Not normally one to read massive essays written by journalists, but this one took my eye, with it being about my beloved NUFC, and the more I read it the more I found myself agreeing with what he’s saying. Martin Samuel has written a few articles that I’ve sat down and actually read.
Forget the quick fix… Shearer’s duty is to build a new Newcastle
There is only one man who can save Newcastle United now: Alan Shearer. Not this season, maybe. Indeed, it appears increasingly unlikely that Newcastle’s fortunes would have changed short term whoever was in charge.
Yet Shearer’s continuance beyond this season grows more vital as Newcastle edge nearer to the fall. No matter what happens now, it is plain that the club need to be completely rebuilt over the summer and Shearer is the only game in town.
He will inherit a ridiculously bloated squad of ineffectual players and an executive out of their depth, yet getting him on board is the closest Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s owner, has come to a credible move all season. And not because Shearer has made a success of the job, either.
Simply, Shearer affords Ashley respect because, in him, Newcastle have a popular manager with a bond to the local community (this relationship is all Newcastle have left right now) and a manner which suggests, given a chance, he has a concept of what the club should be and how they should play.
He is also right for the job because as the last local hero left standing following the departure of Kevin Keegan, if he remains, Ashley will have to leave him to get on with reconstruction unhindered. No executive director, brackets football, no bizarre foreign scouts.
It’s hardly gonna help the club he loves like us Geordies (Him being one of our own) if he comes in for 8 games, sorts out some of the back room staff, d then fucks off when we’re in the Championship next season, or with us having our Premier League safety. There is only one man who can get Ashley the sort of time and respect that is gonna be needed during this next important few years. It’s all about building the team up again from a base, and that base has GOT to be with a manager that the fans and board are gonna stick behind during these tough transitional few seasons coming up. He’s said he’s not in it for the money, and so once the Villa game is finished it’ll be time for him to show his hand, and show that he meant it when he said he’s in it for his love of the Toon. Lets face it IF he does leave, who’s gonna want the job (apart from joe Kinnear, who will end up falling ill again next season if things start going wrong)
A few points here:
1. Why would Shearer actually do a better job than A.N.Other? He has no management experience at all. Just being “local” really isn’t enough.
Newcastle need a big name manager like Robson (although not Robson) to sort them out.
2. Newcastle aren’t down – yet. 3 points behind Hull but with a better goal difference. Everyone down at the bottom is struggling – it’s not over yet.
3. Ashley must step back and let whoever is at the helm next season do their job.
4.
There was a 4. but I’ve forgotten what it was.
And it was quite important, too.
Because Love as they say is Blind, and who in their right mind would wanna take over at this moment in time? I think I could do a good job, specially with my own brand of “Wiggy Headers” being taught in training! Win-win situation there