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Premiership
Newcastle Board Can't Afford to Get It Wrong This Time
Legendary non-league manager and Geordie fan Frank Gregan on the characteristics the next Newcastle manager must possess
'Roll up, roll up and stake your claim for a drink from the poison chalice!' The post of manager at Newcastle is once again vacant. Of course it is, there's a 'R' in the month! Newcastle change managers like Sean Bean changes his wedding plans and there is a fundamental reason behind this. They constantly get the appointment wrong in the first place.
The selection process has started again with anybody who might just be able to provide the toon army with a modicum of success putting as much distance between themselves and the madhouse that is St James Park as possible. This is a subject very close to my heart. I was raised in Pendower, a council estate in Newcastle about two and a half miles from the ground. I have endured fifty years of absolute diddly squat in terms of success. I have been to three FA Cup finals full of expectation and left Wembley each time looking for a rope and a beam.
On the last occasion, against Manchester United in 1999, I had a cunning plan. My wife and I stayed in the Hilton next to Wembley stadium on the Friday and Saturday night and had prime tickets. It cost a small fortune but in order to pay for the entire weekend I had a medium size wager on Newcastle to win in 90 minutes at 4.5. As ever the black and white shire horses let me down but at least the bailiffs turned out to be very understanding!
Manchester United, of course, won. Oh how they were dancing in the streets of Milton Keynes and Seoul that evening!
Being a Geordie and a Newcastle fan means enduring a life of constant baiting. Even my quick retort of "Put your intertoto cups on the table" is starting to wear thin. I wish they had sacked Big Sam this time last month. At least then I would have been able to write to Santa to ask for a certain Mr Mourinho. That too is a sad reflection of my life as a Newcastle fan, I genuinely have more faith in an old bloke in a red suit and a long white beard than I do in the board of directors.
So who is it going to be? I think this market is one that offers an opportunity to put yourself in the shoes of a chairman and make your choice. It has to be somebody that is respected, ambitious and have a proven track record. He must also be attainable, it's pointless carping on about the greater gods that quite frankly aren't going to entertain the notion of going to the North East. I have also discounted those that have been linked but have elected not to be considered. Two names shine like Malcolm MacDonald against Queen of the South in a pre-season friendly. Mark Hughes and Steve Coppell. Always the sucker for a big price my couple of quid is on Coppell at [28.0].
Comments (2)
I think Stuart Pearce as next Newcastle manager could be a good shout given they are running out of options.
Certainly clubs do like to appoint people with Premiership experience though his lack of flair with Man City might count against him.
The main problem is that the Geordie fans have got to get rid of this idea that their team has ever played attractive football.
Apart from a brief spell under Keegan and an even shorter spell under Robson they have generally played poor, uninventive football.
apal | 15 January 2008
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I believe the Newcastle Board have already messed up.
If they were going to sack Allardyce, why didn't they do it on Monday Morning? Why did they allow Sam to dabble in the transfer market on Tuesday, signing Ben Tozer from Swindon? Why did they sack Big Sam on Wednesday evening.
I could be totally wrong, but I have a hunch that the board got wind that Redknapp would almost certainly take the job. So Sam got the bullet, Redknapp was interviewed within 48 hours - yet turns down the job.
Now the board are in a mess. They have said they want a British manager with experience. Redknapp has said no, Mark Hughes is trying to rule himself out but doesn't know where he stands, and you get the impression that Keegan would take the job if he was asked.
I think Steve Coppell is way to dull to make the Geordies happy if he was to become their manager so I wouldn't back him. I've backed Stuart Pearce but only because his odds were massive, but it's either Hughes or Keegan for me.
Northern Lad | 14 January 2008