It’s really difficult to know what the real situation is with Newcastle’s attempts to bring in a new head coach to replace the departed Alan Pardew, but the Star is reporting today that John Carver is expected to remain in temporary charge of the team at Chelsea on Saturday, and at home to Southampton on January 17th, and maybe even longer than that.
John Carver after the game at Leicester City
Sources at the club have told the Star they are coming up with the list pf potential candidates, and that Newcastle are in no hurry to make an appointment – hopefully because they want to make a good appointment for the club.
John Carver blotted his copybook a bit last Saturday by saying before the FA Cup tie at Leicester that he would field his strongest side, but then fielded one of the weakest sides Newcastle have put out in at least five years.
There is now some talk that maybe there was pressure put on John to play a weakened side, since the number one priority at Newcastle is the Premier League – and certainly not the local Cup competitions.
Alan Shearer had this to say about the FA Cup defeat at Leicester, which is the fourth time in five years the club has been eliminated in the 3rd round of the FA Cup:
“League status is Newcastle’s main priority and the club has come out and said that, which is unbelievably disappointing.” “There were 4,000 Newcastle fans at Leicester and they deserved more.”
“The league is their priority and they want to stay in the top 10 and they have constantly left their best players out in the cup – that’s the story.” “That’s what Newcastle is as a club at this moment in time and that’s what we’ve had put in front of us for a number of years now.”
“It did interest me that John Carver said in his pre-match press conference that he’d put his strongest side out, and then made seven changes so something must have happened in between for him to do that.”
That last paragraph is a veiled hint that maybe Lee Charnley put some pressure on Carver before the game on Saturday to rest some of Newcastle top players, and Coloccini, Janmaat, Colback, Sissoko and Perez were all left out of the squad, and were not even on the bench.
If that’s true and John was persuaded to leave top players out of the side – then it’s a very sad state of affairs at Newcastle.
Alan Shearer will know John Carver well because John was assistant manager to Sir Bobby Robson for five years from 1999, when Alan was the Newcastle United captain.
If a good candidate for head coach is not available now – and a number of them are not available until the summer, it will probably be better to leave Carver in charge even for the rest of the season – if necessary – as long as we can get the 13 points necessary to stay in the Premier League.
The last thing we want to see is another free fall – which is what happened in the second half of last season, after we were 6th top on Boxing Day.
And we also want a good appointment for head coach, and if we have to wait until the summer to get somebody like Thomas Tuchel in – then so be it.
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6 comments so far
LGFUAD21
Jan 7, 2015 at 2:52 PM
Comment #1For those poo pooing Garde yet blindly screaming for Tuchel.
On top of my fears about the culture clash for Tuchel that could go the way of Magath (who had a better CV than Tuchel when he joined Fulham)
I think Garde could be the man
http://cominghomenewcastle.sbnation.com/2015/1/7/7506105/meeting-remi-garde-the-new-clear-favorite-to-be-toon-boss
usmagpie
Jan 7, 2015 at 3:06 PM
Comment #2Being a Geordie is one thing that sticks with you, most Geordies would love to see a fellow Geordie in charge, but honestly John’s maybe a great assistant but as a manager I would have to say no. If John wants to become a manager of a club the size on Newcastle then he must leave and manage a lower league team and work from there. There are to many good managers out there for John to take over so please the powers that be find someone soon.
optimistic prime
Jan 7, 2015 at 3:10 PM
Comment #3If Ashley leaves it’ll be like Mardi Gras in the Toon.
Who’s up for a street party?
lesh
Jan 7, 2015 at 3:19 PM
Comment #4If the Club is going to delay the appointment of a good coach due to his unavailability ’til the summer, then Charnley must therefore do four things smartish:
1 – get the new coach signed up on a pre-contract now
2 – buy the striker and CB we need this window
3 – ensure no top players leave this window
and
4 – think about getting Beardsly involved in first team training, tactics and selection asap
Leaving things with Carver’s too risky and relegation’d become a real possibility.
bladeuser
Jan 7, 2015 at 4:12 PM
Comment #5What it is really saying is j carver is a chicken shit who will piss off fans anytime to have a chance at getting the job
CARVER OUT
musomag
Jan 7, 2015 at 9:02 PM
Comment #6Give Carver £20 and point him in the direction of Greggs and let’s be done with it