This article is written by a long suffering Newcastle United fan and all content is based purely on my own opinions.
So, Newcastle sit in 19th place in the Barclays Premier League after an outlay of over 75 million on transfers (Not including wages). So the question on my mind is “How on earth has this club, MY CLUB, ended up in this position?”
Stephen 'Steve' McClaren was born in York on 3rd May 1961. As a midfielder, he had an unremarkable playing career, with most of his 300+ appearances coming for Hull City between 1979-1985. Whilst playing for Oxford United, he was forced to retire through injury in 1992. After retiring, Steve took up coaching at Oxford United before moving to Derby County as an assistant. He then moved to Manchester United and learned his trade under the tutelage of Sir Alex Ferguson. He had his first break in management at Middlesbrough. In his first season in charge, they reached the semi finals of the FA Cup, knocking Manchester United out in the fourth round. They then went on to win the League Cup in 2004. The following season Middlesbrough reached the final of the Uefa Cup. Next came the England job and to cut a long story short, his tenure was short lived, being remembered mostly for the 'wally with the brolly' incident. After England came FC Twente, where against all odds, they managed to win the Eredivisie. Since then, he has held positions with limited success at Wolfsburg, Nottingham forest, FC Twente again, QPR (as coach) and Derby County before being named Newcastle United manager on 10th June 2015.
Before I go any further, I would like to point out that I am not a disillusioned fan that believes that NUFC should be competing for the Premier League title and Champions League year in year out. That's just not achievable. However, what I think IS achievable is to at least be competitive in a league considered the best in the world by many.
There is something which goes beyond football that is wrong with this club. The owner is adamant that the club should be ran like a business rather than a football club. He continues to surround himself with people who are not 'football people' Chris Mort, our first chairman appointed when he bought the club, is a lawyer, Derek Llambias ran a casino. The people who he has aligned himself with in the past who had any idea about football were Dennis Wise (Brought in as Kevin Keegan's superior) and Alan Pardew (Who was an associate of Derek Llambias from a chance meeting in his casino). I think the lack of football people making top decisions at the club has had a major knock-on effect to the manager and players. At the minute this seems a terminal problem and one which needs to rectified as soon as possible. I don't believe appointing a manager to the board of directors, such is the case with McClaren, is the answer either.
Right to McClaren, You have to consider that Steve McClaren inherited a team from John Carver which was already low on confidence, Having just survived relegation the season before by the skin of their teeth. Losing (at the time) 5 Derby's in a row wouldn't have helped the case much either. McClaren's first job would have been to get the confidence back, get the players enjoying their football again. It was, and still is common knowledge that Newcastle's weakest area on the pitch is their defence. When you have the same 3 first team centre backs from 2009 you know you are just asking for trouble. Summer transfers brought in only ONE defensive player, Chancel Mbemba from Anderlecht, Whilst 4 attacking players came in. Results continued in the same vein as the season before. It took until the 9th game of the season to win their first game, a convincing 6-2 win over Norwich. By now, it must have been obvious to McClaren, it certainly was to me, that we NEEDED defenders in January. If nobody else comes in, just get a defender. A few wins in the first half of the season were few and far between. The beginning of December proved a false dawn as wins over Liverpool and Spurs were followed by a 5 game win-less streak. Into January now and the transfer window open again. Instead of signing a defender, we sell one. Mike Williamson sold to Wolves. Florian Thauvin, a new signing in the summer, goes back to Marseille on loan. Only 5 months after joining. Three more midfielders join too. There is a lack of communication between the scouting team, headed by Graham Carr, and the manager. It has to be the manager's job to identify any problem areas, even if he's not responsible for recruitment. The remainder of the season certainly makes for bleak reading when players don't want to be here, But I digress. The job of McClaren is to win football matches and he is unable to do that at present. He isn't instilling any respect, confidence or even fear in his players. His captain doesn't want to play for him, his tactics have been questionable at best. His team selections of late really have baffled me. Seydou Doumbia, a loan signing brought in January is yet to start a league game, whereas Emmanuel Riviere, a striker with just one league goal in 23 appearances starts despite only being declared fit hours before the match. Playing a winger at full back was just asking for trouble too. McClaren is well out of his depth at Newcastle. He has lost the confidence of the players, the fans and now, it seems, the board. It is now a question of when, not if, Newcastle fire him.
It's a shame really though, as he is a top quality coach, a lot of players only talk about him in glowing terms. He just doesn't seem to be able to make the tough decisions. Dropping an out of form player, changing a tactic mid-match etc. He WAS a successful manager back in his Middlesbrough days and he did earn the England job on merit. He should be applauded for that as well as his Dutch league title. If I was him, I would go back to being a coach, being a friend to the players is a good quality in a coach, but not for a good manager. His inability to differentiate between the 2 and the fact that suitable reinforcements in problem areas were not signed is what will ultimately be his demise as manager of Newcastle United. If he goes on to prove me wrong, I will be delighted of course..
The problem Newcastle have in sacking McClaren, is tempting a new manager to join a sinking ship, The question isn't who will Newcastle hire next? Its who actually who wants to join them?
Championship here we come!
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