The Rich Man's Toy

At the start of the season, not many people would have tipped Newcastle United for relegation. The fact they now find themselves in the Championship is due to a catalogue of errors. Numerous mistakes have been made during the course of the season by the owner Mike Ashley.

The reason for the sacking of Sam Allardyce was reported to be the type of football the team was producing. This is a valid point but Allardyce would not have delivered relegation had he remained in charge. The hierarchy decided to bring back Toon legend Kevin Keegan. This raised an eyebrow or two in some quarters but it was considered a safe appointment. Keegan would have the backing of the fans and would get the team playing attractive and attacking football.

For some strange reason Ashley then decided to bring in a director of football. Club chairmen do not seem to learn that in English football the director of football role rarely succeeds. This scenario just creates conflict between the manager and the director. The manager should be solely responsible for deciding which players should be bought or sold.

The appointment was cheeky cockney Dennis Wise a man with no connection to the North East which made matters worse. Furthermore it is believed that Keegan and Wise did not really get along beforehand. The rest is history as Keegan walked away after issuing an ultimatum that was not met.

The next manger to be given the job was former Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear who had been out of the game for some time. Ill health put paid to his stint and that is where the crucial error was made. An experienced manger should have been appointed immediately but instead Ashley left Chris Hughton in charge.

The last throw of the dice was appointing Alan Shearer with only a handful of games remaining. Shearer is worshipped by the supporters but had an impossible task to keep them up. Money has been thrown around like confetti in recent years on a host of poor signings. Average players have been given very generous contracts and have simply not earned those wages.

If the club is to make an instant return to the Premiership then a massive clear out is required. Under performing players who are on contracts of �50,000 a week or more, need to be moved out of the club. You need a fair amount of fighting spirit to get out of the Championship and that is one quality the current squad does not have in abundance.

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