Buzzin Football

Newcastle United have shot themselves in the foot so many times, it’s hard to see how they were still standing on the last day of the Premier League season.  After a dismal run of results, they only needed to draw with Aston Villa, if Hull City lost to Manchester United, to remain in the Premiership for another season.

Over the past 12 months or so Newcastle United have been managed by two messiahs, one over-the-hill manager with a history of heart problems, and a caretaker manager who has never before managed a team at any level.  Furthermore, the board of directors appointed Dennis Wise as Director of Football.  An appointment that was as unpopular and unsuccessful, as it was surprising.

Self-made millionaire and self-confessed fanatical Newcastle United fan and owner, Mike Ashby certainly hasn’t helped to steady the boat, but even since becoming the most unpopular man in Newcastle, he has continued to plough his own money into the club; and by tempting Kevin Keegan (messiah no.1) out of retirement, he played no small part in pulling off the biggest footballing shock of the decade.

For a short time the so-called “most loyal fans in English football” were happy living in cloud cuckooland.  Instead of moaning about how their Premier League position didn’t correspond to how big a club Newcastle United were, they began boasting how Newcastle were going to take their “rightful” place in the Champions League and be one of the best teams in Europe etc etc!

But the black and white dreams didn’t last, and Super Kev left Newcastle United in the lurch for a second time in their history.

Without knowing the full details of why Keegan quit the club, it is reasonable to assume it was, in part, a power struggle between Kevin Keegan and Dennis Wise involving the transfer of players.  The sale of one of Newcastle’s best players, James Milner, to Aston Villa was the last straw. But that said, Kevin Keegan has walked away from other managerial roles for both clubs (Manchester City and Fulham) and England whenever the going gets tough.  But the fans wanted Keegan back, nonetheless.

With Keegan walking out on the club every Geordie fan could quite literally only see black and white; and mass demonstrations outside St. James Park followed.  It was good to see how passionate the supporters were about the club, but as the board looked for a new manager, did it not occur to the supporters how hostile they made that situation look to any top managers that could possibly have been brought to St James’ Park and keep the mighty Newcastle in the Premiership?

I assume the appointment of Joe Kinnear was because no one else wanted the job, and Kinnear is an old acquaintance of Dennis Wise.  Wise and the board could continue to run the club while Kinnear simply picked the team.  Chris Houghton was brought in by Kevin Keegan but continued to coach the first team under Joe Kinnear.  And when the pressure got too much for poor Joe Kinnear, resulting in more heart problems, the Newcastle board asked the inexperienced Chris Houghton to act as caretaker manager to a squad full of over-inflated egos and lacking self-discipline, for far too long.

Then, with eight games to go, Mike Ashby pulls off another amazing trick, as he finally convinces Geordie messiah no.2, Alan Shearer, to leave the comfort and safety of the Match Of The Day ‘Pundits Sofa’ to step into the firing line, and takeover the reigns at Newcastle United.  Once again, the Geordie faithful were ecstatic. Some called radio phone-ins suggesting they were not only going to avoid relegation but win all eight remaining games!  The word ‘fickle’ comes to mind here.

I was utterly shocked to hear Shearer had agreed to undertake the Newcastle manager’s position at such a crucial time of the season. And even with the appointment of Iain Dowie as an assistant manager with relegation battle experience, I really couldn’t see Alan Shearer being able to turn around Newcastle United’s misfortunes with a cult of personality alone.

Yesterday, Newcastle United were awful.  Aston Villa’s Brad Friedel didn’t have a save to make, and Newcastle were relegated as they lost their seventh game under the guidance of Alan Shearer.  They won three points out of a possible 24, but on the final whistle, the faithful Geordie fans, the so-called “best football fans in the country” chanted Alan Shearer’s name!

So, who is to blame for the mighty Newcastle United being relegated to the Championship?

Newcastle United have never been able to replace the glory years of Kevin Keegan’s first management tenure.  Kenny Dalglish came and went.  Ruud Gulitt and Steve Clarke left the club by mutual consent because they had to live in the shadow of one man, Alan Shearer.  Yes, he was a great player. But even Bobby Robson was pushed aside when he failed to see eye to eye with Shearer.

Newcastle United were relegated because the club has been badly managed, their expectations are too high, they pay inflated wages for big stars when it might be better to create a team spirit, and over the course of a 38 game season, they haven’t won enough points.  And whether Newcastle fans like it or not, they are where they deserve to be and have no divine right to be in the top flight of English football, especially as they haven’t won a major competition since 1969.

I personally think Alan Shearer will not be able to leave the job unfinished and will remain as Newcastle manager.  But I wonder if the ‘best fans in English football’ will still be chanting his name on the last day of next season if he fails to win promotion back to the Premier League.