Next Toon manager: Shearer v Hughton.
Posted on October 15th, 2009 | 135 Comments |
Nicky Butt has recently called for Chris Hughton to be made permanent manager of Newcastle United, but what are the options?
Apparently Derek Llambias will shortly be reviewing the positions of Hughton and Calderwood in light of our great start and Nicky Butt hopes that their positions are made permanent until the end of the season. Butt said:
“The team is showing there is belief here, and Chris and Colin deserve the job now.
“Hopefully they get it and that will mean we can all concentrate on the job in hand.
“People keep looking at us and say ‘they still haven’t got a proper manager’ even though Chris is acting manager.
“He’s not done anything wrong, but he hasn’t been named as boss.
“So it would be nice to see Chris get the job.”
Personally I don’t want to see a manager appointed ‘for the rest of the season’ – I’d rather see someone appointed for 3-5 years. The frequent changes of manager have been one of Newcastle’s main problems and one of the reasons why we were relegated last season. We need to get away from this short-termism.
However, Ashley’s only here for the short-term so appointing someone ‘for the rest of the season’ is probably as long-term as he’s likely to be. If he did appoint Hughton for that period of time, I think it would indicate that the club’s unlikely to be sold this season. If he still believes he can sell the club this season then I doubt Ashley will appoint a permanent manager.
But what of Shearer? Rumour has it that he’s the first choice of Barry Moat and a lot of fans are now treating the Toon manager situation as a straight Shearer v Hughton fight.
It is difficult to compare the two in my opinion and a lot of nonsense is talked about both. They were both equally unsuccessful at managing Newcastle in the Premiership last season, although I don’t think that short spells of management under such difficult circumstances provide much of an indication of a manager’s abilities.
A manager, I believe, needs a pre-season, a chance to bring in one or two players or their own and the continuity of then managing right through a season and into the next one before they can be properly judged. Hughton is on his way towards achieving that and maybe that provides a good argument for keeping him on.
But do Hughton’s results flatter him? He has after all got a team that’s largely full of Premier League players – even if they’re not brilliant ones – and has been given the opportunity to see them through pre-season and bring in some loan players. I would argue that any half-decent manager who was appointed in Hughton’s place at the start of this pre-season would have stood a good chance of producing similar results. However someone had to do it and Hughton did. What I’m saying is that although I stand by what I said about ‘any half-decent manager’, I can’t fault Hughton’s results – he has been asked to do a job and has done it well.
A lot of tripe is talked about Shearer though. Some mention his ‘big ego’ but I think that’s irrelevant. A big ego has hardly been a barrier for Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger or Jose Mourinho has it? And when does confidence become a big ego anyway? Some also mention his poor spell as manager last season yet, as I mentioned above, Hughton had an equally unspectacular spell as manager last season and – again as I’ve already stated – I just don’t think either manager can be judged on last season given the circumstances.
One valid concern about Shearer though is his lack of experience. Shearer fans will point to managers who’ve succeeded despite a lack of experience and maybe they have a point, but it’s still a concern. Then there’s those who worry about Shearer merely being the next ‘Geordie Messiah’ and feel that it’s wrong to keep looking for Geordie Messiah’s like this. I can see where they’re coming from and I do believe it would be healthier if we stopped looking for ‘Geordie Messiahs’ but that alone is no reason to deny Shearer his chance. He’s there, throwing his hat in the ring and he must be evaluated on what he can do for the club in the long-term as a manager.
If Hughton wants to strenghten his case in my eyes (and what manager wouldn’t?) then I’d like to see him come up with some plans as to how he’s going to approach things for the next 3-5 years; how he’s going to rebuild the Toon as a Premier League club capable of challenging for European places in 3-5 years time; and how he’s going to do that on a relatively modest budget. For all I know he may already have such a plan, but I have no knowledge of it so I can’t factor that into my own thoughts. I know that Shearer did that.
So who would I like to see as manager? Well give me Arsene Wenger or Martin O’Neill and both Shearer and Hughton can take a running jump as far as I’m concerned but of course that’s unrealistic. Of the names connected with Newcastle I favoured Curbishley but it seems he’s not interested. I’d prefer either Shearer or Hughton to David O’Leary or Joe Kinnear but as to choosing between Shearer and Hughton I simply can’t. Hughton simply doesn’t inspire me or strike me as a man with a vision, whereas Shearer does. Yet Hughton is doing a fine job now and – regardless of any excuses we care to make about the circumstances – we can’t take that away from him: he has us 3 points clear at the top of the Championship and that’s got to be worth something. Sometimes the quiet man is the one you need.
I think that with the right owner Newcastle United is capable of doing what Aston Villa or Everton have done, which is to challenge for Europe on a relatively modest budget. I think that sort of aim is both ambitious and realistic and I think it’s what we should be planning for right now. It needs the right manager to make it happen though and I don’t know if that’s Shearer, Hughton or somebody else – I’m just glad it’s a decision I don’t have to make!
i like the article a lot. its well written as well but i don’t like either shearer or hughton as they are both tactically short when it comes to winning dirty which we may need to do.
Our last 2 home results have been draws which should have been wins in my opinion and this shows that we cant win ugly.
Last season neither man could inspire players who are supposed to be world class ?
We need a confident experienced man who has had a number of years in management and who has a lot of years left also.
Newcastle being the soap opera it is an american consortium will buy it and put Keegan in which once we start winning and everything else is forgotten might not be a bad thing as i am damned if i know who could be our best option to manage our great club.
regards
D