Is Kinnear right to accuse Newcastle United fans of Cockneyism?

Posted on March 17th, 2011 | 46 Comments |

Cockneyists?
Cockneyists?
Speaking in an interview this week, former Newcastle United manager, Joe Kinnear has claimed that he didn’t get the credit he deserved because he was a “Cockney”.

Speaking on one of his signings, Kevin Nolan, who was voted the Championship’s player of the year for last season, Kinnear said:

“He was Newcastle’s player of the year last year, but do I get any credit for signing him? No, because I’m a cockney.”

He also reminded fans that he was the man who gave £35 million striker, Andy Carroll his debut, also signed Peter Lovenkrands and Ryan Taylor despite having to sell existing players to buy new ones, yet received little or no credit for it.

While there were certainly many laughably incorrect anti London references made in relation to Walsall born and Buckhinghamshire raised owner, Mike Ashley, along with Managing Director, Derek Llambias, and of course, ex Director of Football, Dennis Wise, references to Kinnear’s London roots were much thinner on the ground. The man who could make the greatest claim to being a Cockney, East London born ex manager, Chris Hughton, although derided as a “yes man” who was unfit to manage a club of Newcastle United’s supposed stature in the early days of his management, more or less completely escaped accusations of being a dishonest Cockney “barrow boy” too. Indeed, later on he received much praise for his work in saving the club from Championship purgatory, galvanising the team, winning the Football League trophy in style and making a very decent start on the club’s return to the Premiership.

So if Kinnear is right to acuse Newcastle United fans of Cockneyism, it could possibly be said (or written) that there was evidence on both sides of the argument. If the likes of Derek Llambias and Dennis Wise were black, and the chants and banners of “Cockney Mafia Out!” were “Black Mafia Out” instead, then Newcastle United fans would certainly have faced accusations of being racist. However the man making the accusation of not receiving the credit he deserved, Joe Kinnear, was hardly derided for being a “Cockney”. Rather, he was derided (somewhat unjustly in this writer’s opinion) of being a “has been”, a “Dinosaur” and various other non London related epiphets. It was also a similar case with Hughton with the “yes man” and “not a manager” taunts.

Moving forward to the current holder of the Newcastle United manager’s position, Alan Pardew, he was born in Wimbledon in South London. Though he has faced some criticism for allegedly being another “yes man” to Mike Ashley amongst other things, and has made much of the fact that he will face an uphill struggle to win over fans because of his London roots, there have been hardly any “Cockney” or London references in relation to Pardew, and he has received some credit from a few members of the fanbase for his work so far.

But what do you think? Is Joe Kinnear right to suggest that Newcastle United fans don’t give Londoners like himself the credit thay deserve? Or not as the case may be?

Let us know your thoughts…

Read the full interview with Joe Kinnear

Poll

NUFCBlog Author: workyticket workyticket has written 1096 articles on this blog.

Related Posts:

  • No Related Posts

Posted on by workyticket in category: Interviews and Joe Kinnear and Thoughts and reflections and Workyticket
Comment on this post

46 Responses

  1. NO!

    What about Lee, Supermac, Ferdinand, Hughton?

    All of them are closer to being Cockney than Dublin-born Kinnear will ever be yet they were all accepted and loved at the Toon.

    Kinnear is not a cockney either. He is just a cock!

  3. The guys should never have been hired though I didn’t enjoy hearing about his first press conference. Didn’t he say something like “Which one of you is Simon” ” Me” “Well Simon your a c &^t”

    heheh

  6. Worky says > If the likes of Derek Llambias and Dennis Wise were black, and the chants and banners of “Cockney Mafia Out!” were “Black Mafia Out” instead, then Newcastle United fans would certainly have faced accusations of being racist.

    So what is the point of mentioning race then ?? when it has naff all to do with it :lol: :lol:

  7. Joe Effin Kinnear is a bitter and twisted arse hole who was a pathetic excuse as a manager.
    I recall his ramblings of how many quality players he had lined up in the Jan transfer of 2009…effin lunatic.
    Well rid of.

  8. Worky,
    I’m with Big Dave on post 6, why mention the race scenario?
    If there was to be such a chant or banner then yes, those involved would be committing a criminal offence, but what has it to do with Kinnear’s grudge.

  10. TonyGreenSupreme says:
    March 17, 2011 at 9:17 pm

    “Worky,
    I’m with Big Dave on post 6, why mention the race scenario?”

    Why mention “Cockney” in the banner for that matter, Tony. What relevance did it have in Mike Ashley’s and Derek Llambias’s stewardship of the club? It could have been many things eg: “Jewish Mafia Out”, “Welsh Mafia Out”, “Martian Mafia Out”, “Lesbian Mafia Out” or whatever. So, to put the question back to you, why did some fans mention the Cockney scenario?

  11. TonyGreenSupreme says:
    March 17, 2011 at 9:17 pm

    “If there was to be such a chant or banner then yes, those involved would be committing a criminal offence, but what has it to do with Kinnear’s grudge.”

    Tony, are you saying that bigotry is ok, so long as it isn’t a “criminal offence”?

  12. I think NUFC.com largely covered this well there have been tons of Londoners in our ranks that have been fan favorites. Another that wasn’t mentioned by others was Warren Barton who whilst not the most skillful chap was well liked and won player of the season for us one year.

  13. Worky > It could have been many things eg: “Jewish Mafia Out”, “Welsh Mafia Out”, “Martian Mafia Out”, “Lesbian Mafia Out” or whatever.

    Yeah it could have but it wasn’t So, to put the question back to you, why did you mention the “Black Mafia Out scenario?

  14. Worky,
    Calling someone a “Cockney” is not a criminal offence!

    Demanding a Jewish Mafia Out would constitute a criminal offence.

    Only SOME fans mention the Cockney Scenario, but that not does mean they are RACISTS.

    Leave it alone and stop provoking people.

  18. this whole racism crap is a joke – I get taken the piss out of constantly at work ax someone from oop north, it’s got f*** all to do with racism but just a bit of banter………… Tho poss I should sue the fuckers

  20. Had a good laugh glancing at liverpoo hoofing it long to ‘you know who’ tonight, to great effect.
    Oh wait!..

    :)

    I like a bit schadenfreude of a Thursday evening.
    ;)

  21. The “cockney mafia” banners were not disparaging to cockneys and their culture, merely descriptive the clique that had managed to weasel itself into the corridors of power at SJP.

  22. off subject went to mixed race school. we are not allowed to mention any races but the other races used to called me whitey or you f***ing white bastard is that not racism
    cockney cunts ooot
    HWTL

  23. If, some years ago, we had managed to secure the services of George Graham as manager and been fairly successfull, the cockney thing would never have been mentioned. This whole scenario is bourn out of the fact that those londoners we are involved with at the moment, are so secretive and seem only interested in themselves. The answers to a lot of problems could be easily solved if we were to get some form of feedback from the boardroom from timeto time. The whole problem is one of TOTAL mistrust, nothing more.

  24. Cockney, Scots, Irish? It makes no difference to fans’ perceptions of Kinnear. Yes, some of his buys have been good but, overall he wasn’t up to the job and he couldn’t, nay still can’t see it. I don’t think we need any more pearls of wisdom from him. Sha’ it Joe, sha’ it!

  25. its got naff all to do with being from anywhere. its only about if you are a w@nker or not.. which jk is of course…. just like the rest of the co@kney w@nkers that run our club !!

  26. Porciestreet says:
    March 18, 2011 at 6:22 am

    “If, some years ago, we had managed to secure the services of George Graham as manager and been fairly successfull, the cockney thing would never have been mentioned.”

    How would us having a Scottish manager change that?

  27. cc – now you could be accused of “W@nkerism” and being racist about w@nkers. And it’s no good coming back with “but some of my best friends are w@nkers”!

  28. That’s why he’s not deserved any credit. What he told is absolutely nonsense. If he has enough brain cell he will not say something stupid like that to the public.

  29. It’s all down to perception. Geordies are not anti Cockney but the banners at SJP have given the impression to the watching public that they are.

    It’s always the same, a small vocal minority casts a stain over the majority.

    Geordies are nearly always seen by others as a friendly gregarious (often the most friendly of all UK) people.

  30. Its aal aboot southerners, for want of a better word – cockneys.

    Their idiot-like perception of the Geordie nation have brought the worst out in some of us, me included.

  31. 28…. you are bang on mate. i work all over the world in the offshore oil and gas industry and all i ever get is that classic southern line ‘ farckin northern monkies’. This is how they view us, we are a poor relation to the far more superior southern bunch and this is how they will always look upon us. Thats fine by me but please dont cry like a baby when we give it back tenfold.

  32. @25 magpie6699…….hey man, some of my best mates are w@nkers.. .thats just the southern ones though.

  34. The clique that formed were all cockneys and were taking the piss big style and the abuse was directed at them, how else were they to be collectivey named? Dont the press just love JFK, pity he doesnt put his brain in gear before he opens his bear trap.

  35. I think like most fans Newcastle fans can be accused
    of “Crappyism” The fans don’t like crap managers and will let them know.The geographical question doesn’t matter if your good enough.As far as Kinnear is concerned ,he is just bonkers.

  37. So Worky, are you answering these questions or not?

    Calling someone cockney is like calling someone a Geordie or a Scouser.

    Not sure what it has to do with racism.

    You seem to have a real problem when it comes to race – why do you keep bringing it up?

  38. I see the cockney badge used as an insult regularly on these forums, but the way geordies are generally spoken about outside of Newcastle is far worse. After the last Keegan fiasco when the papers were having a field day with us, the amount of times I saw geordies referred to as thick, or deluded was shocking.

    I don’t really care where people come from, as long as thjey’re not a knob. Also, I don’t really have much against Kinnear.

    Chris Hughton isn’t exactly the most Irish of Irishmen, is he. He’s a Laaandaner. We liked him well enough.

    In short, if, for whatever reason, people find our use of the word cockney offensive, we should use it. It wuold be nice to be extended the same courtesy with regard to the way the word geordie is used.

  39. worky – the penny has finally dropped!

    your’a WUM & a very good one at that.

    a webmaster indeed.

  40. spoken by a dublin native,mr kinnear oh dear,he doesn’t even know where he’s from now the oaf.
    i’ll give him the signing of nolan to an extent,but ryan taylor come on,as a cockney would say “your having a giraffe”.
    wait a minute wasn’t robert lee a bit of a hero up here,and supported west ham as a boy?you dont get much more cockney than that.
    i just wish the so called naming of the fake cockney mafia would stop,as non of the tools running newcastle are cockneys and even if they were,they would be an insult to cockneys everywhere.

  41. “Kinnear is not a cockney either. He is just a cock!”

    summed up perfectly in my eyes Toonsy

  42. Just a quick thought but aren’t all managers who want to keep their job ‘yes men’????

    It’s easy for us to call any manager that Ashley employs a ‘tes man’ but the real truth is, anyone who wants to keep their job, no matter what they do is right so a ‘yes man’…. even more for those in the military, tho some of us do push that a tad & end up doing jankers…. ;)

    As for JFK… who gives a feck what he say, thinks or does as long as he’s not at the club anymore… ;) lol

  43. Toon69 says:
    March 18, 2011 at 4:06 pm

    “Just a quick thought but aren’t all managers who want to keep their job ‘yes men’????”

    Of course they are, Toon69. Sometimes football supporters rely on emotion without having much time for logic though. This is especially the case at Newcastle United, as quite a few fans still tend to look on Kevin Keegan as something of a role model for a Newcastle United manager. He was noted for his habit of emotionally walking out of clubs at the drop of a hat. Therefore, they tend to expect his successors as Newcastle United manager to behave as he did every time there is an issue between the manager and the boardroom.

  44. I’d rather be a Cockney than a Mackem. But then again I think a Mackem would rather be a Cockney than a Mackem!

  46. It’s not the word cockney you phucking numb nuts.
    Honestly, the missing of the point is beyond funny.
    :)