Sack Dennis Wise And Keep Kevin Keegan

The Gaffer — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:17:53 +0000

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.

Hope Springs Eternal For Big Four Gatecrashers

The Gaffer — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:59:15 +0000

The first weekend of the Premier League is over, and what an entertaining weekend it was. Thirty two goals and an average of 3.2 goals per match, and a few surprise results. Who said the Premier League was boring?!

Here are some of the highs and lows from this past weekend, as well as my two cents about the clubs who will hopefully gatecrash the Big Four this season:

Highlights:

Aston Villa playing a wonderful brand of football with Ashley Young, Gareth Barry and Gabriel Agbonlahor all putting in a fine performance.
Chelsea looks breathtaking and, gulp, exciting to watch, and could have even won the match 6-0 or 7-0.
Hull City made a brilliant Premier League debut against a woeful Fulham side.
Middlesbrough is the new Brazil, at least for one weekend.
Jonas Gutierrez, aka Spiderman, made one of the most impressive Premier League debuts I’ve seen in years. Simply sensational, and it’s such a delight to see a left winger with speed and dribbling ability who is willing to take on defenders.
Rodrigo Possebon played well in Manchester United’s midfield and was extremely confident.
Villa fans singing Agbonlahor’s name to the tune of Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon.
Gretar Steinsson’s goal for Bolton that was absolutely delightful.
Newcastle’s defense looked solid (when was the last time we could say that?). Especially impressive was Fabricio Coloccini.

Lowlights:

The pitiful number of away Wigan fans at Upton Park.
Stoke’s defending made Derby look like Italy’s back four.
Manchester United looked unimaginative for much of their 1-1 draw against Newcastle.

Out of the Big Four, Chelsea was the only team that impressed. Arsenal was wasteful in front of goal (again). Liverpool was absolutely appalling and were only saved by the Fernando Torres wonder strike. Manchester United looked a shadow of themselves and were fortunate to come away with a draw in light of the Vidic foul on Jonas Gutierrez which should have been a penalty in the first half.

Sure, it’s early days so far and players are still a little stale after not playing competitive matches for a few months, but Man United and Liverpool will definitely have to step up their performances quite a bit despite the fact that many players are out due to injury and Olympics duty.

For those of you who are neutral fans of the Premier League, there’s already quite a lot of hope to find some quality attacking sides that will shake up the league this season and give the Big Four a run for their money. So far, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, Hull City, Bolton, Newcastle United and Blackburn put in quality performances. Let’s hope this trend continues for the sake of unpredictability which is sorely missing in the Premiership.

What are your thoughts about the opening weekend of the Premier League season? What were your highs and lows? Click the comments link below and share your opinions.

EPL Talk » Jonas Gutierrez

Sack Dennis Wise And Keep Kevin Keegan

Hope Springs Eternal For Big Four Gatecrashers