First Edition - Overdrive!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Alan Shearer ready to be Magpies manager?

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?

by ryannn ((: at 1:50 PM | |