Friday 5 September 2008

Skin Deep

Well, the messiah has gone, long live the new messiah... Whoever he may be.

The three days of indecision have finally come to an end with Keegan resigning - despite what the media say, no doubt with a large pay off and a gagging clause to stop him saying anything too damaging to the club.

He's claiming that he's been prevented from managing and he's lost control over the 'managing' part of his role. Which are exactly the same reasons as Curbishley has given for leaving West Ham earlier this week. Both claiming that they have lost control over who is bought/sold for the team. No doubt with Keegan much of the problem will have been with him needing to stamp his authority onto the club, (have a look at previous post for my wittering on this before) a power struggle with the directors has led to him throwing his dummy out in the grand manner.

Why does any of this matter? I'd be willing to bet it matters a lot to the guy in the photo (I took this at Everton last season and have been waiting for an appropriate occasion to use it), not only does he care for the team so much he travels to the games, shells out for a season ticket but he has also wanted to show his loyalty to the team he loves (note, not follows, loves) by paying a large sum of money to have the club crest indelibly imprinted on his back. That's the passion that football can engender and its why it matters who is in charge of your team.

Part of the problem at Newcastle United is that we don't really know who is in charge (although today has given us a fairly big clue...) Keegan was brought back by Ashley as an antidote to the dour Allardyce and Keegan's charisma is part of why he has been successful and why the reaction is as strong as it is that he's gone.

As ever, NUFC.com sum it up perfectly:-

While the mass media see this purely as messiah departs, it seems that many fans (correctly in our view) are less concerned about KK disappearing than they are about the shambles he leaves behind.

The key question for me is what will Ashley do next for a manager? Dennis Wise or Alan Shearer - invidious or populist - cheap or expensive...

Like I said, never a dull moment.

4 comments:

Michael said...

He'll get no more money from me, that's for sure (though I will miss the cheap Karrimor walking shoes at Sports Direct). Personally, I can't see Wise continuing at the club for much longer. The new coach will, I guess, be foreign and a big name to placate the fans. It wouldn't surprise me to see them approach Zico. The whole thing's a farce.

MaryKwizMiz said...

the first ones have already (Wise-ly) ruled themselves out.. you'd have to throw a LOT of money at any self-respecting, experienced and brain-possessing manager to take the job of second fiddle to Wideboy..
maybe somewher in the pampas of Argentina, where they don't have TV/radio/internet there is a coach who is a) cash-strapped, b) bored and c) thick-skinned..

Michael said...

And according to the latest press release a lot of money is precisely what the new boss isn't going to get. £12 million to spend on new players???!!

No matter what they say football is anything but a business. What other kind of commerce would treat their customers like fools and still expect to see them back?

Karen Toon said...

Michael - Ratners did that...remember them? And look at where they are now...