jus little thoughts

Having been a Newcastle fan for a decade, I have a pragmatic perspective of what has happened at the club and the criticism that comes with it may make me seem like an unworthy fan. Nonetheless, my support for the football club has been tried and tested and people who know me can vouch for my loyalty to the team.

Since the departure of Sir Bobby, the team has always lacked any team chemistry and understanding between the players. Luck has never been on the club's side, which is always suffering from a significant number of injuries to key players season after season. The poor appointment of managers such as Souness and Big Sam by then chairman Freddy Shepherd, has resulted in deteriorating financial stability of the club as well as football played which is little short of "disgusting".

Under Souness, the team was tactically woeful, without a proper system or style, and from then began an era of midtable mediocrity and high potential for relegation. The timely departure of Souness and appointment of Roeder as the new manager managed to save Newcastle even though he was never the first-choice. His reign was cut short by a lack of loyalty on the chairman's part when Big Sam was available for hire after resigning from Bolton (Big Sam was then a favourite to take over from Souness).

There were high expectations when Big Sam took over in 2007 with his achievements at Bolton which was also accompanied by the persistent criticism of his style of defensive, aggressive football. Speculation was rife whether he'll adopt a more attractive style of attacking footballto suit a club like Newcastle or will he bring in his style of football. The latter happened and it worked fine, only for a few games before cracks began to appear in a perpetually tactically-impotent team which lacked team chemistry. The presence of a few talented individual players could not make up for the failings of the team as a whole.

Things did not help during Big Sam's time when after a few games into the season, the club was bought over by Mike Ashley. Although Big Sam was not his appointment, he reluctantly pumped in some cash for the manager and gave him an opportunity to impress. When things didn't go well three-quarters through the season, with relegation a possibility again, Big Sam was given the sack. There was a lot of debate whether Big Sam should've been given more time to have his system well in place before results could show. I couldn't have agreed more with the owner in his decision as Big Sam's tactics just did not suit the club or players who were in the team.

Just when things looked dark and gloomy, with no renown talented managers available for the poisoned chalice that is St. James' Park's hotseat, a masterstroke (apparently at that point in time) by Ashley brought the return of King Kev to the throne. With morale in the team and fans on the up and the return of the brand of attacking football that pleases the fans and suits the players, results came our way and things were looking pretty optimistic for once in a looong time.

Coming in to the 08-09 season, things started off well with a string of decent results. The creation of new positions that have more power and say than the manager after Keegan's appointment seemed strange but acceptable initially. As the transfer window drew to a close, the club did not manage to bring in the players that King Kev hoped to have signed (restricted whether by finances or by the over-riding of decisions by "higher authority" nobody knows for certain). To make matters worse, the signing of Xisco and sale of Milner (apparently against Keegan's wishes) seemed to be the final straw for the traditional manager who firmly believed that he should have total control of player transfers in the club. With that, the Messiah's return was cut short and the club was once again thrown into a turmoil.

The temporary appointment of Joe Kinnear as manager was initially thought of as the biggest joke to have ever happened at Newcastle. I guess this is because the loyal football fans who still hold the club in high regard felt that a club as "big" as Newcastle should be attracting better-qualified managers. What they failed to understand is that Newcastle is no longer a force to be reckoned with as it was years ago and we've been nothing more than a below-average team in the Premier League. This temporary appointment was extended gradually on a monthly basis and eventually to the end of the season, as the club was put on sale by the owner without attracting any interest, partially due to the economic downturn in the world.

Just when the owner recommits himself to the football club, after appeasing the angered fans who demanded his departure for the resignation of the Messiah. Kinnear stabilised the football club to a certain extent and regrettably had to undergo a heart bypass surgery which effectively ruled him out for the season. Another manager's reign was being cut short once again, this time by unforseen circumstances.

Assistant Manager Hughton came into the picture, taking over from Kinnear while he was recovering from his surgery. Results did not come our way and it wasn't long before another temporary manager needed to be roped in to prevent Newcastle from slipping down the table and out of the Premier League. Along came Alan Shearer, recently retired talisman Magpies striker without any managerial experience. Morale has been kept high since his appointment but we will soon see whether it is enough to make up for the failings of the team as a whole.

The commitment of the owner is constantly being questioned after he has lost half his wealth through the football club but who can blame him seriously. Ashley, without any background in football club management, initially came in with a plan to make Newcastle United a sustainable football club that eventually does not require a constant pumping of huge amounts of funding from the owner. It was an ambition worth embracing and supporting but huge mistakes were made on his part due to his lack of understanding of running a football club.

Having been a fan for over 10 years, the club is really at an all-time low with relegation a real possibility like it has never ever been. It is really disappointing as the club finally has a decent group of players who can achieve much more if everyone performed to standard. Ultimately, I guess the "core" (in any sense) of the football club is rotten and being relegated might give it a great chance to freshen things up and solve the problem right at its roots. Practically it is good but for the love of the club I hope it doesn't.