The big news coming out of Newcastle: Legendary Alan Shearer ready to be club manager.
The League’s all-time record goalscorer, has long been touted as the future Magpies manager even before he hung up his boots. But since his retirement at the end of the 2005-2006 season, he’s been concentrating on is work at BBC. The press even reported that Alan Shearer rejected an offer from Newcastle United as he wanted to focus on the media.
And since his retirement, 3 managers – Glenn Roeder, Sam Allardyce and Kevin Keegan, have took and vacated the Newcastle hotseat, but each time he snubbed the chance to take their place. And more so now as there’s much uncertainty surrounding the club as Mike Ashley is desperately selling the club. Interim Manager Joe Kinnear has however, brought some level of certainty to the club with their performance on the pitch but there is still talk of the Magpies club is still on the rocks.
But former Newcastle player and close friend of Shearer, Rob Lee, says that Shearer is ready to manage the club he loves so much. And Lee believes that Mike Ashley could regain the fans’ confidence by appointing Shearer as gaffer.
"Mike Ashley would solve a lot of his problems by appointing Alan and accepting that mistakes have been made,'' Lee added. "Alan could be a priceless get out of jail card. Now is the time to make the club what we all want.''
Lee, who spent 10 seasons playing for Newcastle, confessed that he may consider returning alongside Shearer.
"Yes I would love to be part of it,'' he added.
But would Shearer really want to take over at Newcastle? Love and passion is one thing but when it comes to club finance and management, especially when the owner is desperate to sell, Shearer may be hired today and fired tomorrow just because of a new owner. Why so?
Football clubs are now the new toys of rich consortiums and magnates around the world as we’ve seen Roman’s Chelsea, the Glazers’ Manchester United, Ton Hicks and George Gillett’s Liverpool, Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment’s Manchester City, and more. Though some of these clubs has vowed to be involved in the clubs for sporting reasons, most of them have more financial reasons than the sport itself. With all due respect to Shearer, as he has no prior managing experience, there may be questions asked by the new owner. And should there be a unanimous decision to fire Shearer for reasons pertaining to lack of experience rather than his ability to win the fans over when the team isn’t doing so well in the league, wouldn’t that be worse off?
We all know who the fans want at the helm of the club.
Question is, when will the limbo stop?
When Mike Ashley sells out, or when Mike Ashley appoints Shearer as gaffer?
And if so, will Shearer get the vote of confidence should there be a new owner at the helm?
As we enter into the international break, friendly matches become the heated argument yet again. Is it really important to be having international friendlies when there is no international game for the next four months?
Capello, ever since after taking charge of the England squad has been eloquent that friendly matches are important as they continue to improve the bond and understanding between the international players. Now, managers of the Big Four clubs are hitting out stating that “friendly matches are a meaningless inclusion in a packed schedule.”
Already with all the tight schedules that the Big Four plays, which include the Champions League, FA Cup and also Carling Cup, injuries are mounting on the teams as well. This comes after both Gerrard and Lampard missing out on the international game due to groin injury and rib injury respectively. This has caused a rift between Fabio Capello and the Premier League’s Big Four. And just recently, Theo Walcott became the victim of a freak accident after he fell in the rain at the Olympic Stadium, where he dislocated his shoulder, in preparation of the friendly. And this will very well intensify Arsene Wenger’s dislike of international friendlies.
"Our priority is Theo and making him as comfortable as possible before he returns to England," said coach Fabio Capello."We are all very disappointed but the important thing is for Theo to travel home and make a quick recovery."
An hour earlier, Capello had been stressing how understanding England's major club bosses were over his new philosophy for examining players apparently unfit for international combat only a few days after completing duties for the teams which pay their wages
Managers of Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa themselves has never made secret of their belief of these “meaningless” games.
Now we all know that players should play for both club and country, but which one should be placed first? Country? Or Club?
We’ve some way or another heard how Jamie Carragher stated in his biography that he has never put country before club, but the other way round. When he played for England and they lost, he’ll not be sad. But should he lose at Anfield, he’ll be disappointed with his performance. And thus, he retiring early doesn’t make any difference as he’s never been taken seriously by his country as he’s the third choice for England. So, he’d rather retire early and focus on club football.
But then, there’s David Beckham who’s got a century of Caps for England. And now, he’s come out and said that he wouldn’t mind being on the bench in an England game and giving his first team placement to someone else as its “already an honour to be selected for England”. Is Beckham saying that as we all know he’s well over his prime and should make way for younger and better players who’s better suited in his position?
Of course, Capello can always have a replacement ready for the injured Walcott, as he’s done for the eight missing star players who are all out through injury. Walcott will probably be replaced by Shawn Wright-Phillips who’s been amazing in his place in the first team of Manchester City. But for Arsene Wenger, it will definitely be a tactical headache as it seems that Walcott may be out for a month or so. Should this really happen, Walcott will be missing four to five league games, and also the rest of Arsenal’s Champion League Group Stage games.
So is Capello just taking advantage of his new philosophy of examining all players, fit or unfit for duty? Because he does have quite a number of quality players at his disposal, but is it fair to the lads as they have to be assessed by Capello first before Clubs make any decision?
Then comes the question of trust between Capello and England’s major clubs. If ever there was a test of Capello's relationships, this will be it.
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nope, its not barack obama; though its of the same understanding.its me,
ryan, and this blog is all about the world's greatest sport, football.
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