We’ve always thought that one of the top characteristics a football coach – or any coach for that matter must have – is an ability to inspire the players to get the very best out of them.
Who’s that with Bobby Robson at Barcelona in 1997?
Yes we know tactics are important, but they are often over-rated in today’s game, and sometimes being too tactical can even get in the way of a good performance.
Good coaches must be able to read a game and see what’s happening -and change things, and we noticed on Saturday that Southampton had three in central midfield while we only had two – Colback and Anita – and the Saints picked up far too many loose balls.
But great coaches of the past were able to inspire their players before games – and a great example of that was Brian Clough, who with assistant manager Peter Taylor won two successive European Cups in 1979 and 1980 when they were at Nottingham Forest.
We knew they were good when they started at Hartlepool United back in the mid-60s when Hartlepool were a perennial bottom four side in the then 4th division, but in 1967 Hartlepools (as they were known then) were promoted for the first time in their history to the third division of the English League .
Another two great examples closer to home are Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson.
Sir Bobby Robson was an excellent example of what a real coach is – somebody who can take the players they have, and get the very best out of them – and Bobby did that so magnificently while at Ipswich Town for 13 years, when he had a club with little money consistently in the top six of Division One.
Bobby was at Ipswich from 1969 through 1982 when he took over the England team until 1990.
And Bobby didn’t do too badly while at Newcastle for five years from 1999, when he saved us from relegation in his first season, and then had us 4th, 3rd and 5th in his final three seasons on Tyneside before Freddy Shepherd fired him.
We think we have a very good squad at the moment at Newcastle and if we can hire a very good coach – we could do very well with the current squad we have – never mind about bringing in new players .
Lee Charnley seems to be doing a thorough job in selecting the right person, and that’s important and it’s also admirable they are keeping things very quiet.
But we still hope he would issue a short statement that informs players and fans of the current situation, and he can do that without giving anything away .
Here’s an example of what Lee could say – which is a good update without giving much away:
“We have made very good progress over the last two weeks in our search for a new head coach at Newcastle United to replace Alan Pardew.”
“It’s a very important appointment for the Club, and I can report that we have made good progress, and that we’ve also had a lot of applicants from around the world who have shown interest in the position.”
“We have now narrowed the search down to three candidates, and have carried out thorough due diligence on all three candidates, and we are hoping to make a final decision before the end of January.”
“That’s all we can report at the moment.”
It’s an extremely important appointment for Newcastle United given our current situation, and the most important thing is to get an excellent coach in, and Lee Charnley is absolutely right in not rushing the appointment.
We need the right man this time.
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175 comments so far
sparky55
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:17 PM
Comment #161transfer and Jesper.
Have you two gone soft FFS…your average worker in the UK will work 40 hours a week for 45 years before they retire and raise kids as best they can.
These millionaire footballers are finished by 35yrs old and ‘work’ on average a hell of a lot less than 40 hours a week have another 55 years on average to spend time with their kids and family.
The club / team are struggling and as club / team captain Colo should be leading from the front and doing a hell of a lot more than fcuking off to Argentina to see his Mrs especially after having screwed around in the toon for a couple of years.
It’s fcuking ridiculous
martoon
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:17 PM
Comment #162Jakenufc @140 – I hope your interview didn’t include a spelling test 🙂
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:18 PM
Comment #163B&B…a 4-3-3 does not use wingers (well not on the continent)
…not in the traditional sense
lesh
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:18 PM
Comment #164Whoa back Welshy, if your promise to quit the blog when Ashley finally appoints a good Head Coach gets out, the applicants’ll be forming a queue to take the job – the queue snaking all round SJP!
Shout a bit louder bonny lad, yell it from the rooftops!
p
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:19 PM
Comment #165just curious…
was there any more on that story that if MYM played 1 more game for Roma – which apparently he did over the weekend – that an automatic permanent transfer for 5.5m would take place?
I would have thought that would have been announced if not already, very soon.
perhaps it was more made up stuff?
Transfer Sage
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:21 PM
Comment #166Sparky
It’s not the point though. I think everyone in most professions over here aren’t able to spend enough finally time and not enough employers allow this.
I’m not saying as captain colo should be allowed home but as a person you can understand it.
Like I say, if a player can’t fulfill all duties as captain (and this is probably one of them) then he should step down/be replaced.
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:21 PM
Comment #167sparky55…you know playing for Newcastle is not a life sentence you know!
…a player has the same rights as you made and they negotiate their terms just like you do.
That is the basic rights we all have fought for in western Europe since before our time.
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:22 PM
Comment #168*made = mate
welshgeordie9
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:22 PM
Comment #169Now now lesh i didn’t say anything about Ashley, I was on about between now and the end of the season.
70TWO
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:22 PM
Comment #170NUFC have 27 points, over the next four matches we have Hull, Stoke, C.Palace and ManC. At the same time Spurs (37), W.Ham (36) and Liverpool (35); play each other or a team above them. I would predict at least one of them will not move above 40 points. Swansea(30) have two gimme games and two matches against top 5 teams, so I predict they will get 36 points. Stoke(29) have two gimmes, us and ManC, which is not always predictable; 38 points.
The two teams immediately below us and most threatening are C.Palace(23) and Everton(22) who are playing each other and have no more than two gimmes; unless one team goes on an amazing run. I predict either could accomplish 32 maximum.
After the next four matches I predict the PL table will hardly change because a lot of the teams between positions 6 – 13 are playing against other teams in the same category. Which is good for NUFC but will also predictably guarantee no new players or Head Coach.
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:23 PM
Comment #171p…the rumours is 20 games and he has played 18 so far I believe.
lesh
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:29 PM
Comment #172Ahhhh Welshy, you hedging your bets now. Knew you didn’t have the bottle to see it through.
Where’s your joke book anyway? Come on lad, we need something different to groan at!
😉
sparky55
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:30 PM
Comment #173WOW…I’m gobsmacked!
His wife chooses to live in Argentina and that automatically entitles him to go home overtime we lose a cup g;game…no wonder we never win any cup games with a clause like that in his contract!
Footballers are part time employees who get paid massive money and have more than enough time on their hands to spend ‘quality’ time with their families.
You should put yourselves forward as agents or ‘quality time with family’ advocates to convince football clubs to give our “hard done-by” players more time off FFS.
Not forgetting of course that they get 2 months off in the summer as well!
G peart 83
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:58 PM
Comment #174Typical mike ripping the piss out of everyone again
Jeff from Benwell
Jan 19, 2015 at 11:20 PM
Comment #175Darren Fletcher would make a cracking centre-half