When you are managing something and especially when you are leading people, it’s always necessary to be positive and upbeat about things – but you also have to be down to earth and realistic too.
If you are too positive all the time – like John Carver was as one example last season – you get to be seen as a pollyanna when everything is great all the time – and we all know that’s not true.
So if you in trouble you have to say that – but also talk about how to get out of the situation – that’s being both realistic and positive too.
Steve McClaren at Aston Villa
Some of Steve McClaren’s comments yesterday verge on bring overly positive about a number of things and he made one or two strange comments to the press.
There’s no doubt that Steve is now under pressure after collecting just one point from the last three games – which were all winnable games for us against average side – especially after we had just beaten Liverpool and Tottenham.
This is some of what Steve said yesterday:
“Believe me, under the surface, I am paddling like mad,” “But we have a little bit more information than everyone else. We know what we have got and what we are trying to do.”
“We feel as if we are getting there after a tough start. That is the first half of the season gone. 2015 is about to end — good. We cannot wait for the next year.”
“It would worry me if they weren’t giving attitude, effort, weren’t being bright around the place, weren’t playing as committed as they were, weren’t creating chances as we are, playing the football that we are.”
“We are just not getting the results from that. That will have to turn, that will have to change and, with 19 games to go, we will have to do it very quickly..”
“I’m quite a realist. I do know what’s happening and I try not to pull the wool over too many people’s eyes. I’m very positive with this group and this squad. I always have been.”
“We had a tough start, but since then we have collected points and shown we can compete with anyone on our day.”
It’s just that it’s not too many times that it is our day. and it becomes a (very) hard sell over time when you keep saying the team is playing well but we are just not getting the results we deserve.
And we have no idea what Steve really means by I try not to pull the wool over too many people’s eyes – but it’s probably tongue in cheek.
Steve has to show the likes of Mike Ashley that he knows what he’s doing and better things are on the horizon.
But on the other hand, we’ve been waiting for better things to come all this season – especially after last season’s absolute and complete nightmare.
Steve will be given time to put things right, but we don’t think Mike Ashley will wait and stick with him if it looks like we are going down.
Ashley will most likely bring somebody else in to attempt to preserve our Premier League status if at all possible.
Whether that happens or not depends on the results and maybe on how we do in the four games in January against Arsenal, Manchester United, West Ham and Watford – all top eight clubs at the moment.
So the way we have been playing this season – very well against the good clubs – we could even do OK in January.
But the sad truth is that Newcastle have plummeted as a club over the last two years and smaller clubs are now doing so much better than us – and they are also above us in the Premier League.
Who would have thought that Leicester City, Crystal Palace, West Ham, Watford and Stoke City would be in the top eight going into 2016?
Comments welcome.
100 comments so far
Ron Knee
Dec 31, 2015 at 8:30 AM
Comment #1Not sure, Ed. They didn’t replace John Carver.
WWSBRD
Dec 31, 2015 at 8:33 AM
Comment #2Do we not look like we are going down now?
Transfer Sage
Dec 31, 2015 at 8:42 AM
Comment #3It’s almost more concerning that the players are putting in the effort and we still don’t look like being able to win.
It shouts for a lack of quality or poor preparation/tactics.
John Tudor
Dec 31, 2015 at 8:45 AM
Comment #4another gobshite towing the party line
ffs enough is enough
but a lot will just sit back and take it up the @ss
not me
Transfer Sage
Dec 31, 2015 at 8:46 AM
Comment #5I wouldn’t have predicted palace, leicester and watford in the top 8 but I’d have put Stoke there.
Stoke have been very clever in getting a good manager who plays decent football. They were solid as a defensive unit and Hughes has added real quality in the forward lines. They have skills, pace and vision.
John Tudor
Dec 31, 2015 at 8:53 AM
Comment #6transfer we on the other hand are pretty much useless in all departments and being led by a hasbeen with little or no clue to motivate what he has
nufcursed
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:04 AM
Comment #7Ed you’re wrong there! it’s mcclaren at west brom as you can see pulis in the back!
Rotonda heights
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:06 AM
Comment #8I don’t think SM is going anywhere, as AP showed, you virtually have to kill someone to get the boot here and even then he left, wasn’t fired.
We are a rest home for mediocrity. The people who have rocked up at sjp over the last 9 years wouldn’t have got a gig anywhere else.
Rotonda heights
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:10 AM
Comment #9Sage
Hughes has surprised me in the way Pulis did at CP. Never rated him at all previously, especially at Manc.
However, this season Stoke’s football has been an absolute joy to watch and Bojan, Shakiri and Arnatovic are a bit special with license to play and hurt teams.
Our Toon
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:18 AM
Comment #10Just read somewhere that dembele of Fulham is out of contract in the summer…..would any of you make a bid for him now? 19 years old has 10 odd goals in 26 games which is not bad for someone so young
Mag52
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:19 AM
Comment #11Ashley has been f@cking around with this club for far too long and there has to be an end to it pretty soon if he’s not going to see his asset dropping out of the serious money.
It’s all very well, and too easy, to put the blame on the managers he employs, the guys who have to front up each week following the latest loss.
In spite of what he hinted at earlier in the season, the puppet master is still operating his puppets and he and he alone is the root cause of the dire position we find ourselves in half way through the season.
ASHLEY OUT has to be the rallying cry throughout the second half of it.
Rotonda heights
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:23 AM
Comment #12Townsend and austin are not the answers.
We need a quick mobile striker who can create for himself, someone like a younger remy or a slimmer Berahino. If only we had paid the going rate for PEA. Imagine what he’d be worth now.
We need a creative midfielder more than anything. Shelvey or the Russian guy.
If we aren’t going to play a sweeper with wing backs which I think would work really well, a LB should be absolutely paramount too. Haidara is a bit of a headless chicken and Dummet is a decent stand in CB.
So many times we’ve made false economies and passed on the likes of P.E.A and Dele Alli because we wouldn’t go the extra mile and then splash nearly 30M on dodgy characters like Mitro and Thauvin.
The club is run by useless cretinous chancers.
Transfer Sage
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:23 AM
Comment #13Rotonda
I rated Hughes quite highly, he has done a good job at a few clubs, Blackburn and Fulham (I think it was).
Man City was always going to be hard, he was there when ownership changed hands and it was when they were starting to try and push up the league. They couldn’t sign the worlds best players, just decent ones and then talented lads who might be a bit difficult (Robinho). So it was never going to be easy.
I think he may well do a very good job as the man utd boss in the future.
Tsunki
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:28 AM
Comment #14” I’ve forgotten which colour we are. Anyone?”
TudorCrisps
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:29 AM
Comment #15i want moyes in charge with 50 + Million to spend in january otherwise i will stamp my feet but still silently support the lads on the pitch
Tsunki
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:29 AM
Comment #16Yes Tony Pulis has satnav problems.
davis_toons
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:31 AM
Comment #17How about giving chris hughton 50 million to spent?
Rotonda heights
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:32 AM
Comment #18Mag 52
It is mainly all to do with the cheap second rate options Ash has employed:-
JFK twice, AP, Wise, Llambias, SM etc.
If Ash didn’t want to be hands on you appoint a knowledgeable football chairman like David Dein or similar with a good track record.
You get a manager with a consistently proven good track record, not a hit and miss one.
You put a good scouting network in place not a near 80 year old man on his own whose judgement becomes more questionable by the day.
You stick with a reputable sponsor like Virgin, not s—bags like Wonga.
The list is endless but effectively at the end of the day we are managed by a failed no guts manager, sponsored by wonga, playing at he sports direct arena.
lochinvar
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:33 AM
Comment #19McClaren,
“Believe me, under the surface, I am paddling like mad,” “But we have a little bit more information than everyone else. We know what we have got and what we are trying to do.”
Are these ramblings from the cult of David Ike ( beware if McClaren starts wearing a purple tracksuit ) , the Little Book of Coach Carver or Pardew’s Memoirs “I had a dream” – soon to be serialised in the Metro paper.
It would be so much less painful that it is if he stopped the drivel and got on with the job – please.
Rotonda heights
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:33 AM
Comment #20Yet 50000 still turn up so we are stuck with it.
TudorCrisps
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:33 AM
Comment #21we will end up with cathro with 5 games to get us out the shyte which we will lose all 5 hoping cathro is good enough to bring us backup the season after nexrt
Charlie in the Gallowgate
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:34 AM
Comment #22To me McLaren is making noises to soften the blow that no one will be coming in this transfer window with don’t believe paper speculation and Riviere like a new signing and Aarons back in training.
Either the fat controller has decided if we finish fourth bottom without spending brilliant – extra money and spent nowt – win win situation
or
If we go down spent nowt -parachute payment, sell players that’s worth anything reduce staff – win situation.
Hope I am wrong and we spend!
but what ever happens the club needs a change of direction – cannot keep buying young players for a sell on fee
Rotonda heights
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:37 AM
Comment #23Tudor crisps
Moyes is the man who bored the mancs and then the catalans into submission.
Moyes might have been better than ok back in the day but somewhere we have to break this cycle of defensive long ball Brit / English managers.
Where is our Pochetinno, Klopp, Flores even. Moyes just means more of the same.
Transfer Sage
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:38 AM
Comment #24Charlie
I personally think we will sign 3 players. I don’t think Ashley will want to risk going down this year so might try to buy us out of trouble.
If this team went down they wouldn’t come back up. Good championship players cost in the region of 7-10mil now so won’t be cheap buying the quality to give us a chance to come up.
TudorCrisps
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:39 AM
Comment #25exactlly charlie MA has taken the heart and soul from our club yet we still turn up in thousands to support and jeer his business its like standing out side mcdonalds and jeering every time they sell a bigmac
Ron Knee
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:40 AM
Comment #26Charlie
Do you think Fatso will settle for Championship football? It would mean less exposure for Sh*t Direct.
Transfer Sage
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:41 AM
Comment #27Rotonda
Exactly, football always changes and you need coaches successful now, not in the past.
Van Gaal was brilliant in the 90s, done very little in the past 10 years and that shows.
Look at guys like Allerdyce, Pulis, etc….decent managers, but in the case of allerdyce have gone from guaranteeing top 10 to now just guaranteeing survival…even that’s not a guarantee now.
They aren’t bad managers, just not necessarily suited to the current style of most teams/players in the prem league.
Rotonda heights
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:44 AM
Comment #28crisps
that’s a very good analogy. we moan like b-gg–y yet 50000 continue to make sure ash goes nowhere.
I would take relegation now if it meant the end of ash and his minions who have thoroughly wrecked this club down to the ground.
TudorCrisps
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:44 AM
Comment #29so you would say no to fergie if he came out of retirement then?
if you no your stuff then you no your stuff.
Ron Knee
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:47 AM
Comment #30RH
I think it would take several seasons in the lower divisions before Ashley relinquished his grasp. Might be necessary though!
TudorCrisps
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:50 AM
Comment #31hear hear rotonda
optimistic prime
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:51 AM
Comment #32Sharings caring Steeve, spit it out the info.
jayphoto
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:55 AM
Comment #33Think they will definitely sign a couple in January. The Shelvey link seems reoccurring. Don’t think there’s anything in the austin or townsend rumours.
for the sake of spending 25m they could miss out on huge money for years! Its getting harder to get out of the championship!
Need 3 players for me. A centreback, a centre mid and a centre forward.
Id take Vestergaard and Shelvey.
Increasingly looking like Armstrong should be recalled and actually given 10 games or so at Newcastle. I know its a step up but pace is transferrable
Transfer Sage
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:55 AM
Comment #34Tudor
Ferguson was still successful when he retired. He continually evolved to suit the changing game.
Some managers can adapt and have continued success, others live off their past reputation and continue to get jobs based on what they have done and not what they are doing.
firebug666
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:57 AM
Comment #35McClaren’s mutterings smacks of him being satisfied with what we have, similar to the inept one.
There will be few if any signings in January, and McClaren will then follow in the inept ones shoes by stating we have enough to get through and he is very happy with the squad.
It’s always the same spiel in a different wrapper.
Transfer Sage
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:57 AM
Comment #36Jay
Agree on armstrong, he seems a good finisher. He’d have less time in the prem and less chances with us but his pace could stretch teams.
I’d rather have him on our bench than out on loan if we don’t strengthen in January.
Mag52
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:59 AM
Comment #37Rotonda.
There’s hardly a manager in work who hasn’t failed somewhere along the line.
As for NUFC employing a manager who could be considered anywhere in the top echelon of managers, forget it as long as you know who owns the club.
His reputation as someone to work for stinks to high heaven.
lesh
Dec 31, 2015 at 9:59 AM
Comment #38WWSBRD
Don’t they think we’re looking at the drop now?
Nope. They’ll choose to ignore it until they feel they’ve no choice than to pay up McClaren’s contract.
And then? Well there’s always Honest John out there and he’d cost nowt – well apart from the millions lost as a result of relegation.
Transfer Sage
Dec 31, 2015 at 10:00 AM
Comment #39Mag 52
I think Ashley will leave soon. It will get increasingly hard for him to operate in such a way and stay in the premier league.
There is no incentive for him to own us in the Championship.
I would be surprised if he was here in 5 years time. Just a feeling.
lesh
Dec 31, 2015 at 10:03 AM
Comment #40Sage
We’re seeing the results of a lack of in-depth quality, poor players signed for the wrong positions and thus the limited options available to McClaren – hence players being played out of position and thus limited tactical options.