THE TOON'S TOP MAN JETS IN TO GET HIS NEW BOSS
Mike Ashley will be back in Toon today to team up with chairman Chris Mort for what promises to be the official start of a whole new era for Newcastle United.
The pair made it clear that the appointment of Sam Allardyce wasn't theirs and while many pundits, who haven't even set foot in St James's Park, blame the fans for hounding Big Sam out, the truth is the departed boss probably had enough time to stamp his authority on the team.
True, eight months isn't long but if you told your boss at work that you needed three years to get things right, what would they say?
The need for stability is one thing but how long could you as a supporter have put up with watching the long ball game?
How many more away trips to Wigan could you realistically been able to afford or justify to your family?
Was it was worth the best part of £100 a day after Christmas Day?
And could you stomach going to the likes of Reading and Fulham to play for a point?
To stick with Big Sam didn't make any business sense and more importantly no football sense.
He had to go simple as that.
And you have to credit Mort and Ashley for having the bravery to first of all stick with him, and secondly take the brunt of the criticism for showing him the by now worn out exit door at St James's Park, which has accounted for eight managers in the last 11 years.
But enough of Big Sam, the page must now be turned.
And while throwing the book away with several pages left in it may upset the environmentally people of the world - a new fresh book is desperately needed.
It's thought that the new manager who comes through the door must play attractive football.
But the only other requirement is that the manager must have experience at the top level.
And today Mort says the manager is unlikely to be with a team already in the Champions League or who only has ambition to manage in La Liga or Serie A - which would appear to rule out Jose Mourinho or Marcello Lippi.
Does the criteria also rule out Alan Shearer for now?
Maybe but what price Big Al coming in to work with a top manager before taking over in future years?
Shaerer should not have to cut his teeth in the lower leagues, that doesn't work.
Ask Tony Adams or Tony Cottee that question.
But if anybody knows what is needed in the Toon hotseat it's Big Al.
Personally, I think Shearer could step into the job yesterday and just like Kevin Keegan did he could get by without experience because of his knowledge of the game and love for the club.
You get the feeling that the Babayaros of the world would have lasted five minutes under Shearer and we won't take any trouble from even the strongest characters in the dressing room.
The race is still wide open for the new boss with plenty of hats getting thrown into the ring while some are merely hovering their hat over the top of it in the hope that Ashley will grab it.
But whatever happens with the search for a new boss today let's hope the Toon's Tycoon delivers a manager that entertains and gives us our Geordie pride back.
MORT AND ASHLEY'S CRITERIA
(A taste of tomorrow night's match programme)
New manager expectations from Chris Mort
*The new manager must have the team playing with the right balance of winning football and stylish football.
This is probably the most difficult task.
There are some clubs in the country where it is essential that the team generally tries to play football with some flair, and this is one of them.
In the most difficult league in the world it is only the great managers that can combine that sort of style with winning.
We appreciate we will have defeats and losing runs along the way but if the team is not trying to play football “on the carpet� as Sir Bobby Robson recently described it I think they will always struggle to win over the followers of Newcastle United.
*We would like a manager willing to develop the youth side of the club.
For too long the club has missed out on too much of the young footballing talent in the region and, these days, that talent also needs to combined with young talent sourced both nationally and internationally.
*A manager that can speak English.
There have been media suggestions that we would only appoint a British manager. That is not true.
However, we think this is a big enough job without the manager having to operate through an interpreter, so the manager will have to be someone who is able to speak English.
*We need someone willing and able to take on, and cope with, Newcastle United.
As a big club with massive potential this is a fabulous club to manage, and some of the candidates we have talked to appreciate that fact.
However, we are not currently a Champions League team, and in six seasons out of the last ten we have finished in the bottom half of the Premier League.
That means we are not necessarily going to interest a manger who is already at a team playing Champions League football or whose only ambition is to manage a top team in, say, Spain or Italy.
We have also seen over recent months the pressures placed on Newcastle United and its manager by some of the press and occasionally by some of the supporters – we need someone who is willing and able to handle that.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
YOUR OPINION AS A TOON FAN COUNTS SO FEEL FREE TO LEAVE COMMENTS BELOW
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