Contrary to popular belief, Newcastle United is not a poisoned club. Nor are they jinxed with injuries. At worst, they’re a poorly run club who has made one bad decision after another after another.
With news that a Nigerian consortium are interested in buying Newcastle, Toon fans will be keeping their fingers crossed that current owner Mike Ashley only has a limited time in charge. A new owner, whether they’re from Nigeria or another country, is inevitable, but simply changing owners won’t be enough to change Newcastle’s fortunes.
Instead what’s needed is a sound plan that is backed by financiers willing to spend money in the transfer window coupled with an understanding and desire to embrace the Geordie spirit.
It’s time for the passionate Geordies to feel like their club is theirs again instead of being run by a “cockney mafia” (Ashley and Wise). Dennis Wise needs to be sacked as soon as the takeover occurs as well as executive Derek Llamblas. But what’s crucial is that the new owners of Newcastle United bring in someone to the club who has a deep connection with the city.
I don’t feel there’s a Geordie out there who has the experience needed to manage the club at the highest level. Instead, the new owners need to convince someone like Alan Shearer to come in again as an assistant manager to work with a world-class manager.
Newcastle fans need a charismatic leader who knows his football and has a passion for attacking football as well as the ability to know when to play gritty football to pull out a result.
The list of managers available that fit those criteria are few and far between. One candidate that should be considered is Roberto Martinez, manager of Swansea, who has transformed the Welsh club into a side playing beautiful and effective football even in the “kick and run” Championship League.
Martinez has made shrewd transfer signings in the summer. Plus he has the experience of playing in England and managing in the country albeit at lower levels with the Swans.
No matter who the next manager will be, he needs the financial backing in the January transfer window to bring in star talent as well as to replace the dead wood (Alan Smith, Cacapa, Shola Ameobi and Nicky Butt) and trouble makers (Joey Barton).
Ultimately where it matters the most is on the pitch where the Magpies need a massive confidence boost as well as hunger to win. Earlier in the season, Newcastle showed glimmers of hope but there’s still so much work to be done before Newcastle United is anywhere near a decent side.
No matter who the new owner is, they need to improve communication with the fans and players. The club needs to have a plan with realistic goals that they can share with its fans so that they’ll be patient, to an extent, and that everyone will be working towards a common goal. With Newcastle, there is hope. The sooner they get an investor who is qualified to run the club, the better.
A fair, decent and balanced article. Well done.
Gaffer,
Your 'plan' for Newcastle is doomed to fail. It's reliant on spending big money in the transfer window and has nothing to do with building up the academy or the fans showing some patience with a manager. Newcastle has spent and spent and spent during transfer windows and that's gotten them nowhere. However, if you tell the fans that it's going to take a little while before the club is competitve in the top half of the league, they'll be calling for your head in no time. Allardyce, whether you agree with his football philosophy or not, was barely on the job for a cup of coffee before the fans were shouting that he didn't know what he was doing.
Here were quotes from Allardyce on taking the job. He said his ambition was to “win a trophy or qualify for Europe over the next few years”. “I hope I can bring the success that the fans are so desperate for. I'm not saying I can get it right at the flick of a switch. If there are some sticky times I hope we can get over them for the best of the supporters and me.”
Did he get the chance? No, he was gone by Christmas and King Kev was brought back.
I'm not even going to address the 'cockney mafia' comment, it seems a bit ridiculous to me. I'll just say that I think the players that Wise/Jimenez have brought in have shown some promise. Both Gutierrez and Xisco have looked like decent signings from what I've seen thus far.
From my outsider perspective, and Newcastle fans can feel free to correct me on this, but I don't know that there is a manager in the world that is going to come in and turn the club into one that plays free-flowing Barca/Arsenal style football in a short enough span of time for the fans to show some patience. Will they be content losing every 2 of 3 matches while playing in wide-open games? Even clubs in the 'Top 4' have to grind out a few 1-0 and 1-1 results from time to time.
Lonnie,
I'm all for building an academy, but there's no point focusing the energies on that if Newcastle will get relegated this season – at least at their current pace.
If not Roberto Martinez, who would you recommend for the Newcastle United managerial position?
Cheers,
The Gaffer
nice article! nice site. you're in my rss feed now
keep it up