O/T: Can Life Get Any Worse for a Newcastle Fan?
Posted: 25 Sep 2008, 08:58
Yes.
From the Telegraph:
"Terry Venables is considering the chance to make a dramatic return to football management at crisis-torn Newcastle United. Glenn Hoddle has also been lined up to take the helm should Venables say no."
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oo.....
I haven't seen a single game this season, living as I do in Moscow under the thumb of a Russian girl and in fear for my job, but I suspect that a group of players that weren't very good to begin with are now rudderless and trapped in a motivation-free malaise. It wouldn't surprise me if we were currently The Worst Team in the League. Say what you will about Keegan, but he had them playing well at the end of last season, and took 4 points from the first three games, including playing both Man Yoo and Arsenal away.
And who will come and manage us as things stand? A new manager wouldn't be able to sign any players because the transfer window is shut; even if he could, there will be no money anyway; he doesn't know what if happening to the club ownership, or whether he will be able to work with the new owners; and he has to become a colleague of Dennis Wise, who nobody would want to work with, because nobody likes working with a c**t.
It's a royal mess that makes the chaos in the financial markets look like a German car factory of organization.
Ashley has clearly had an ad-hoc, rough, roundabout idea of what he wanted for the club -- figurehead coach, continental system for running the footballing side -- but he hasn't implemented it with any cohesion, savvy or, seemingly, communication with those affected.
Keegan would talk of hardly seeing Ashley at all, and it seemed the club was being ran by the various chief executives he had brought in along with Wise. A patently absurd situation, and a recipe for disaster.
I'm not a great fan of the 'head coach-director of football' system. I beleive that nobody knows better than the manager what kind of players he wants, and it's up to him, in consultation with his network of scouts, to buy the men he wants most. Of course, a CEO or whoever can take the lead in the negotiation of fees and wages ect -- a la David Dein when at Arsenal -- but it should be the manager who draws up a shortlist of targets and has the final say. If not, who carries the can when things go wrong? It seems to me that it is usually the coach, and that the director of football is usually bulletproof.
But worse was the selection of Wise. I fail to see what he brings to the role. It is surely a role for a man steeped in football culture, a man of intelligence, with a large network of scouts and contacts, a proven track record in the position, an ability to spot talent, and, most of all, a man who can work with others, forming a bridge between the coach and the owner. How many of those boxes does Wise tick?
The situation with Keegan on the last day of the transfer window was case in point. Whatever you think of Keegan, he has a good record for buying players, and knows how to pick players that he can improve and integrate into the system he wants to play. Granted, that may not be the best system in the world, but with such a background it is folly to take it out of his hands. Further, even Keegan's worst critics would agree that he had identified the key areas of need within the club (left back being the one everybody talks about) and was right to look for players who could bring premier league experience and instantly improve the team. Then, the director of football ignores all this and brings in the men he wants. It was bound to cause trouble, especially seeing as Keegan is an emotional character who likes to deal wtih straighforward men of honor, and Wise is a c**t who has the people skills of Mike Tyson on crystalmeth.
It's like not consulting the captain of a cricket team before the bowlers are selected: the selectors might believe they know better, but if they pick a bowler the captain has no confidence in, you might as well play with ten men. Well, it's like doing that when your captain is Ian Botham and giving the job of breaking the news to Geoff Boycott.
The whole situation terrifies me, and I see no light at the end of the tunnel. We're going to get Tango Man (well, some orange-skinned cockney joker, anyway) whose reputation is, as Boris Johnson would say, a pyramid of piffle. He has had no success as a coach, and worse, many of his former clubs have been left as rusting financially ruined hulks or in divisions far below their station or both. Perhaps Barcelona and Middlesbrough can say they bucked the trend, but that's about it. I'm sure El Tel would get a marvelous reception at Portsmouth if he went as Newcastle coach, or at Crystal Palace or Leeds if we play them in the cup.
It seems bizarre to me, and is indicative of the risible snog-a-thon the media still engages in with Terry, that his success at saving Middlesbrough from the dour, watching-paint-dry ineptitude of Bryan Robson is touted as reason for Newcastle courting his services, yet his abject failure with Leeds -- with a much better team made of Champions League semi-finalists for most of his reign -- is somehow forgotten. the media created lie that he was shorn of his best players is, well, a lie.
Sorry this post being a rambling, angry mess, I'm sure you can imagine my current level of despair, and that needed to get it off my chest.
From the Telegraph:
"Terry Venables is considering the chance to make a dramatic return to football management at crisis-torn Newcastle United. Glenn Hoddle has also been lined up to take the helm should Venables say no."
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oo.....
I haven't seen a single game this season, living as I do in Moscow under the thumb of a Russian girl and in fear for my job, but I suspect that a group of players that weren't very good to begin with are now rudderless and trapped in a motivation-free malaise. It wouldn't surprise me if we were currently The Worst Team in the League. Say what you will about Keegan, but he had them playing well at the end of last season, and took 4 points from the first three games, including playing both Man Yoo and Arsenal away.
And who will come and manage us as things stand? A new manager wouldn't be able to sign any players because the transfer window is shut; even if he could, there will be no money anyway; he doesn't know what if happening to the club ownership, or whether he will be able to work with the new owners; and he has to become a colleague of Dennis Wise, who nobody would want to work with, because nobody likes working with a c**t.
It's a royal mess that makes the chaos in the financial markets look like a German car factory of organization.
Ashley has clearly had an ad-hoc, rough, roundabout idea of what he wanted for the club -- figurehead coach, continental system for running the footballing side -- but he hasn't implemented it with any cohesion, savvy or, seemingly, communication with those affected.
Keegan would talk of hardly seeing Ashley at all, and it seemed the club was being ran by the various chief executives he had brought in along with Wise. A patently absurd situation, and a recipe for disaster.
I'm not a great fan of the 'head coach-director of football' system. I beleive that nobody knows better than the manager what kind of players he wants, and it's up to him, in consultation with his network of scouts, to buy the men he wants most. Of course, a CEO or whoever can take the lead in the negotiation of fees and wages ect -- a la David Dein when at Arsenal -- but it should be the manager who draws up a shortlist of targets and has the final say. If not, who carries the can when things go wrong? It seems to me that it is usually the coach, and that the director of football is usually bulletproof.
But worse was the selection of Wise. I fail to see what he brings to the role. It is surely a role for a man steeped in football culture, a man of intelligence, with a large network of scouts and contacts, a proven track record in the position, an ability to spot talent, and, most of all, a man who can work with others, forming a bridge between the coach and the owner. How many of those boxes does Wise tick?
The situation with Keegan on the last day of the transfer window was case in point. Whatever you think of Keegan, he has a good record for buying players, and knows how to pick players that he can improve and integrate into the system he wants to play. Granted, that may not be the best system in the world, but with such a background it is folly to take it out of his hands. Further, even Keegan's worst critics would agree that he had identified the key areas of need within the club (left back being the one everybody talks about) and was right to look for players who could bring premier league experience and instantly improve the team. Then, the director of football ignores all this and brings in the men he wants. It was bound to cause trouble, especially seeing as Keegan is an emotional character who likes to deal wtih straighforward men of honor, and Wise is a c**t who has the people skills of Mike Tyson on crystalmeth.
It's like not consulting the captain of a cricket team before the bowlers are selected: the selectors might believe they know better, but if they pick a bowler the captain has no confidence in, you might as well play with ten men. Well, it's like doing that when your captain is Ian Botham and giving the job of breaking the news to Geoff Boycott.
The whole situation terrifies me, and I see no light at the end of the tunnel. We're going to get Tango Man (well, some orange-skinned cockney joker, anyway) whose reputation is, as Boris Johnson would say, a pyramid of piffle. He has had no success as a coach, and worse, many of his former clubs have been left as rusting financially ruined hulks or in divisions far below their station or both. Perhaps Barcelona and Middlesbrough can say they bucked the trend, but that's about it. I'm sure El Tel would get a marvelous reception at Portsmouth if he went as Newcastle coach, or at Crystal Palace or Leeds if we play them in the cup.
It seems bizarre to me, and is indicative of the risible snog-a-thon the media still engages in with Terry, that his success at saving Middlesbrough from the dour, watching-paint-dry ineptitude of Bryan Robson is touted as reason for Newcastle courting his services, yet his abject failure with Leeds -- with a much better team made of Champions League semi-finalists for most of his reign -- is somehow forgotten. the media created lie that he was shorn of his best players is, well, a lie.
Sorry this post being a rambling, angry mess, I'm sure you can imagine my current level of despair, and that needed to get it off my chest.
