Joe Kinnear, the Newcastle United interim manager recently handed a six month contract by much maligned club owner Mike Ashley has, to the neutral, stabilised the saga filled North East club. But as wins keep slipping away and the January transfer window looms, the long suffering Magpies fans are beginning to get a sense of déjà vu.
Kevin Fletcher, editor of newcastleunitedmad.co.uk speaking on behalf of the fans said, “I fear for this club. For the first time, the fans have realised there is a real threat of relegation.” Kinnear was unveiled as Kevin Keegan’s replacement on the 26th of September 2008, initially as an interim manger until Ashley found a buyer for the club after Keegan’s departure led to supporter revolt and protest. Kinnear himself only expected to be in charge for only five or six games. However, as Ashley was unsuccessful in finding a buyer, Kinnear will be holding onto the post until the end of the season.
His first game in charge, an away game against Everton showed early promise as his team talk at half time inspired his Newcastle side to come from behind and earn a draw. Famous for guiding his team of misfits and nearly men at Wimbledon to several impressive Premier League seasons, Kinnear enjoyed the gang mentality. His players played with an aggression and intimidation that had them christened ‘The Crazy Gang’ and at Newcastle United, Kinnear had hold of a club and a squad in need of a leader.
Inspirational centre half Steven Taylor, a goal scorer in that game, gave Kinnear strong backing in the media, saying “Joe took me to one side during training last week and told me he had complete confidence in me. As a result, I was back on top of the world at Goodison Park and I hope I went a little way to repaying the confidence he has had in me.” This seemingly newly invigorated Newcastle, with Kinnear at the helm, looked hungry again with Taylor the epitome of desire. Three points though, keep evading the Magpies, with results under Kinnear seeing Newcastle take twelve points out of a possible thirty, with six draws, two draws and two losses.
Kevin Fletcher, editor of newcastleunitedmad.co.uk speaking on behalf of the fans said, “I fear for this club. For the first time, the fans have realised there is a real threat of relegation.” Kinnear was unveiled as Kevin Keegan’s replacement on the 26th of September 2008, initially as an interim manger until Ashley found a buyer for the club after Keegan’s departure led to supporter revolt and protest. Kinnear himself only expected to be in charge for only five or six games. However, as Ashley was unsuccessful in finding a buyer, Kinnear will be holding onto the post until the end of the season.
His first game in charge, an away game against Everton showed early promise as his team talk at half time inspired his Newcastle side to come from behind and earn a draw. Famous for guiding his team of misfits and nearly men at Wimbledon to several impressive Premier League seasons, Kinnear enjoyed the gang mentality. His players played with an aggression and intimidation that had them christened ‘The Crazy Gang’ and at Newcastle United, Kinnear had hold of a club and a squad in need of a leader.
Inspirational centre half Steven Taylor, a goal scorer in that game, gave Kinnear strong backing in the media, saying “Joe took me to one side during training last week and told me he had complete confidence in me. As a result, I was back on top of the world at Goodison Park and I hope I went a little way to repaying the confidence he has had in me.” This seemingly newly invigorated Newcastle, with Kinnear at the helm, looked hungry again with Taylor the epitome of desire. Three points though, keep evading the Magpies, with results under Kinnear seeing Newcastle take twelve points out of a possible thirty, with six draws, two draws and two losses.
The latest draw, against Stoke City last weekend saw Newcastle throw away another lead, something worrying Fletcher and his readers, “Kinnear’s tactics are so naïve, they are 1990’s tactics, trying to hold out for wins by sitting back. Man for man we are better than Stoke and in the end we were lucky to get a draw. Our wingers terrified their full backs and we were two goals up, then we went with five at the back and failed to hold out for the win.”
This argument that Kinnear is too set in his ways may have some substance, but if you want a manager that demands everything from his players in a relegation fight, surely there are few better men for the job. Kinnear himself is of course a highly competitive and passionate man, who arrived with a touchline ban from his Nottingham Forest days for calling a referee ‘Coco the Clown’. His ten game reign so far has seen him twice charged by the FA, once for foul and abusive language and once for his comment about referee Martin Atkinson being a “Mickey Mouse referee doing nothing.”
The transfer window allows Kinnear to mould his own team; a team he feels can escape relegation to the Championship and look at gaining ground on those clubs above them. He was brilliantly cryptic when describing two of his targets, saying “One has scored against us this season and one is out of favour at Roma.” The transfer window more importantly, opens up the anger Newcastle United fans feel towards Mike Ashley and his Director of Football Dennis Wise.
‘The Messiah’ Kevin Keegan cited his lack of input on transfer policy as to why he left, following the sale of James Milner to Aston Villa. Wise and Ashley faced protests from angry fans at St James’ Park who christened them part of the ‘Cockney mafia’. Top players have been linked with moves away from the club, and fans will be vocal with their feelings if they feel the club has been mishandled by Ashley and Wise in the January transfer window.
Fans are sceptical Kinnear is right when he told the BBC “I identify the players I want and then that will go back to the chairman, and then I assume he will give Dennis the order to go and get them, but they are strictly my players. I identify them.”
Kevin argues, “Ashley makes decisions like he is playing a computer game, he didn’t realise the passion the fans have for this club and that is why he is hiding away, because he has made terrible decisions. I really fear for this club, and the sooner he goes, the better. We deserve better than Mike Ashley, and we deserve better than Joe Kinnear for that matter. He is doing his best, but he is not the man for the job.”
Despite these arguments, Kinnear has been praised by others for his performance as Newcastle United manager after a four year absence from the touchline. The aggressive, underdog attitude of Kinnear and his teams does suit Newcastle United in their current predicament and for this season at least, the fans might just be thankful Kinnear is at the helm.
