Alan Shearer – if not now, when? If not he, then who?
Posted on August 29th, 2009 | 21 Comments |
I’m reasonably certain an overwhelming majority would have been either fully in favour or at least apathetic to his permanent appointment before his brief and ill-fated sojourn into the managerial hot-seat. So partly the reason more supporters are against the idea is due to the fact that Big Al fairly spectacularly failed to save us from the drop. What portion of blame you attribute to him is also very debatable, though to my mind he’s pretty blameless.
However, there’s no getting away from the facts, he failed to do what many hoped and secretly believed he might do. That was to re-unite the dressing room and galvanise this stricken club. Alas, despite his monumental presence on the field during his playing career, Shearer wasn’t able to transfer his influence on the dressing room sufficiently to prevent the inevitable slide.
Supporters on the flip side of the coin will take umbrage at that view and will point to the very word ‘inevitable’. They would argue that nothing and nobody could have prevented our demise once we hit the final straight and that our place in The Championship was booked long before Big Al was given the opportunity to try and turn it all around. So are these people blinded by regionalist bias and a weird penchant for the messianic? Is he really only the right man for the job because he’s ‘one of us’?
No, but it’s still quite simple. His locality and his roots with the club might serve him well but what Shearer has going for him, so far as I can see, is that his personality, his character and pedigree within football, on paper at least, suggest he could make a good manager. Ambitious, strong, charismatic, thoughtful and deliberate in the way he presents himself with a professionalism and class that this club is crying out for. Success would not necessarily be guaranteed of course and there have been plenty of former greats who fell flat on their managerial faces. But if he doesn’t give it a go on a longer term basis, we’ll never know either way.
I’ve also heard the argument too many times now that Alan Shearer is required to go away and earn the right to be our manager at a lower level, and I quote numerous universal sources, “like a Championship club”. Has it not sunk in yet? And does this argument not fly in the face of our defence against the nation’s criticism that we’re arrogant and deluded? Since when did we become too big and important for managers to cut their teeth at our club? Particularly, but not wholly, when the one in question has already earned our trust and respect on the field. Isn’t he at least halfway up the ladder? And when exactly would we be happy with his CV? What if he proves to be one of the greats and we miss out on the opportunity of using that to our advantage when we are where we are? We could damn sure do with the help.
Hopefully Alan Shearer is not the only option available to us because it would be nice to think that other managers want to come here. I guess much of that depends on the conclusion of the sale of the club. Brian McNally of The Mirror, quite rightly ridiculed the behaviour of the current board in their bizarre treatment of Shearer:
They have made public statements that don’t even stand up to the flimsiest of examinations. Take the strange case of the Shearer snub. At the end of last season Llambias said: “We want him to be the manager 110%,” while Ashley insisted that making Shearer interim manager was his “best decision.”
They then completely ignored both Shearer and their previous statements to leave the club in limbo.
Therefore, it seems unlikely if not out of the question, that Ashley would bring Shearer back in permanently. That is undoubtedly because Shearer is prepared to stand up to Ashley and demand the kind of decision-making and investment we’re clearly desperate for. However, despite that snub, he remains a very good option and for this particular supporter I can’t realistically think of a better available option right now. That decision is out of my hands and the rest of the patient thousands willing this new chapter of our’s to begin. But if Big Al is leading the way in the near future, this is one person who will be quite happy with that decision.
Because I ask again, if not now, when? And if not he, then who?
NUFCBlog Author: bowburnmag
bowburnmag has written 234 articles on this blog.
It didnt work out second time around for Keegan and it didnt work 1st time around for Shearer but still there are many fans who somehow believe that former great Newcastle United players are guaranteed to be great managers simply because they “know” the club, the fans and the City. I “know” the Club, fans and the City but nobody asked me to take over the reigns.
Let Hughton carry on while the squad are doing the business on the pitch and save the club at least £3m a year on wages.