Newcastle United in the Middle
Boardroom Uncertainty Could De-rail St James's Winning Start
Aug 27, 2009
Who'd be a Newcastle fan? The club that spent 2008/09 lurching from crisis to crisis met its end in an almost inevitable relegation, made worse by the fact the side was packed with international stars, including Michael Owen, Fabricio Coloccini and Olabafemi Martins. A 3-1 defeat of Middlesbrough towards the end of the campaign confirmed what most people knew, that St James Park hosted the calibre of players who should never have finished 18th and down. Why it happened remains a well documented litany of despair featuring bad decisions at Boardroom level, a Chairman who became universally unpopular with the supporters and problems on the field that were never overcome.
Newcastle is for sale, but Mike Ashley remains in charge
At least one of the issues above remains unresolved, and it's a critical one. Mike Ashley is still in charge and actually looks as though he might stay, at least for a further year. Having developed his Chairman's role into a template on how not to do things properly, he put the club up for sale in December 2008 for £100m and waited for a queue of buyers to form. And waited. There was always interest in the club, various consortia stepping forward in the hope of relieving Ashley of his duties. The most likely purchaser was and remains Barry Moat, a Tyneside businessman who thinks he has come up with a suitable takeover package, though currently he needs to convince Barclays Bank that he can operate Newcastle's £39m overdraft facility. An extension to the buy-out deadline has been granted in order to give Moat time to work his charms on the bank, or at least provide a statement of accounts that persuades it he's the right man for the job.
While all this is going on, any movement within the club has been put on hold. Newcastle are yet to appoint a permanent manager, while a transfer embargo has been enforced, stopping caretaker boss Chris Hughton from adding to his squad while he continues to sell highly paid incumbents to passing teams. The most appropriate word to describe this situation would be 'mess', and indeed United's despair would be complete if they failed to produce on the field. Instead, Newcastle have started their Championship campaign brightly, joining Cardiff, Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion at the top of the table on ten points after inspiring wins over Crystal Palace, Sheffield Wednesday and Reading.
Chris Hughton emerges as a potential manager for Newcastle
Before the season started, Hughton was dismissed as something of a joke figure. He last held caretaker duties during Newcastle's shambolic period of uncertainty following Kevin Keegan's resignation, overseeing a run of defeats during which neither head coach or players appeared to know what they were doing. Left in nominal charge over the summer, Hughton reached his nadir when the team were beaten 6-1 by Leyton Orient in a friendly match, fuelling speculation that they were going to do naught but struggle. Only things haven't worked out that way. Hughton has inspired his charges to self-belief and a confident string of performances, even while former Premiership players like Martins, Owen and Damien Duff were shipped out and replaced on the bench with homegrown youngsters. The occasional bright spot, such as Jonas Gutierrez being assured by Argentina manager Diego Maradona that being in the second flight won't dent his chances of playing international football, has been offset by perpetual rumours that club captain, Steven Taylor, is set to leave for Everton or Aston Villa, the likely £6m recompense not enough of a cushion for the blow of losing a player who has become a talismanic figure in recent weeks. Yet the side keeps winning games, and while that happens the gloom over Tyneside isn't all-consuming.
Alan Shearer is the fans' choice for manager
Moat will hope that he can push through his takeover as soon as possible. The transfer deadline is days away. When it passes, the club will only have a small window remaining in which to organise a loan deal or two, and what they need is new players to augment their promotion bid. With Newcastle still in limbo at its highest level, it's agreed that a managerial appointment is required, the decision being put on hold until someone wrests the operation from Ashley's hands. The fans want Alan Shearer, United's former striker who was in temporary charge at the end of the previous season. Shearer couldn't save his team from relegation, but many see him as their long-term answer all the same, and he wants the job. Other names mentioned are David O'Leary or a second tenure for Joe Kinnear, neither name inspiring the supporters that all will end well. A further alternative could be Hughton himself. His stock at St James is rising all the time after a horrible start. Detractors suggest that his appointment might mirror that of Glenn Roeder, who did well enough as caretaker in 2006 to get the job permanently, only to find himself out of his depth and floundering.
Something needs to happen quickly. The first weeks of the new season have given supporters hope that there is light at the end of a tunnel long enough to engulf the Tyne itself, but the team requires impetus. While their rivals prepare for the coming challenge with fresh faces and internal harmony, both crucial factors in keeping up a sustained promotion push, Newcastle still have much work to do, not least in terms of reorganising their corridors of power. Until this happens, the strange, static mood that keeps the club in perpetual transition will threaten to undermine the good start they've made in the Championship.
