We are still waiting for some announcement about Alan Shearer, one way or the other, as the Newcastle club virtually hangs in limbo with no manager in charge, and 150 people having just been laid off yesterday.
David Wiiliamson – highest paid casualty at Newcastle – so far
And we should just mention we cannot be the only fans to notice there has not been a word said about Joe Kinnear, in all of this. The last we heard about Joe, he was going to lead a team including Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood, but now all three will probably leave Newcastle in the summer.
If Joe hadn’t had his heart trouble we feel sure we would have survived, and if Joe had come back for the final 8 games we also feel sure he would have been able to get more than 5 points. However right now there would have remained some significant uncertainty on Tyneside, since Joe was never universally accepted by Newcastle fans. But we doubt we’d be in the Championship now either.
It was noted a few weeks back that no contract would be offered to Calderwood in the summer, and his future was in doubt as soon as Alan Shearer came in on April Fool’s Day.
The Newcastle Journal is reporting today that Chesterfield chairman Barry Hubbard has confirmed the 44-year-old is one of three candidates for the vacant manager job. We assume Colin’s contract runs out on June 30th, which seems to be the norm.
And more news about the redundancies at Newcastle, that was broken by the Times and we reported on last last night. The number of redundancies is now said to be 150 (we reported 120), and some of those are part time employees.
The highest profile one, with probably the highest wage to go is Operations director David Williamson, who joined the club in April, 2008, after a successful spell as executive director of Newcastle Racecourse.
Most of those involved in the redundancies had been told in advance their likely departure if the club was relegated so last Sunday would have been a dark time for a lot of them, and the majority of the staff were told of their fate on Thursday, with the paperwork completed only yesterday.
And those who think players like Beye and Duff, who want to stay at the club, will only do so on reduced wages, should think again. We don’t believe that will happen, although the club may try it.
Usually of course, the contracts stipulate a reduced wage if the side gets relegated, and apparently Sunderland’s players would have suffered reductions of at least 40% had the Wearsiders been relegated.
But of course not at Newcastle, which is another indication of how the club has handled things – in a most unprofessional way. No such clauses are included in Newcastle players’ contracts, so now the players who stay, have every legal right to refuse a wage cut and the only way to reduce the wages is to sell the players – and it will be a fire sale – for sure.
And we hear Joey Barton still wants to stay and cause trouble at the club, (hasn’t he caused enough already?) by refusing to leave Newcastle – and that’s the last thing Alan Shearer wants to hear. The sad thing is that Joey is still a very good player, and could help us on the field next season, but he comes with enormous baggage.
We are hoping that Alan Shearer will be announced shortly and we expect Alan to go full tilt in reshaping the Newcastle side.
With all the negativity surrounding the club right now, there are a few things the club should learn from all of this this:
- Never take our place in the Premier League place for granted – ever again.
- Put those wage reduction clauses in the player’s contracts, and any other clauses we have neglected to put in, over the last several years.
- Realize like any business that fails or does badly, like Newcastle United right now, it’s the employees – and yes – usually the innocent ones, who take it on the chin.
- Only sign players who want to come and play for Newcastle, and if the high wages is the major reason they want to come – don’t bother signing them.
The hope at Newcastle right now is that Shearer can come in and turn this terrible mess around, and if he is indeed to become the great manager we are hoping for, we need to get a good start to the season (which is vital), and be challenging next May for promotion. But none of that is ever a given, with the Newcastle club continually surprising Newcastle fans – on the downside.
If Alan doesn’t turn out to be as good as we expect, this could be the start of something more sinister at Newcastle – but we have to hope there is a silver lining in the heavy clouds overhead – a light at the end of the tunnel – there’s always hope.
But there again that’s about the only things we’ve had at Newcastle for 40 years.
Comments always welcome.
57 comments so far
sirjasontoon
May 30, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Comment #41Thats Evil 🙂
My Bird is quality 12 years my junior…we have had a bad few days cos I said he little boy is sometimes a dick head like his dad…didn’t go down well.
haha
batty
May 30, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Comment #42reetpetite // May 30, 2009 at 11:55 AM
batty-I am amazed i have lasted this long! I would love to know how many emails ed has got about me over the last year. Westoon was my favourite poster that hated me. He would wait religiously for me to make a post before having a 100 word rant in caps lock at me. I wouldnt be surprised if he popped his cloggs from high blood pressure such was his fury
<<<<yeah remember him m8
reetpetite
May 30, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Comment #43sjt- 5 minutes before the season starts!
sirjasontoon
May 30, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Comment #44Off to raid the supermarket
Peace Brothers!
batty
May 30, 2009 at 12:02 PM
Comment #45reetpetite // May 30, 2009 at 11:57 AM
sirjasontoon- I wonder if youtube would work for my missus. Youtube would make her look amazing and i could pimp her out. Unfortunatly shes not to hot in the flesh
<<<<< i always imagined ur missus to be 1 of them nice thia birds u know 2 dollar lol
reetpetite
May 30, 2009 at 12:04 PM
Comment #46Oh dear! say it aint so.
Megson and Allardyce could, however, face competition from Harry Redknapp. It is understood Tottenham have made an inquiry about Barton. Yet, asked about his client possibly transferring to Bolton, Blackburn or Spurs, Mckay said: “No, no, no, there’s nothing doing – Joey has a three-year contract left at Newcastle.”
batty
May 30, 2009 at 12:05 PM
Comment #47reetpetite that little coloured lad will win tonight aidan daveis crackin body popper m8
batty
May 30, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Comment #48reetpetite well it lookes like u will get ur man lol
reetpetite
May 30, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Comment #49Enjoy your weekend lads. off down the pub to watch the fa cup final. come on the toffees!!!
batty
May 30, 2009 at 12:09 PM
Comment #50see yous lata
Michael12
May 30, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Comment #51What did we learn in the 8 games that shearer has been in charge?
> The fans love him.
> tactically retarded.
> won 1 in 8 games.
> Talks the talk but cannot walk it.
> Cannot lift a side of international class players
> Will not make a good manager.
Now why should we appoint him? Some may say stability. Do we want stability under man who has no badges, no idea and no tactics? Stability alone is not the recipe to success it is merely an ingredient. A good manager can get the best out of bad players even if their best is not good enough. A bad manager will get the worst out of good players sometimes their worst is good enough.
We have international class players (Draw your own meanings from that to me it suggests good players) We have a terrible manager and under his stewardship we have played the worst football in 2 decades.
This is a chance for a fresh start and that includes getting rid of Shearer. It is time Ashley made a good decision not a popular one. Not all popular decisions are good nor are good decisions popular.
toontony
May 30, 2009 at 2:15 PM
Comment #52michael 12 you cannot expect shearer to turn the club around in 8 weeks, when he came in he said the club was run like a holiday camp.
Players were not fit no disipline, turning up for training when they wanted, injured players soon cleared out of treatment room as soon as shearer started bringing them back in in afternoons.
Kinnear was only up here couple of days a week taking training, get shearer and all his own backroom staff in who love the club and show passion, get rid of all the lazy time wasting players and big earners.
Hope shearer is appointed and then we will be going in the right direction….
toonluvva
May 30, 2009 at 2:39 PM
Comment #53Well that puts the tin lid on it doesn’t it!! There was nothing in the players contracts to cover the possibility of being relegated. IMHO it shows what an absolute shower we have had running the football club over the last few years.
I have said it before on this blog, and I don’t mind repeating it again, we must get rid of LLambias and his cronies. Sorry to say it but we are stuck with Ashley until he gets a reasonable offer to buy him out. No not you FFS!!
We are still waiting on news of Big AL, hopefully MA is chewing over the demands made by him (please God let it include sacking LLambias) but time is ticking away. If we want to return to the promised land as quickly as possible, action needs to be taken now.
If MA does not want Big Al, I hope he will let the fans know why and move swiftly to appoint someone else. As far as I am concerned it dosn’t have to be a geordie, just someone with enough footballing nous and a firm hand with the playing staff.
a magpie
May 30, 2009 at 3:52 PM
Comment #54First post here, thanks for the great blog.
Can someone explain to me why Joe Kinnear had a better chance at keeping us up than Shearer?
Call me naive, I must be missing something.
Michael12
May 30, 2009 at 4:04 PM
Comment #55@Toontony: You reveal a lot tacitly in what you say. You have confirmed everything I have said albeit tacitly.
Firstly, i did not expect Shearer to turn things around but what I did expect was survival whether that was on goal difference or points difference I did not care just any form of survival.
Will you agree with me we were better under Kinnear. If not then I am sure it is out of spite Ed’s remarks can add the weight I need behind my point in this very article on which we are debating.
ED: “If Joe hadn’t had his heart trouble we feel sure we would have survived, and if Joe had come back for the final 8 games we also feel sure he would have been able to get more than 5 points”.
Now to Quote you quote shearer: “when he came in he said the club was run like a holiday camp.
Players were not fit no disipline, turning up for training when they wanted”
Conclusion: If Joe under such circumstance (“no discipline”, unfit and turning up when they wanted players) could still have the ability to survive, yet Shearer with a more robust, totalitarian, draconian (Fit, disciplined and punctual players) failed to do as well as Kinnear, what does that tell you about Shearer?
Two things perhaps more
> He was targeting the wrong areas to bring improvements on the pitch, clearly lack of fitness or discipline or punctuality was not the big issue.
> He has no place in management if he cannot do better than Joe Kinnear who had, players with no discipline, unpunctual and unfit.
chuck
May 30, 2009 at 5:26 PM
Comment #56Yes perhaps Shearer lacks a certain tactical nous,
however with Carver as his assistant should`nt be a problem.
Fortunately there`s not a tremendous need for it in the championship league, it`s all run and gun, more physical, less technical.
Even if Shearer does take over as manager, as long as Ashley and Llambias are running things from the top, were gonna have more of the same.
It`s obvious to every dog in the street that Llambias is out of his depth, totally ignorant about the game.
Afraid it`s going to take more than a player shakeup to get this club back on the rails.
The crying need is someone with a track record
to replace LLambias, a football guy with a business plan, the rest would fall into place.
I hope the entire PR dept. have been included in the laid off 150 employees, as they have been a disaster for the last coupla years.
I suppose we can look forward to the same silence from the powers that be, during the summer.
It might be a good time for the club to make some official statement informing the fans in regards to what to expect for the coming season.
Good PR!
Ashley is gonna need the fans to pay the bills, in which case it`s about time he showed them a little respect, does`nt he know any better.
On the other hand perhaps things are so chaotic, no one knows whats going on, a type of on the job fumbling.
Without a proper plan this club could be in the wilderness for longer than expected.
Tom_Toon
May 31, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Comment #57#