It seems the only person in Tyneside who is not jumping for joy at the appointment of Kevin Keegan as the Newcastle manager is Michael Owen. Or at least, if his autobiography is to be believed, he claims that some of Keegan’s management decisions when in charge of England at Euro 2000 left him “scarred”. The rest of Newcastle appears jubilant at Keegan’s return.
We humble folk at RTG are merely supporters and can’t really comment with much authority on what it is like to run a football club. But Keegan’s appointment surely defies belief. OK, backed by Sir John Hall’s cheque book, he resided over a Newcastle team that were highly entertaining to watch. He took them from Second Division strugglers to Premier League contenders at a time when, to miss out on a place in the newly formed and lucrative, Premier League, would have been costly indeed. Conversely, however, he never actually managed to win anything, and showed how coping with pressure was not his strong point when it all came to a head in his famous “I’d luv it” interview on Sky TV.
His England team at Euro 2000 were possibly one of the worst RTG has ever witnessed. Despite a popular 1-0 win over Germany in Charleroi, brought about largely as a result of a very poor German effort and some dogged Keown defending, England were clueless losing 3-2 to Romania when they went out of the tournament at the group stage. The signs were there prior to Euro 2000 in the play-offs against Scotland, when a Scots team ranked way below England passed them off the park to win 1-0 in the last Wembley meeting of the two old enemies. Add to that the fact that Keegan has walked out of three jobs - Newcastle, England and Manchester City - for seemingly no more than struggling to cope with the pressure, and you wonder exactly what The Toon are playing at.
But football is an emotional business. The most optimistic person in the world can be the most pessimistic football supporter. The most logical person on the planet can make the most ludicrous decisions where football is concerned. The greatest businessman can become a complete idiot in a football club boardroom. As stated in our previous post, surely the job of a football Chairman today should be to try as best as possible to marry the very uneasy bedfellows of business and football. Purists might say that RTG should applaud Mike Ashley for being an owner that has listened to supporters and given them exactly what they want. After all, isn’t that what this blog is partly trying to achieve?
Maybe, but making decisions purely on emotion has cost so many in the past that surely Ashley should have taken some time to remove his Magpie shirt for a few seconds and learn from past mistakes. Keegan himself was effectively appointed England manager in 1999 by an over-emotive tabloid press claiming he was ‘the peoples’ choice’. Why did we end up with Steve McClaren? Because ‘Little England’, led also by the tabloid press demanded that the only person fit enough to manage the England team was an Englishman. The simple fact that there was not an Englishman available who was capable of doing the job was rendered irrelevant. Ossie Ardiles and Glen Hoddle both failed at Spurs and there were once calls for Alex Ferguson’s head at Manchester United. Leeds fans, not only didn’t want Dennis Wise as manager, simply because of the Chelsea connection, but many still want to see him out even after the miracles he’s performed with them this season. We could go on and on.
The icing on the cake for Toon supporters now would be for Keegan to come out and announce Alan Shearer as his number two. All Magpies fans feel this is now the final part of the jigsaw. Yet, past history, and some comments made in recent interviews, seem to suggest that neither particularly likes the other nor has any desire to work with them. But the blind faith of the football supporter simply assumes that the two get on famously, would make a superb management team and desperately want to join up for the good of all that is black and white striped.
The over-exposure and virtual blanket coverage of football, these days, simply makes this situation worse rather than better. Football is a big business now and it is unlikely that we’ll ever turn the clock back in that respect. It may sound a little cold and calculating of RTG but these decisions are too important in today’s game to be made on purely emotional grounds. The stakes are far too high. Having said that, at least Newcastle should be more fun to watch now than they were under Big Sam. And that can only be good for the game.
We humble folk at RTG are merely supporters and can’t really comment with much authority on what it is like to run a football club. But Keegan’s appointment surely defies belief. OK, backed by Sir John Hall’s cheque book, he resided over a Newcastle team that were highly entertaining to watch. He took them from Second Division strugglers to Premier League contenders at a time when, to miss out on a place in the newly formed and lucrative, Premier League, would have been costly indeed. Conversely, however, he never actually managed to win anything, and showed how coping with pressure was not his strong point when it all came to a head in his famous “I’d luv it” interview on Sky TV.
His England team at Euro 2000 were possibly one of the worst RTG has ever witnessed. Despite a popular 1-0 win over Germany in Charleroi, brought about largely as a result of a very poor German effort and some dogged Keown defending, England were clueless losing 3-2 to Romania when they went out of the tournament at the group stage. The signs were there prior to Euro 2000 in the play-offs against Scotland, when a Scots team ranked way below England passed them off the park to win 1-0 in the last Wembley meeting of the two old enemies. Add to that the fact that Keegan has walked out of three jobs - Newcastle, England and Manchester City - for seemingly no more than struggling to cope with the pressure, and you wonder exactly what The Toon are playing at.
But football is an emotional business. The most optimistic person in the world can be the most pessimistic football supporter. The most logical person on the planet can make the most ludicrous decisions where football is concerned. The greatest businessman can become a complete idiot in a football club boardroom. As stated in our previous post, surely the job of a football Chairman today should be to try as best as possible to marry the very uneasy bedfellows of business and football. Purists might say that RTG should applaud Mike Ashley for being an owner that has listened to supporters and given them exactly what they want. After all, isn’t that what this blog is partly trying to achieve?
Maybe, but making decisions purely on emotion has cost so many in the past that surely Ashley should have taken some time to remove his Magpie shirt for a few seconds and learn from past mistakes. Keegan himself was effectively appointed England manager in 1999 by an over-emotive tabloid press claiming he was ‘the peoples’ choice’. Why did we end up with Steve McClaren? Because ‘Little England’, led also by the tabloid press demanded that the only person fit enough to manage the England team was an Englishman. The simple fact that there was not an Englishman available who was capable of doing the job was rendered irrelevant. Ossie Ardiles and Glen Hoddle both failed at Spurs and there were once calls for Alex Ferguson’s head at Manchester United. Leeds fans, not only didn’t want Dennis Wise as manager, simply because of the Chelsea connection, but many still want to see him out even after the miracles he’s performed with them this season. We could go on and on.
The icing on the cake for Toon supporters now would be for Keegan to come out and announce Alan Shearer as his number two. All Magpies fans feel this is now the final part of the jigsaw. Yet, past history, and some comments made in recent interviews, seem to suggest that neither particularly likes the other nor has any desire to work with them. But the blind faith of the football supporter simply assumes that the two get on famously, would make a superb management team and desperately want to join up for the good of all that is black and white striped.
The over-exposure and virtual blanket coverage of football, these days, simply makes this situation worse rather than better. Football is a big business now and it is unlikely that we’ll ever turn the clock back in that respect. It may sound a little cold and calculating of RTG but these decisions are too important in today’s game to be made on purely emotional grounds. The stakes are far too high. Having said that, at least Newcastle should be more fun to watch now than they were under Big Sam. And that can only be good for the game.
Reclaim the Game - The Week's Events
- Congratulations to Havant and Waterloo who have given countless pundits the chance to use the old favourite, "the magic of the FA Cup" by making it through to a lucrative glamour tie at Anfield in the fourth round. As the likelihood of any shock results seemed to be disappearing from view and TV presenters were having to think of other ways of bigging up the old trophy, good old Havant came to the rescue.
- RTG does not agree with everything that comes from the 'blue sky' think box of Michel Platini but he does seem to be the first head of any football governing body to actually want to address issues in the game. The jury is out here on his latest proposal. UEFA have agreed to trial the use of two more assistant referees positioned behind the line at the point where the 18 yard box joins it. This is to help with goaline decisions as well as other penalty box problems. RTG is of the feeling this is slightly overkill for what is a rare occurrence in most games but hey....if you don't try things, you never find out.
- Could Fabio Capello be the shortest serving England manager ever? The FA assure us they were well aware of forthcoming investigations into Capello's tax affairs and that they are not worried (now that makes us worried). However, sources claim that Capello could be another high-profile victim of Romano Prodi's clean-up intiative and could soon be breaking rocks with fellow countrymen Alberto Tomba and Sofia Loren. Oh well. At least Sam Allardyce is free to take the reins should that happen.....oh dear!
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