Next permanent manager?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. (more…)
Cash crisis maybeIf the latest report from Lee Ryder in the Chronicle is anything to go by, Newcastle United manager Chris Hughton won’t be getting much cash to spend in the January transfer window.
Following Keegan’s tribunal and the £2m it awarded him, it was speculated that Ashley would give Hughton some of the £8m he had set aside to pay Keegan off. However, Lee Ryder thinks otherwise. Having read the article I’m not clear why he thinks that though.
Ryder himself speculates that:
“… with the current regime at United still counting the cost of relegation and smaller crowds at St James’s this season, Ashley will continue to exercise caution when the window re-opens for business on January 1.” (more…)
"All done" ... hmmApparently the Sheard-fronted Star Foundation has made a bid for Newcastle United and the group expect an answer this week. Sheard claims the matter is in the hands of lawyers with Halliwells representing the Americans and Travers Smith representing Ashley.
Sheard claims it’s “all done”, saying:
“We will push it forward this week and it will be resolved. It’s all done as far as we are concerned.
“It’s all down to the solicitors now. There has been no contact with ourselves or Derek Llambias or Mike Ashley, just between legal teams.
“We are not aware of any other significant interest from elsewhere.”
Personally I am extremely dubious about this, although to be fair I’m dubious about all the politics surrounding Newcastle United at the moment. (more…)
Harper warns against complacencySitting at the top of the Championship, it’s tempting to think Newcastle United have had it easy but the truth is we’ve had to work hard to get points in some games.
On paper we’ve arguably got the best team in the Championship, populated by ex-Premiership players with skill and experience. There have been moments when this has looked true – phases in games when we’ve looked a cut above other teams in our ability to pass and keep the ball. But at times we’ve also looked a little overwhelmed when teams have come at us hard and fast, like Blackpool did.
Steve Harper has been warning that we mustn’t underestimate our opposition:
“We’ve had a good start to the season and with a quarter of the season gone we are happy with where we are.
“But there is a long way to go. We haven’t achieved anything yet.
“We can not afford to underestimate this division.
“There are 23 other teams in there who could all stop us from getting promoted. There are a lot of games in this league, more games than we are used to playing with a smaller squad than we are used to having. (more…)
Caught in the hailThe only reason I’m posting this article is because I read three articles in succession about somebody ‘hailing’ something at Newcastle United.
What is it with all this hail?
First up there’s the Chronicle’s Marlon Harewood hails buoyant Newcastle. This is basically about how Hitman Harewood’s preconceptions about the Toon were rapidly disproved when he join us on loan.
He can be forgiven for thinking we were a club in disarray given events of the last 12 months but now he says we’re not the ‘crisis club’ he first thought we were. Harewood said:
“I haven’t seen anything bad here, just a really good set of professionals.
“They went down and they were upset about it, but I haven’t seen any evidence of last season.
“They have a job to do now and that is to get back in the Premier League – that’s all I have seen.” (more…)
