Five and a half years ago, Newcastle United were relegated from The Premier League after a catastrophic season involving no fewer than five different management teams from Kevin Keegan who started the season in charge through Chris Hughton (twice, once alongside Colin Calderwood), Joe Kinnear and finally, Alan Shearer, who unfortunately ended the 2008-09 season in the St James’ hot seat.
When Alan Pardew – who steered The Good Ship Newcastle for the last four years to one 5th place finish, a European Quarter-Final and Europa-doped 16th spot before last season’s 10th placed finish – unexpectedly left the club in late December to join Crystal Palace, a reluctance to replace him before the ink was dry on his Eagles contract is understandable as the club cannot be too careful.
Newcastle United – Positive Charnley Charter Yet No Scope For Complacency
New Managing Director Lee Charnley lowered the drawbridge of Fortress St James’ Park to speak to The Chronicle this week and outlined that The Magpies will deliberate before appointing the man who will replace Pardew in charge of first team affairs – a role modified into that of a Continental-style “Head Coach” – possibly in summer.
A new triangular management structure with Charnley in charge of business, Executive ‘Super-Scout’ Graham Carr as the man primarily responsible for the recruitment of new players and the new Head Coach – a position for which there has been ‘around 80 applicants’ – will look to lift The Magpies back into the upper echelons of English and European football where the club belongs.
Whoever walks out onto the St James’ Park pitch in front of 52,000 of the most passionate football supporters in the game, the 8th biggest fan-base representing the 19th placed club on today Top 20 Deloitte Rich List, will quickly realise he is in command of one of the true sleeping giants in world football, a club whose potential, fully roused, is limitless.As Kevin Keegan, the man who almost won The Premier League title with Newcastle said:
“ If you can get Newcastle fully going, it will be like a giant snowball – UNSTOPPABLE.”
The Need For Urgency – The Football World Never Sleeps
Under the continued ownership of Britain’s 23rd richest man, Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s backward slide has been arrested since the 2008-09 disaster.
However, while stability and long-term planning are vital, the Premier League is a results-driven business and until Newcastle’s top-flight status next season is guaranteed, nothing should be taken for granted.
Why Newcastle and unlucky(?) Caretaker Manager John Carver have been robbed of two crucial decisions (three including Yoan Gouffran’s rightful pen at Old Trafford) recently – the wrongly disallowed goal of £12 Million signing Remy Cabella in The FA Cup against Leicester and the failure of referee Robert Madley to award Newcastle a blatant late penalty against Southampton for handball of Manu Riviere’s goal-bound shot – needs looking into.
Southampton and the PGMOL should be investigated as that is at least the third stonewall penalty – Sergei Aguero’s for Man City and Cesc Fabregas’ for Chelsea are the others – that The Saints have somehow avoided conceding in 2014/5.
Once is a mistake, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern.
Player-wise, its important Newcastle replace the injured Steven Taylor, out for the season, at centre-half with immediate effect because if the club were to lose 33 year-old skipper Fabricio Coloccini to injury, it could prove disastrous.
Buying Tyrone Mings from Ipswich or loaning an experienced centre back until England U21 defensive prospect Jamaal Lascelles, bought in the summer yet loaned back to Nottingham Forest, becomes a fully-fledged Newcastle player in 2015/6 would be a major step in the right direction considering the club’s perennial injury problems.
Likewise, signing a goal-scoring striker must be an imperative this transfer window for, again a worst-case scenario, should Papiss Cisse – Newcastle scored a goal every 42 minutes with him on the pitch, 142 minutes without prior to Southampton – be injured then goals could prove scarce.
On the flip side looking up the table, Newcastle are only 9 points behind 7th placed West Ham United and 10 pts behind 6th placed Spurs, both potential Europa League spots so with an impressive run of results like Pardew’s recent 6-game winning streak, European qualification, which would make Newcastle an even more attractive prospect for a new man remains possible.
Again, a loan deal like Chelsea’s Loic Remy, whether newspaper reports have any credence, would bolster the goal-scoring ranks immeasurably.
Lee Charnley refused to rule out the sale of players in the January transfer window yet the loss of attacking dynamo Moussa Sissoko or defensive shield Cheick Tiote, indeed any of the squad, should not be an option until the summer’s calmer waters have been reached.
Freshening up the ranks with the addition of a player or two undoubtedly would have a positive effect on performance and results although the long-awaited return of Siem De Jong will be, as cliched as it is, ‘like a new signing’.
Charnley’s charter is a positive one overall that should reassure Newcastle fans along with recent financial results that the club is in very good hands long-term but the issue of providing John Carver, or the new Head Coach if one is appointed in the immediate future, with the playing resources to see out the current season, comfortably and in style, needs to be addressed.
Thank you for reading. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Feel free to discuss this and other footy related articles with thousands at r/football.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
