Kinnearophobia is really getting out of hand now.It’s time for this ridiculous circus to end.
Criticism is one thing, but what has Joe Kinnear supposed to have done to deserve the vilification which has been heaped upon him in the last few days? Has he renamed the Newcastle United’s stadium the Joe Kinnear Arena? Has he sullied Newcastle United’s name by associating it with the UK’s most infamous loan shark? Is he swallowing the club’s identity by turning it into a gigantic free billboard for a retail chain so tacky it makes Poundland look like Harrods?
No, he has come in as a Director of Football to help with recruitment and act as a bridge between the football and the non-football sides of Newcastle United, something which might even turn out to be a good thing. Oh! and he has also given a couple of interviews containing some admittedly ill-chosen words since his arrival. That’s about it really.
All the important, substantive things mentioned above, things which have affected the very fibre of the club have been forgotten now in an orgy of blind hatred for one man who caused none of it. (more…)
Joe Kinnear – A lightning rod?Last season seems like a dim and distant memory now.
Things like a sixteenth placed finish, Alan Pardew’s abysmal tactics and even more abysmal excuses have all been completely forgotten. Forthcoming delights such as the arrival of Wonga and all the opprobrium that will bring have been completely forgotten too, all because of a few interviews from Joe Kinnear as Tyneside finds itself once more in the grip of “Kinnearophobia.”
Is it pure genius?
Strangely, the “local” Mirror Group media, the Chronic and the Journal, have seemingly abandoned their usual sycophancy to the current regime, and have happily been laying into Newcastle United’s new Court Jester at every opportunity. It’s almost as if they’d been given the go ahead to be as brutal as possible by Newcastle United’s Managing Director, Derek Llambaisie Llambias.
Personally, I do not share the antipathy to Kinnear held by many fans, and some of the stuff has been shameful, like the headline in another Newcastle United blog which read “Gan On Kinnear – Have Another Heart Attack!.” I’m not as horrified at his appointment as some claim to be and have alot of respect for what he has achieved in his football career in the past. (more…)
Uncle Joe: Why no word from the club?Since yesterday evening, there has certainly been no shortage of statements from Joe Kinnear on being appointed as a new Director of Football at Newcastle.
Like his new colleague Alan Pardew, keeping his mouth buttoned has never been one of Kinnear’s stronger points, though even he has surpassed himself this time with a verbal Tsunami of what he is going to do at Newcastle United over the next few months.
However, at the time of writing, there hasn’t been one word of confirmation or denial from Newcastle United.
Bearing in mind Kinnear’s previous, the club could perhaps be forgiven for not arranging a full press jamboree with Simon Bird in attendance to unveil their new key member of staff. However, at the time of writing, there hasn’t even been a small announcement in the news page of Newcastle United’s official website. Is it just me or is this rather odd?
To borrow the words of Marvin Gaye “What’s going on?” (more…)
Uncle Joe.In Joe Kinnear’s “Talk Sport” interview just over a week ago with Richard Keys and Andy Gray, besides being touched as Kinnear recalled the awful series of events which befell him after his reign at Newcastle, not just the heart episode which forced him into retirement but also the loss of his only son Elliott to multiple myeloma (cancer of the bone marrow), and then Kinnear himself contracting Septicaemia (blood poisoning), it also reminded me of the complete and utter of contempt shown to Kinnear by the media and many of Newcastle United’s fans when he was manager, a contempt which still remains seemingly after seeing some of the responses to it. So in this piece, I thought I would examine his record at the club, and attempt to explore some aspects of why this might be.
Getting to the interview itself, which is still available in full on the Talk Sport website, Keys remarked at the beginning of the interview on Kinnear’s time at St James’ Park:
“You slipped away so quietly after that time at Newcastle as a result of illness. we never really got the opportunity, I’m sure all Geordie fans would like to say ‘well done.’ You didn’t get quite the credit you deserve for laying the foundation stones to sorting that mess out. It was quite a period, wasn’t it?”
Ben Arfa: Impressed with Newcastle United's support.Righty right, with there being no real football for a couple of weeks, there has been a massive gaping hole in all things Newcastle United F.C. so I thought that a bit of a round up was in order:
It seems that not only the French press (sacred bleu), but the fellow French Professional footballers, particularly the ones up for a move in the summer, and friends and international collegues of one Hatem Ben Arfa have been very immpressed by the way that Hatem has been treated by NUFC during his time injued. Not just because we had the balls to sign the lad whilst injured, but the fact that the Chairman, representatives of the club and even Mike Ashley himself have apprarently been to check on the lads recovery over the months he’s been rehabilitating over in Clairefontaine, the French centre of football excellence.
They seem truly immpressed, honestly, that we’ve pushed the boat out to make the lad aware of how much he is wanted and that he feels part of our great club.
