Newcastle club captain has spoken at length this morning and says the Newcastle dressing room was extremely pleased to hear that Hughton had been appointed full time manager at Newcastle last week .
Nicky Butt – pleased with Hughton appointment
Butt said today:
“It is definitely a big relief for everyone in the dressing room to have Chris Hughton’s situation sorted out and to have stability,”
“Chris, along with Colin Calderwood and Paul Barron, have done an impressive job here under difficult circumstances right from the beginning of the season. Chris getting the job now is very much justified. He has done an excellent job. It gives us stability, everyone knows who the boss is now.”
“The owner has said the club is not for sale but that doesn’t really bother the players, as it is away from our domain. But what has happened on the coaching and managerial side is a massive plus for us.”
“He has done well, done it his own way, treated the lads well and let them know every other day what has been going on upstairs. He has shown he is good enough to be a manager. He has got the respect of all the players and the staff and rightly so.”
“He has been big enough to drop big players. He dropped Michael Owen last season. He is not afraid of that side of the challenge. He is definitely worthy of the job in my eyes.”
“We don’t know what to call him yet – whether it is Chris or gaffer. We are not sure yet. It’s Chris at the moment until he tells us something different. But I don’t think things will change.”
Those are good words form Nicky and it’s true Chris isn’t scared at all the drop big players.
That’s something we couldn’t say about Glenn Roeder, who Chris is often compared to right now.
Glenn was very successful early on, but just couldn’t keep the good results coming and was sacked after 16 months as Newcastle manager.
He left Michael Owen out last season, and he has dropped Nicky Butt this season in preference to Alan Smith, and it says something about his man management that Nicky isn’t complaining – he just wants Newcastle to get promoted – as we all do.
Nicky continued, and talked about a certain former player and a Newcastle lad – born and bred in Gosforth – Alan Shearer:
“To be fair to Chris, he has never known what is around the corner,” “That is always going to happen with the Alan (Shearer) side of it. You will hear his name sung a few times from the fans if you are not playing too good.”
“When you have someone who is that well loved in Newcastle and at the club, it is inevitable. I am sure it is only a matter of time that he will be manager. I’m sure it will be in the next five or six years.”
“But people have to put up with that. You have to deal with that. Chris will have times when the Press, the fans, the players will question him and with Alan in the background his name is always going to pop up. It is something he has to deal with.”
“In my eyes no matter who takes the job, Alan is always going to be in the background. He (Hughton) has always been thinking ‘Anytime now I could be out of a job if someone else comes in’.”
“But he has worked that way and done that well under those circumstances. He now has a contract for 18 months and he has stability and security.”
Chris has a number of qualities that say he should do well in management.
He is the boss and, as we’ve said, he will drop any player if his form warrants it, and he also seems to have the nerves and character to put up with the nonsense that surrounds the Newcastle manager position every single day – that’s just the way it is.
Graeme Souness always said that a Newcastle crisis was always just 2 games away – if the side lost two games in a row.
Well, Chris has now been through that now, as we lost surprisingly two successive away games to Nottingham Forest (1-0) and Scunthorpe United (2-1).
But we got back to our winning ways a week yesterday, when we managed to win 2-1 at home to Doncaster Rovers, rather luckily if the truth be told, but we also had Coloccini, Steven Taylor, Alan Smith and Danny Simpson all missing.
We are hoping all 4 players will start tomorrow at the Blades, and we need all 3 points if we are to maintain our promotion hopes this season.
We are hoping Cardiff City might slip up today in their televised home game against Nottingham Forest, who as so far unbeaten in their 7 away games this season.
Comments always welcome.
8 comments so far
sirjasontoon
Nov 1, 2009 at 2:56 PM
Comment #1“But we got back to our winning ways a week yesterday, when we managed to win 2-1 at home to Doncaster Rovers”
Awesome…my highlight of the season so far.
Well done Chris and all the lads you really taught the might Doncaster a lesson.
sirjasontoon
Nov 1, 2009 at 2:56 PM
Comment #2Mighty.
Typo 🙂
RetroBiscuits
Nov 1, 2009 at 3:20 PM
Comment #3Well Said Ed.
one cynical possibility is that we all know Ashley has full control over sales, signings & loanees, But whos to say that he wont force Hughton to field players with the run up to the transfer window for some more quick cash?
nobby sol
Nov 1, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Comment #4butt is a terrible player.
chestnut
Nov 1, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Comment #5Chris must be given time. 18 months is nothing. 3 years is more realistic if we want to build up a squad that can compete at the highest level. anything less is simply instability, something our club is especially famed for.
sirjasontoon
Nov 1, 2009 at 4:16 PM
Comment #6CH will get us a mid table finnish at best.
Indiamag
Nov 2, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Comment #7I don’t understand the constant cynicism behind almost everything that happens in Newcastle barring a win of course.. I think its high time we do our part and back whoever it is that owning us, whoever it is that is managing us and all the players who play for us in the prestigious black and white jersey..
premier
Nov 2, 2009 at 11:33 AM
Comment #8Chestnut–highest level of what? If you mean Premiership then you really are an old chestnut!!