There is news this morning that Mike Ashley is thinking of bringing in Terry Venables to manage the club until the end of the season, with Joe Kinnear being laid up during that time.
Terry Venables – is he coming to manage Newcastle?
Ashley, probably correctly, has given Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood the chance to take over the reigns with Joe Kinnear out, but the results just haven’t been good enough, following yesterday’s tame draw at Hull, which is a game we should have won, given our position in the league.
Since the West Brom games, we have played 4 games and have just two draws against Everton at home and Hull away, and have been beaten by Bolton and Manchester United.
So if we count the 5 games earlier in the season that Hughton was in charge of, then in 9 games we have 2 draws.
Yes – you can put the WBA in there as a Hughton win, but Joe was heavily involved in the build up to that game.
So however good a guy Chris is, and he really wants to stay in charge, we think the news that Venables may be brought in, will be well received by Newcastle fans. Of course Terry turned down the job last September because he couldn’t be guaranteed a full time position, with Ashley trying to sell the club at that time.
It’s something Joe Kinnear may not be too keen on, but it’s hard to argue it’s right for the club, so we can at least maintain our Premier League status, which is the major aim of this terrible season, we’ve all had.
However, the People is also reporting this morning that Joe Kinnear has had a setback in his recovery from triple byp[ass surgery, and his return may now be delayed, and it’s not even clear that he will be able to return to manage Newcastle.
Again we don’t know if this story is true, but it would put another twist on things that Ashley may be forced to find a manager for the rest of the season.
So this news in different forms is is being reported in the Sunday Express, the People, and is also being talked about on Sky Sports News.
We hope the bit about Venables coming in to manage Newcastle until the end of the season is true, because yesterday, as we said before the game, was a real watershed game for Newcastle. And a draw was just not good enough. Our two next games are at home against revitalized teams Arsenal and Chelsea, so we have to win the game we can – like at Hull yesterday.
Heaven knows how much Ashley will pay Venables, but we think it will be high enough for Terry to take up the challenge for 9 games, and if he keeps Newcastle up, we would expect him to get a nice bonus. It would be worth it to Ashley and the Newcastle club, that’s for sure.
We hope Terry is installed before our next game against Arsenal and we trust that Hughton and Calderwood will fully support him, and we fully expect that, since they are both excellent professionals, and have the good of the club at heart.
We’ll run a poll on whether our readers think Mike should bring in Venables now – please vote.
Comments welcome.
42 comments so far
clinta
Mar 16, 2009 at 2:33 AM
Comment #41No point bringing in Terry or anyone like him. What we need to do is bring in a new permanent manager asap and should be currently scouring the globe for one qualified and stupid enough to take on the job.
Ed you talk about stability and JK being given a chance long term, but surely we need stability with the right manager in charge. I know this sounds very TOON ARMY of me, but we all must know that JK isn’t good enough so why keep him on.
Having a manager who is crook in bed and may or may not manage use again is hardly a stable situation.
Tom_Toon
Mar 16, 2009 at 2:46 AM
Comment #42=