Joe Kinnear may have come to his senses, and he has given an interview with the Shields Gazette, and dare I say it – he talks some sense for a change.
Joe Kinnear – 66 year-old has talked some sense
Joe Kinnear was introduced as Newcastle’s new Director of Football yesterday and today Derek Llambias announced his resignation, and yes, there is probably a cause – effect there.
It seems that Hoe has realized he is making enemies of Newcastle’s fans, from some of his past comments, and he is now trying to placate them – which if obvious, is nevertheless what he needs to do.
This is what Joe told the Shields Gazette in what seems a good interview.
“I want to make sure we’re prepared for the start of the season with the right squad and the right players, and try and give Newcastle a great season.” “They deserve it.” “There are no supporters like them in the Premiership. They travel the length and breadth of the country.” “They’re always loyal, and they’re always there.”
“We’re entitled to give them the best.” “The first thing I’ve got to do is have a meeting with Alan, Graham and Derek, and Mike if he’s not away, and go through every player.” “Even the ones who are injured – and find out what they can contribute to the club.” “I’ll give them a list of players and show them videos and tapes of the type of player we need.”
“Then we’ll discuss it. If I get the green light, I’ll go out and get them.” “It depends on the make-up of the team. Are we lightweight in these areas? Do we need really pacy wingers.” “Or a pacy striker than we can throw on later on in the game. Can we find him?” “There are so many things to talk about and do.”
One way not to start your new career Director of Football ar Newcastle is to say you are more intelligent than the club’s supporters – but that’s exactly what Joe has said – so how does he think the fans feel towards him?
This is not rocket science.
It’s going to be very difficult for Kinnear to get the fans on his side, and we suppose the best way he can do that is by not giving ridiculous interviews in the press, memorize the names of Newcastle’s players, especially our top French players we have to keep on Tyneside, and get some top players into the club this summer.
If Joe can do that by September he should be in better shape than he is now – although there are no guarantees.
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23 comments so far
kevymartins
Jun 19, 2013 at 9:39 PM
Comment #1Repost
You guys are considering players like mcmanaman while liverpool are going for the likes of Henrikh mhikaryan and yous have the cheek to criticize jfk haha
Patoon
Jun 19, 2013 at 9:43 PM
Comment #2Joseph Barton ?@Joey7Barton 11h
Kinnear was actually a sound fella when I was there. Very decent bloke. Just don’t understand the reasoning of bringing him back? Maybe…
Patoon
Jun 19, 2013 at 9:43 PM
Comment #3Kevy
don’t u b goin disagreeing wey Ruddy 2nite now lol
kevymartins
Jun 19, 2013 at 9:45 PM
Comment #4@patoon I stick by my words some people change there opinions more than a 5 year old at toys r us.
veto
Jun 19, 2013 at 9:52 PM
Comment #5all’s well and good if he helps improve the team , he just needs to learn to bite his tongue where needs be .
we dont mind abit of fight , but not at the expense of making us a laughing stock .
get ya head down and get some decent players in , dont send us into a season short like llambias did last year by all accounts (which i think is the reason we are going through this regime change )
and all will be well .
he wants to try and fetch us a 20+ goal a season striker in …
and he doesnt seem like he is going tobe shy about going to mike and asking for it .
llambias was far to up mikes backside and never pushed him for players like joe (lets face it a guy with a decent footballing head on him) i imagine will .
if not for the geriatric rant this wouldnt look as bad as it does now
kevymartins
Jun 19, 2013 at 9:53 PM
Comment #6Anyway im off. Hopefully we will see a few (pacey) players come in with kinnear.
sparky55
Jun 19, 2013 at 9:54 PM
Comment #7We just need to cut the guy some slack and give him the benefit of the debt until september 1st and then depending on who he’s brought in judge the sh!t out of him.
Is that not too unreasonable???
clinath@ed
Jun 19, 2013 at 9:56 PM
Comment #8Having shown the video and tapes to his co-managers of the type of players he wants, he should the ASK Graham Carr if HE has any detailed dossiers on players of that ilk. Otherwise we’re back to picking players from YouTube!
DubaiMicky
Jun 19, 2013 at 9:59 PM
Comment #9Spin, spin and more spin. He’s obviously been told that the PA debacle from Sunday won’t be allowed again.
Well, you’d hope that’s the case at least.
jimmysmith
Jun 19, 2013 at 10:03 PM
Comment #10I preferred it when he was being a gobshite, at least that was entertaining. This stuff, well go out and do it and then you’ll earn some respect, but its a long shot. I think Joes the cheap option that Mike can’t resist taking.
Patoon
Jun 19, 2013 at 10:03 PM
Comment #11R things actually starting 2 look positive on the blog, wel ye f*****g ha, bout time, TOON ARMY TOON ARMY
Jamesthefirst
Jun 19, 2013 at 10:11 PM
Comment #12Excellent article on the situation at our club:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/newcastle-united/10128888/Mike-Ashley-has-defied-logic-by-appointing-a-human-hand-grenade-to-take-charge-of-Newcastle-Uniteds-affairs.html
LeedsMag
Jun 19, 2013 at 10:18 PM
Comment #13Cant see any reason to cut the guy some slack – I dont want some clown who rants and raves,is ecomomical with the truth to say the least being the mouthpiece at my club.He has no class and gains no respect from anyone in the football world – how are any decent players going to be attracted by the charm of JFK.
He is a throwback to a football time that is irrelevant to the challenges now.
I dont know what his personal circumstances are but if he is down on his luck or has dodgy health then I am sorry for the guy but we dont have to be a charity case
spitfire_
Jun 19, 2013 at 10:18 PM
Comment #14Until the whole bureaucratic communist machine start working will pass weeks. And Villa already buy 4 players which boost their squad.
lesh
Jun 19, 2013 at 10:21 PM
Comment #15@8 – agree totally.
JK: ” I’ll give them a list of players and show them videos and tapes of the type of player we need.”
GC: “Er Joe, have I got a job here or are you doing it for me?”
A worrying sign and that’s before he sits down to discuss needs.
Memo to Joe Kinnear: Tread carefully and think before opening your trap!
sparky55
Jun 19, 2013 at 10:24 PM
Comment #16Leedsmag…what’s the criteria of success then in your book…what does he have to do to get your approval
lesh
Jun 19, 2013 at 10:25 PM
Comment #17LeedsMag.
Kinnear can’t be that down on his luck if he can afford to drink in Ashley’s local.
DubaiMicky
Jun 19, 2013 at 10:26 PM
Comment #18@Jamesthefirst #11, can you cut and paste that article – subscribers only.
Howay50
Jun 19, 2013 at 10:42 PM
Comment #19Joe Kinnear, I wouldn’t trust him with my washing. The man’s an absolute waste of space. The circus that is NUFC continues…wouldn’t be surprised if Pardew is forced to wear a clowns outfit on match days. The last week has just been humiliating – and I predict an exodus of our best players in the next six months as sadly Ashley who was making progress in the right direction has made a serious miscalculation here and a major step back.
Premiership Manager
Jun 19, 2013 at 11:05 PM
Comment #20Joe is cleverer than what I thought – If he’s going to talk to Derek he needs to catch up with the times as he’s resigned.
Either another fabricated story or a repeat of an old one. Can we at least keep up with the times and add new value added posts instead of old outdated ones which put the club and it’s management in a worse light than they are already in.
scout
Jun 19, 2013 at 11:09 PM
Comment #21Nice one Joe, loving the pacey wingers comment. Back to basics, this poxy continental styles no good. 442 at home let’s get some goals. Not an isolated striker all the time.
He sees the problems I’m telling you, this is gonna work out well. I’m warming to Kinnear, lads give the bloke a chance.
Jamesthefirst
Jun 19, 2013 at 11:33 PM
Comment #22Jeff Winter in the telegraph:
By Henry Winter, Football Correspondent6:00AM BST 19 Jun 201317 Comments
Even SportsDirect’s annual report trumpets Ashley’s business as the “consumers’ champion”. So why such current disregard for the customers and consumers otherwise known as Newcastle supporters?
Ashley’s appointment of Joe Kinnear as director of football on a three-year contract has been greeted with inevitable dismay by the majority of them. Their anger understandably intensified when Kinnear made derogatory remarks about them, questioning their intelligence in a radio interview. A SportsDirect employee showing such a lack of respect to customers would not last long.
Since it emerged that Kinnear was returning to St James’ Park, the spotlight has primarily shone on the ebullient, often foul-mouthed, always opinionated Dubliner with the gift of the gaffe. After four years out of the game, Kinnear was hardly going to turn down the opportunity of such an influential role at such a prominent club. Three years’ money? Thank you very much.
It is pointless blaming Kinnear. The real question is why Ashley has rolled this 66-year-old human hand grenade through St James’ Park (unless it is an elaborate plan to try the patience of Alan Pardew to the point where the manager walks).
Ashley knows that Newcastle fans themselves will not walk away, that they are not like SportsDirect customers who can switch to another store if the service or goods are poor. Newcastle fans are loyal.
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St James’ Park dominates the city landscape figuratively and emotionally. Season?tickets are a laminated show of faith. Deciding not to renew is a huge and painful step. Ashley understands that. So why push some towards considering cutting bonds made at birth?
At the very least, some fans may simply record their dissent by limiting expenditure at the club shop, at the catering outlets, affecting Ashley’s profits.
Ashley is a brilliant businessman, an entrepreneur who incentivises his SportsDirect workforce to deliver impressive returns. I have only ever had five minutes in his company but even during that fleeting period it was impossible not to admire his sharp analytical mind.
He took a couple of the footballing issues of the day, dismantled them and then put them back together, suggesting possible solutions. So his alienating of Newcastle fans defies the logic he applies to his working life.
So where to go from here? First, Ashley needs to remind Kinnear of some of the principles that make SportsDirect so successful. The new director of football has to show more respect to fans, staff and players.
Creative tension may work in rock bands and theatrical troupes but teams and clubs need unity. Togetherness was one of the key ingredients of Wimbledon under Kinnear in the Nineties. There were some feisty characters in the dressing-room but they usually stood shoulder to shoulder when it counted, when the opposition threatened most.
At Wimbledon, some of the players would talk positively about Kinnear’s man-management qualities, the way he challenged them to do better. Marcus Gayle improved under Kinnear’s constant coaxing. When Gayle suffered a dip in form for the then Premier League side, Kinnear would shout: “Do you want to go back to where you come from?” Back to the third tier.
If Ashley’s gamble is to pay off, he needs Kinnear to appreciate that the game has changed, that motivating modern millionaires requires more subtlety than his Wimbledon rhetoric. Footballers now are far more sensitive than the old Crazy Gang. If Kinnear wants to keep Newcastle’s best players, he cannot refer to Yohan Cabaye as Yohan Kebab. He called Charles N’Zogbia Charles Insomnia in 2009 and the winger left. It is disrespectful.
I have interviewed Kinnear down the years and he is a far shrewder individual than the circus act currently filling bulletins and headlines. He must know this aggressive stance is dangerous. Ashley might want Kinnear to shake Newcastle up, avoiding a repeat of last season’s wobble, but not to the extent of civil war.
It is hard to imagine Ashley allowing one of his executives to belittle those business reporters who help to shape the image of SportsDirect. Kinnear should urgently rethink his denigrating of what he calls the “snidey press”, who are actually individuals who care about the club and spend their life chronicling its importance to so many.
Deliberately fostering a stressful environment is also hardly sensible for somebody who suffered a heart attack in 1999 and underwent heart bypass surgery in 2009. Kinnear should calm down and make some friends in one of the country’s friendliest cities.
Ashley also needs to advise Kinnear that his old recruiting grounds, lower leagues and non-League, are not as fertile as before. Newcastle have enjoyed success bringing in players from France. Ashley needs Kinnear to work well with the chief scout, Graham Carr, whose talent-spotting skills are much admired by other chairmen.
Newcastle’s statement must have made painful reading for Carr and Pardew, saying they “will report into Joe”. Kinnear is in charge. The new director of football insists he will not pick the team but he’s above the man who does. Pardew has effectively been downgraded to first-team coach, unfair on a decent manager.
This is no way to run a club or a business.
tequilamag
Jun 19, 2013 at 11:47 PM
Comment #23He wants to show Videos and tapes. Who the f@ck plays videos ?