Rather than expose himself to ridicule, Joe Kinnear may well emerge from his swear-word ridden rant at the press this week with plenty of credit inside the Newcastle United dressing room, as well as on the terraces.
I was lucky enough to be present when Kinnear tore into the daily newspaper pack - not the Journal I hasten to add - and it was remarkable stuff. I've seen some manager dish out some bollockings in my time, but this was extraordinary because of the length of time it went on for and the ferocity with which it started.
It isn't a course of action I would advise for any budding young manager, but when you are an interim manager and you want to create a siege mentality at the club this was a well-thought out tactic. The players, I suspect, will have thoroughly enjoyed hearing about their new manager going on the offensive.
The actual rant wasn't that coherent, but after the details were printed in the media and on all sorts of websites, I think Joe has come out of it pretty much unscathed, if not in a stronger position than before he went into that press conference.
He looks like a man who is willing to stand up for what he believes in, a man who just wants to be given a chance to do a job he has been desperate to get and a man who will always tell it like he sees it. Sometimes they can seem rare qualities in modern football management.
Of course only results will ultimately determine how well he does on Tyneside, but from the people I've spoken to, both Newcastle fans and otherwise, there is a sense that Joe has done the right thing, tackled his critics head on and, in the process, perhaps united a few people behind him.
Quite what sort of success he can achieve in a few weeks is open to considerable question, but it will be interesting to see what sort of response he gets from the players at Everton at the weekend.
One thing is for sure, it isn't going to be dull with Joe f******g Kinnear in charge - sometimes I wonder whether it would be nice if it actually was for a change!
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