There was something inevitable about Chris Hughton’s sacking today, almost if after the last few weeks, it was a case of when rather than why. I was extremely critical of Mike Ashley’s reign in the season that Newcastle United were relegated and yet here we are again, two years on and the man simply can’t leave things alone. The trouble with some chairman is that because they own a football club, they think they actually know about football. Ashley continually proves this isn’t the case.

What I’m constantly astounded by is the Mike Ashley managed to become a multi-millionaire. How can someone who clearly has absolutely no clue about football make his money in sports retail? Hughton had done an astounding job by getting Newcastle United promoted at the first time of asking. Lets not forget this side, in the majority, were the one that limped so poorly out of the Premiership in 2008-09. Hughton cleared the dead wood, refused to panic after the humiliation of a preseason hammering at Leyton Orient and hit the ground running once the Championship season started.

Every mistake he made the first time round seems to be coming back to haunt the Newcastle faithful. Could any set of fans have such an out of touch owner since Peter Swales held the power at Manchester City in the 1990′s? It simply beggars belief that a man who employed Dennis Wise as a Director of Football and Joe Kinnear as a manager, now feels Hughton isn’t the man to take the club forward. A man who believe that Xisco was a better player than James Milner, who claimed that Newcastle fans had threatened his children and has refused to put a penny into the club in 18 months.

As Chairman go, Ashley shows all the facets of arrogance personified. Clearly he is under the misapprehension that he actually understands football when, with the exception of letting Hughton have the managers position, every major decision he has made shows he has none. He allowed Keegan to be ostracised over transfer policy, employed a manager who hadn’t managed to in the top flight for almost ten years, gave the job to Alan Shearer and then never rang him back once the season had finished and allowed Adidas to release that awful, awful cream and yellow stripe vomit inducing away kit last season.

As if I had anything left to surprise me, English bookmakers suspended the betting on Alan Pardew being the new Newcastle manager. Seriously. Sacked by West Ham, resigned from Charlton, sacked by Southampton. Of course now Martin Jol has walked out on Ajax too so he is now going to be the new Newcastle United manager. No-one has any idea really. Yet you have to ask yourself which top quality manager, after seeing the nonsense, chaos and simple bad management on display at Newcastle United would want to work in that environment.

I just feel sorry for Newcastle United’s fans. Often incorrectly portrayed as delusional big club chanting fans, Newcastle, over the last 25 years have seen so much talent leave the club, so many close shaves to major success and yet they find themselves continually run by people with no respect them as fans, as people and as consumers. That, for any set of fans is galling to take. Question is, have they finally had their fill of Mike Ashley or will the continue to turn up regardless.My colleague Matt earlier mentioned his disgust at the decision which you can read here but nothing that goes on at St. James’ Park under Ashley surprises me at all.

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Wednesday were all at sea for years… 

Did you ever think that you would look at the Premier League table and see the Wigan in 7th, Hull take 20 points in the first 9 games and Fulham challenging for 6th?

If  that wasn’t strange enough, once Champions League semi-finalists Leeds United are currently sitting in the middle of the third tier following in similar footsteps to the once impressive Sheffield Wednesday. 

So what happened to the big boys who are nowhere to be seen in England’s top 20?

 Leeds United - Essentially, Leeds spent millions that they simply did not have under the guidance of then chairman, Peter Ridsdale (now at Cardiff City) . Ridsdale took out large loans to buy players in an effort to build on the success of previous high finishes. The club expected to pay these back with prize money and revenue from television rights obtained from progress in the UEFA Champions League. Of course Leeds then failed to qualify and this led to high profile player sales to try and keep the club afloat, most notably Rio Ferdinand to bitter rivals Manchester United. This transfer caused the dispute between Ridsdale and manager David O’ Leary, under whom they never finished lower than fifth. Terry Venables took over followed by Peter Reid and then Eddie Gray but alas after three years of financial meltdown the club was relegated.

United were then the subject of a succesful take over bid by a Ken Bates (the once controversial Chairman of Chelsea). The club nearly made a return at the second attempt under Kevin Blackwell, Leeds finished fourth and reached the play-off final only to lose to Watford. Blackwell was sacked early in the following season after a sluggish start and was replaced by Dennis Wise. Despite the change in regime wise couldn’t lift Leeds out of the bottom three. With relegation virtually assured, the club applied to go into administration immediately in an attempt to incurr the 10 point dedution penalty whilst in the Championship. The football league overruled this and after a lengthy court battle and dispute with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Leeds started life in League One, 10 points adrift. Amazingly they still reached the play off final and lost to Doncaster.

Leeds in 2009

They are currently seventh in League One and four points off the play-offs with a game in hand. Should Leeds achieve promotion, it will be an arduous task to keep them in the second tier. It will be a long, LONG time before Leeds compete for European football again.

Sheffield Wednesday – In the 1990/91 season Wednesday were relegated to the second tier having spent the previous six seasons in the top flight. Little did they know they were about to enter the club’s most succesful spell in the modern era. Promotion back to the top echelon of the English game was secured at the first attempt with the Owls finishing third. For all the joy that promotion brought the Hillsbrough faithful, this was eclipsed in some style by winning the League cup in the same season by defeating Manchester United 1-0 at Wembley to win the clubs first major trophy since 1935.

 The following season Trevor Francis took over the reigns in a player-manager role to fill the void left by Ron Atkinson’s departure to Aston Villa. Francis success was immediate, securing a third-place finish in their first season and Wednesday made four appearances at Wembley the following season. Defeating bitter rivals Sheffield United in the FA Cup semi final and losing the final after a replay to Arsenal. The Gunners had beaten Wedneday in the league cup final at the twin towers earlier in the season.

 It was the 1994/95 season where most Wedneday fans feel it started to go wrong. After achieving another seventh place finish, Trevor Francis was sacked after a disappointing start that led to club finishing 13th and was succeeded by David Pleat and the latter by Danny Wilson This signalled the start of a managerial merry-go-round at Hillbrough, nine managerial changes followed in a mere ten years from Francis’ departure

Wednesday’s financial problems were starting to be exposed,  the managers that followed Francis invested heavily in the squad with very little to show for it. Inflated transfer fees, high wages and badly negotiated contracts were the order of the day for the ailing club and they soon had to offload the high earners.

Wednesday started to capitulate and were relegation favourites for the 1999/2000 season, a disastrous campaign demonstrated by the 8-0 thrashing by Newcastle United. As a last ditch attempt at survival Wilson was replaced by Peter Shreeves who failed to keep the club in the top flight, Wednesday were relegated away to Arsenal despite a 3-3 draw on the last day.

After relegation Paul Jewell, Peter Shreeves (again), Chris Turner all braved the hot seat. The Owls suffering another relegation under Turner’s tenure at the club. 

Stability And The Future

 Paul Sturrock brought the club off its knees and Wednesday were promoted to the Championship in 2004 via the League One play offs and even kept the club in the Championship after the promotion. Wednesday however started the next season in poor fashion and the scot was replaced by currrent manager Brian Laws who guided the club to ninth in the league. Last season Wednesday survived the dogfight but with an ambitious new Chairman and a solid manager in Laws  who has performed well on a shoe-string budget, Wednesday may well return to Premier League in the coming years.

Gerry Francis has been offered a coaching position at Newcastle United, according to Sky Sports. But, according to The Daily Telegraph, he may reject the offer.

If he takes the position, the former Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers manager will join a club overflowing with cockneys including owner Mike Ashley, vice president Tony Jimenez, executive director Dennis Wise, managing director Derek Llambias, assistant manager Chris Hughton and manager Joe Kinnear.

It’s not that I have anything against cockneys. It’s just that Ashley and company seem to be making mistake after mistake and, as a result of hiring Londoners, they’re distancing themselves further away from the Geordies and damaging the morale of the club’s players and supporters.

Just like Joe Kinnear, Francis has been out of the game for ages. His last management position was in 2001 when he was in charge of Bristol Rovers. Recently the former England midfielder has been a pundit on Sky Sports.

Other than for the sake of convenience, why put Francis in there? Why not hire someone who has more experience and who can actually make a difference?

Which other cockneys will Ashley and Wise unearth next for Newcastle? Maybe Michael Caine, Alan Sugar, Dennis Waterman and the cast from Eastenders will be invited to join the board and St James’ Park will start serving jellied eels instead of northern pies?

The sooner Newcastle gets new owners, the better.

We have the audio of Joe Kinnear’s unbelievable tirade against journalists from yesterday’s Newcastle United press conference. If this isn’t a sign of a club in serious trouble, I don’t know what is.

What was Mike Ashley and Dennis Wise thinking about hiring Kinnear who obviously isn’t able to handle the pressure?

Newcastle Manager Joe Kinnear swears 52 times after being incensed at some of the newspaper headlines and coverage about him.

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Newcastle United has named Joe Kinnear as their interim manager until the end of October.

Newcastle Executive Director Dennis Wise must have had his grubby hands involved in the appointment of Kinnear. The Irishman managed Wimbledon from 1992 to 1999. But while Kinnear never managed Wise at Wimbledon, there’s undoubtedly a close connection between him and Wise — and Newcastle fans won’t be satisfied with the appointment.

“The fans will be disappointed, I understand that, but I can’t do anything about it,” said Kinnear. “I will just be doing my very best because I am desperate to get back into the game. I will be going up to Newcastle on Monday and will pick the team from then. It is a big challenge but one I am really looking forward to.”

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for Newcastle United, it just did. In the battle of the two bottom teams of the Premier League, Newcastle lost 2-1 at home tonight to fellow underachievers Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup in front of their lowest attendance in years.

The performance by Newcastle was utterly pathetic, lacking any passion, character, pace and commitment. Newcastle looks like a team with nothing to play for and without the leadership of a permanent manager, which is exactly the situation they find themselves in.

At St James’s Park tonight, there were massive pockets of empty seats visible as United fans decided to stay at home instead of supporting their club. In 1992, 14,000 saw a first-round League Cup game against Mansfield. Tonight the attendance was 19,743. This at a club where their average attendance in the Premier League last season was 51,122. The lowest attendance since St. James’s Park was redeveloped, before tonight, was 33,000.

The attendance was so small that oftentimes you could hear the players shouting instructions to each other from the field.

Tottenham, for most of the first half, looked equally as apathetic until Roman Pavlyuchenko scored his first goal for Spurs with a header, and Jamie O’Hara soon followed up with a second for Tottenham. Michael Owen picked up his fourth goal of the season near the end of the match.

If it wasn’t for Owen, Newcastle would be in even deeper trouble in 2008.

Newcastle To Announce New Manager

Things will seemingly get even worse for the club who, according to newspaper reports, seem likely to appoint Terry Venables as Newcastle manager either on a permanent or temporary basis.

Venables hasn’t managed in more than four years since he was sacked by Leeds United in March, 2003. At Leeds, his managerial skills were pathetic. The last person Newcastle needs now is another Londoner trying to sort the club out. Newcastle fans and players are sick of Dennis Wise and Mike Ashley, and Terry Venables will be no different.

The only thing Venables will be able to do is to schmooze the British media.

Newcastle, if they do decide to hire Venables, will drive the value of the club down even more than now.

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.

Yesterday in Dubai, Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley was offered $360 million for the club by Dubai investors, but called the offer an insult and snubbed Arab investors to instead partake in drinking cocktails at a local bar, according to ArabianBusiness.com.

Ashley reportedly received the offer earlier in the day and was supposed to meet with the Arab investors later that night at 11pm local time. Instead, he arrived at a nearby bar and stayed there — with Dennis Wise and Derek Llamblas — until after 1am.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the investor that was interested in buying the club was Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (pictured above).

Ashley and his party were scheduled to return to England on Thursday, but may return on Wednesday instead now that his “take it or leave it” estimation of $860 million was not met.

At this rate, Newcastle United fans may be stuck with Ashley for several weeks or months if a buyer isn’t found.

If Mike Ashley wants to do the right thing and avoid being run out of Newcastle, he needs to sack Dennis Wise and get on his knees to convince Kevin Keegan to stay at Newcastle United.

King Kev is hardly a master tactician but what he does have is an immense passion for the Tyneside club and a drive to succeed. He has the fan’s best interests at heart, which is more than I can say about Mike Ashley and Dennis Wise.

I had to laugh this morning when I read an article entitled “Dennis Wise Is A Visionary In The Modern Game” penned by Matt Hughes of The Times. As a manager and executive director, what has Wise accomplished? His biggest managerial claim to fame is taking Millwall to the FA Cup Final in 2004, where the London side lost 3-0 to Man United.

In his role as executive director at Newcastle, he’s responsible for transfers, scouting and youth development. What transfers? Six players were transferred out of Newcastle including James Milnar, and five players were brought in. Those five are Jonas Gutierrez, Xisco, Ignacio Gonzalez, Danny Guthrie and Fabricio Coloccini.

These five signings are hardly visionary. Gutierrez dazzled on his first performance for Newcastle but will take time to adapt to the English game. Coloccini seems comfortable in the back, but the jury is still out on him. Xisco and Gonzalez are untested in the Premier League, while Guthrie was a safe bet after playing in the Liverpool reserves.

Does Newcastle really need to pay an executive director such as Dennis Wise a top salary to help make five transfer signings? Couldn’t Keegan have made the same if not better decisions at no additional cost to Newcastle?

Where is the logic in keeping Wise? I don’t see it. Executives at Newcastle would probably say that their continental-style management structure works to support Keegan, but with so few transfers being made and Keegan feeling that he is being undermined by Wise and Ashley, this is a disaster waiting to happen.

Instead, Ashley should sack Wise and give Keegan more power to see if he can turn the ship at St James’ Park. Give Keegan six months to change things around and give the manager more funding in the January transfer window to bring players in who will make a difference. Reports are coming out of England that Keegan has issued an ultimatum to Ashley to get rid of Dennis Wise and vice-president Tony Jimenez and give the control of transfers in and out back to the manager. Let’s hope Ashley agrees with Keegan.

It’s also time for Ashley to face the press and public. He needs to share his vision for Newcastle and put aside his differences with Keegan and give the man a chance. While the team still has a long way to go, Newcastle United this season looks much stronger than they’ve done in many years. Sure, Keegan has got a lot of work to do but let him die trying instead of stabbing him in the back.

OK. I’m sorry about the headline-itis there. I was up late last night and I haven’t had my coffee yet The transfer market has had some interesting moves in the last few days and I will be back on Feb 1st to recap things. The news I want to discuss right now is the move Newcastle have made to sign Dennis Wise.
Wise has left his role as Leeds manager and is going to be in charge of signing new players and developing Newcastle’s academy. He is not going to be involved in first-team matters but instead is supposed to assist the Newcastle board as an executive director on “football-related” matters. Newcastle cleared out a lot of the previous management team when Mike Ashley bought out Freddy Shepherd and this is a first step towards rebuilding their management team.

The real interest is that new manager Kevin Keegan has apparently had no say in this particular appointment, which many pundits feel he should have. Personally, I don’t agree. A “sporting director” takes a lot of pressure off the first-team manager in terms of transfer negotiations, day-to-day operations of the academy, etc. It’s a common setup in many other countries such as Italy and Spain but has not caught on yet in England. Many still feel that clubs like Arsenal and Manchester United are led by one strong figure but a closer look reveals that both Sir Alex and Arsene are working in tandem with their board and a strong support cast.

It feels like that’s what Newcastle are aiming to do and if that’s the case then it’s a step in the right direction. Whether Dennis Wise is the best person to take on that role is another question as he has only been in management a relatively short time. He started as a player-manager with Milwall in 2004 before moving on to Southampton, Swindon and finally Leeds but he did reasonably well everywhere he went. Wise has apparently been eager to get away from day-to-day management and move into more of an executive role and Newcastle have wanted someone on their board with hands-on football experience so the fit was good from that standpoint.

Newcastle will reportedly compensate Leeds to the tune of £1m. Newcastle will also hire Tony Jimenez as vice-president of player recruitment and Jeff Vetere from Real Madrid as technical co-ordinator. Jimenez is a former London property developer who has reportedly worked with Newcastle owner Mike Ashley in the past. Jimenez is said to be close to the former Tottenham director Paul Kemsley and through his contacts in Seville, was involved in bringing Juande Ramos to White Hart Lane.

Vetere was once an apprentice at Luton Town, then the youth team manager of Rushden & Diamonds, but his journey upwards took him to Charlton as “overseas scouting co-ordinator” and his growing reputation was such that he moved last January to Real Madrid. Vetere is regarded as one of the game’s most knowledgeable experts on emerging talent and there were rumours that Keegan was involved in his hiring.

Vetere and Jimenez are already at work for Newcastle and were spotted sitting together recently at the Everton-Chelsea League Cup semi-final at Goodison Park.