when you are a Premier League manager under pressure after three successive league defeats is Stoke City.

Given that Stoke are the Championship’s equivalent of Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers - big, direct and physical - it would be ironic if a defeat at the Britannia Stadium brought an end to his time as Newcastle boss. A defeat against a team who model themselves on the team where Allardyce built his reputation would surely be too much for even him to take.

And so 2008 has begun at a freezing cold Blackburn waiting for Sunderland to trot out into a half full Ewood Park. Not quite the glorious start to the New Year I had wanted, but it's not all free lunches and luxury padded seats this press lark you know.

It is normal at this time of year to ponder a few New Year's resolutions before conveniently forgetting them again some point around January 12th and, as I've got a bit of time on my hands, I thought I'd join in.

I'd imagine Joey Barton has also had a bit of time on his hands to think about his resolutions in his cell and I'd assume trying to avoid popping into McDonalds in Liverpool in the early hours of the morning featured pretty highly.