September 2008 Archives

So Joe Kinnear has officially begun his new job as Newcastle's United temporary manager. There is a joke in here somewhere - get it - a bad one admittedly, but whatever you think about the Cockney Irishman you'd better hope he is able to do something to improve things at St James's Park.

We have no idea how long Joe "f*****g" Kinnear is going to be United's manager and, to be honest, I have no idea whether it's an absolute disaster or a surprisingly clever choice.

What I do know is that Joe has a tendency to swear a lot, he does not suffer fools and he will, in his own words, tell it how he sees it for however long he remains in charge. It might be four weeks, it could be six, but it might be eight. Let's be honest, it could be months so we may as well accept it and make the best of a bad situation.

A quick reminder to those Sunderland fans who decided it was a good idea to abuse Roy Keane during Sunderland's lacklustre Carling Cup performance against Northampton - dumb idea.

In case you have forgotten Keane has been largely responsible for getting the club back into the Premier League and keeping it there last season. He has raised the club's ambitions again over the summer and he has raised its national profile immeasurably.

He also happens to have just opened talks about extending his contract at the Stadium of Light which expires at the end of the season. If you tell him he resembles penis or a village idiot, and if you tell him to go back to Ireland with a few expletives thrown in for good measure, he could do just that!

There is a stench hanging in the air at St James's Park like a post curry and ale fart in a lift. It is the over-powering stench of fear, greed, rebellion and frustration and it is so foul it could even be enough to knock Newcastle United out of the Premier League.

The word crisis is one of the most overused in sport reporting, but it is all too apt for the Magpies. First comes a problem, then the turmoil, then the crisis and eventually the disaster.

If Kevin Keegan's row with Derek Llambias was the problem, the turmoil was the failed reconciliation attempts which followed. The crisis is the shambles of a football club we now see and which has suffered three successive Premier League defeats as meek and timid as Bambi taking her first steps.

As Mike Ashley and his band of merry men have decided to head to Dubai for a drinking - sorry business - trip I've also taken refuge away from St James's Park.

However, while Mike and his cronies enjoy the high life in swish bars and attempt to persuade an Arab businessmen with more money than sense to buy the club for £400m plus, the rest of us still have to earn a proper living.

So I'm at the cricket at Chester-le-Street where, rather than merely entertain the nation as some sort of cruel joke, Durham actually have a chance of winning something

So it seems like Mike Ashley has admitted defeat, is erecting the For Sale signs outside St James's Park and has broken the news to Derek Llambias that he may shortly need to return to his real job as a casino manager.

There was actually a lot of sense in Ashley "resignation" statement on Sunday night, but he still fails to realise the main reason the supporters have turned against him is the fact he has taken the side of Llambias and Dennis Wise in the row with Keegan.

I appreciate this subject remains pretty raw for a lot of you but with Kevin Keegan gone who do you think is the best candidate to replace him as manager?

I have to admit, given the emotions of the last week or so, I haven't been able to give it much thought myself and I'm sure it's been a lot worse for the fans. After all, it's difficult to think about hooking up with anyone new when you are still mourning the loss of your old flame isn't it.

Although I'm sure we've all ended up pulling someone on the rebound before and regretted it. In terms of a football manager that would be like replacing Keegan with Paul Gascoigne, but I can't see that happening.

In normal circumstances I would have arrived at work on Monday morning to write a blog congratulating Andy Murray on his achievement at the US Open, but as every Newcastle fan knows, these are far from normal times.

If anyone thought things would calm down over the weekend you were sadly mistaken because you can always rely on a "club insider" to pour petrol on the smoldering flames of discontent.

It is pretty obvious that the stories claiming Kevin Keegan wanted to sign Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard were aimed to discredit the man, but they have failed miserably because the story is so ludicrous and why, oh why, did this insider not wish to put his name to the comment?

Newcastle United supporters are among the most loyal in world football but the simple question following Kevin Keegan's resignation is where does your loyalty lie now?

Newcastle fans have followed the topsy-turvy fortunes of English football's greatest under-achievers with a gritty resolve and a resilient sense of humour which, at times, has been nothing short of remarkable.

But will that inbred loyalty, which has been handed down by generation to generation in this football mad corner of North East England be enough to prevent a season of mass discontent at a club which sits bang square in the middle of a crisis which is tearing it apart.

Most Newcastle United fans will have woken up this morning hoping it had all been a bad dream. Sadly, like the morning after a ridiculously heavy night before, it will all have come flooding back, all the regret, pain, anger and confusion which made Tuesday September 2nd one of the club's worst.

For now, it seems, Kevin Keegan remains as Newcastle United manager, but we simply do not know whether the peace talks instigated by owner Mike Ashley are going to lead to a lasting truce.

Keegan is frustrated and he is angry and he is never at his most rationale in that mood. He feels promises to him have been broken and he is struggling to have a working relationship with managing director Derek Llambias and, perhaps, other members of the Newcastle board appointed by Ashley to run the club in his absence.

It is the news every Newcastle United fan fears but probably expected - Kevin Keegan is believed to have left the club for the second time as a manager in protest at the manner in which it has conducted its transfer business this summer.

If the rumours, reports and rants are true, it must be said that the severing of ties has been coming for weeks, if not months, as the manager's relationship with the United board gradually deteriorated to the apparent point of no return.

A club statement insisted on Tuesday night that he had not been sacked, but it is still far from certain he hasn't walked in protest at the way he has been treated.