The Newcastle United Manager-go-round

I think it's fair to say it's been a season to forget for Newcastle United. With their Premier League position still not secure with the final day looming, it could get even worse for them. But whether or not Newcastle get relegated they will want to make a fresh start next season. To start from the summer, Kevin Keegan was the man in charge. Having finished 12th last season, I'm sure Newcastle thought that they could make a real fight for a place in Europe, and with signings from abroad like Jonas Gutierrez, Sebastian Bassong and Fabricio Coloccini, the squad was filled with experienced and quality players - despite James Milner being sold to Aston Villa and Emre to Fernerbache. But as the season began, things started to turn sour. First off, on September 2nd 2008, there were incredible rumours surfacing that Kevin Keegan had resigned or had been sacked by the Newcastle board, however the club later denied these reports. But then two days later it was confirmed that Kevin Keegan had resigned following several days of negotiations with the board. This shocked Newcastle supporters, who were distraught and angry at what had happened. They blamed the board, but mainly Mike Ashley, the club's controversial owner who loved to fit in with the Newcastle faithful by sitting with the fans drinking beer and wearing his Newcastle shirt. But now he was the villain of the piece. The fans protested outside the ground chanting and displaying flags and some even boycotted home games as they wanted Keegan back, and soon Ashley started to feel the pressure.

On the 14th of September, he announced his intention to sell the club, because of the opposition the fans had to his running of the club, 3 days later he was rumored to have rejected a £200m bid from a consortium from Dubai, wanting £481m instead. As an eventful September drew to a close Joe Kinnear was surprisingly named the interim manager of Newcastle, despite being out of work since 2004. Things didn't improve for Newcastle however, as the results didn't go their way. Defeats to the likes of West Ham, Blackburn, Tottenham and to rivals Sunderland meant that Newcastle saw themselves slipping lower and lower down the table as the New Year approached. On the 28th of November Kinnear was named as the manager for the rest of the season. Newcastle still weren't winning enough games but the fans settled with Kinnear, hoping that he could turn the season around by the new year. As well as this Mike Ashley called the sale of the club off for the time being, and it almost seemed that Newcastle were just trying to scrape through the 08-09 season, before having time to make radical changes in the summer. The January window gave Kinnear a chance to refresh the squad with Bolton captain Kevin Nolan joining up, with ex-Rangers striker Peter Lovenkrands and Ryan Taylor from Wigan with Charles N'Zogbia going in the other direction. But another down point for Newcastle was when they lost star keeper Shay Given to Man City, after he'd fianally had enough. In mid-February, just as Newcastle seemed to be looking to get their season back on track Joe Kinnear underwent a triple heart bypass operation, it would keep Kinnear out of the managerial seat at St. James' for the rest of the season. This meant that Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood took temporary charge, with Newcastle fans thinking what - What next?

But as Toon Army supporters woke up on April Fools' Day, of all days they couldn't believe the headlines. Newcastle legend Alan Shearer had agreed to take charge of them until the end of the season. Many people thought the stories were false because of the date on the calendar, but the reports were confirmed by Shearer which put to bed all doubt. But could Shearer save Newcastle from relegation? We still don't know, but more defeats and draws meant that all wasn't bright despite a spirited 3-1 win over Middlesbrough which got people believing again. But as I said Newcastle aren't safe, far from it. They face a dog-fight with Hull, Sunderland and Boro, as two of the three teams will go down this Sunday. So, why are Newcastle in such a massive mess and can't get the goals the need? The players are all there - Martins, Viduka, Owen, Duff. But still not many goals were found, although injury plagued a bit of Martins, Owen and Viduka's seasons. But I think mainly it's because of the managerial changes. 5 managers in a whole season, all with different ideas and policies with the team, not to mention the turmoil behind the scenes. All is not helped either by Joey Barton's ridiculous conduct on and off the pitch. Newcastle need a miracle against Aston Villa, and I think they'll make it despite the hitches they have experienced. Next season, it could be all change, if Alan Shearer decides not to extend his stay and Joe Kinnear feels he can't come back to management. Of course, we are yet to see if one of the biggest football clubs in England, will remain in the Premier League....