It’s a debate that’s raged for months but I thought I’d raise it again simply because the end may be nigh, one way or another. Who wants Alan Shearer at the helm? All in favour, say wheyaye. OK, a little more serious then, why is there even a debate?
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’? (more…)
You couldn’t make it up could you? Well actually, you probably could judging by the recent Mahjoob and Parkinsons pranks and judging by the tosh written in the media. So which prospective buyers are legitimate and which ones are realistically anywhere near to buying our football club?
Latest to take a bow in the spotlight of the media are Fanbase 410, headed up by ex-Tottenham, Chelsea, Rangers and England man Graham Roberts. Following speculation in the press, Sky Sports are reporting that the outcome of today’s meeting which involved Roberts, the front man for the consortium, and other 410 members as well as club directors and “prominent members” of the NUSC was encouraging. Presumably they didn’t get laughed out of the meeting room because frankly even the most optimistic Mag is sceptical at both the concept and timing of this bid.
However, before we look into the whys and wherefores of the situation this is what Roberts had to say –
“It was a positive meeting. Now we will sit down with the supporters. They want to run their own football club, and why not?
“I just work for the company that is putting this together. Newcastle supporters will pick their own president and the manager.
“It’s the same at Barcelona and Real Madrid. You never know, they could end up buying £60 million or £70 million players. It works for Barcelona, why not Newcastle United?”(more…)
Does anyone really know what’s going at St James’? According to Big Al’s big pal, Rob Lee, even he hasn’t a clue.
Talking to the press, Rob had this to say:
“I speak to Alan every day and he’s frustrated to say the least. He’s coming to the end of his tether now. He’s waited for ages and been told that things were due to happen, but nothing has and he’s very frustrated.
“He organised all the pre-season games at the end of last season but he also had targets in mind that he wanted to bring in to the club. Now it looks like he will miss out on them.
“I’m amazed he hasn’t already told Newcastle that he doesn’t want the job any more, but there will come a point where he says, ‘You’re too late’.
“He still wants the job desperately but you can’t expect someone like that to wait forever. He’s not daft and they’ve had ample time to sort something out. (more…)