North East problem or different stories at Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Newcastle?

The North East of England is a footballing hot bed. It is steeped in history and is known throughout the country, and probably the world, for the passionate and fanatical support that the local teams engender.

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Newcastle, Sunderland and, to a lesser degree Middlesbrough, are all regarded as top English clubs. I wonder then, why going into tomorrow’s last round of Premier League matches, all three of them are facing up to the possibility of relegation.

Is there a reason why teams in the North East are struggling as a whole or are the problems at all three clubs entirely specific to them.

Bad form

Well, clearly the main problem all three teams have encountered this season is that they haven’t won enough games and they have all hit particularly bad form at the crucial latter part of the season. When trying to save their lives as a top-flight club all three of them have only managed to win one of their last ten games. That is just not good enough.

It is possible that only Middlesbrough will be relegated out of the three of them, but whatever happens, none of the three can look back on this season with any sense of pleasure.

Purchases

All three clubs have made bad purchases.

At Middlesbrough, Alfonso Alves has been a £12 million disaster. His four goals in twenty-four appearances speak for themselves. £2 million striker Jeremie Aliadiere has managed two goals in twenty-seven appearances. He is the only striker I can think of who has more syllables in his surneame than he has scored goals!

They spent £3 million on right back Justin Hoyte and don’t even get me started on the unbelievably bad loan signing of Marlon King!

At Sunderland, former manager Roy Keane had a nightmarish summer of transfer activity. Anton Ferdinand, Teemu Tainio, Djibril Cisse and worst of all, Pascal Chimbonda and El Hadji Diouf. Just what was Keano thinking!

At Newcastle, they too have bought in players who have made little or no impact. Fabricio Coloccini started brightly but has faded terribly. Peter Lovenkrands has done OK, but is he Premiership class? The January signing of Kevin Nolan has hardly had the impact that had been hoped.

Managerial

All three clubs have had managerial problems.

At Middlesbrough, chairman Steve Gibson has shown tremendous faith and loyalty in Gareth Southgate. Whilst that is a good thing to see in the modern world of football, the question has to be asked as to whether in this case, it was the wise thing to do. Southgate is a decent bloke but he is an inexperienced manager who has made bad purchases and has completely failed to get the best out of the squad of players he has at his disposal.

At Sunderland, Roy Keane seemed to have some sort of breakdown in front of our eyes. He made some strange decisions and then walked away at the first sign of criticism. Once again the chairman, Niall Quinn, showed loyalty and faith in an existing employee and gave the reins to Ricky Sbragia. He had a little honeymoon period but his lack of experience soon shone through.

Newcastle have had a quite ridiculous season in relation to their managers. Kevin Keegan left in turmoil, Chris Hughton was never more than a cheap stop gap, Joe Kinnear was one of the most amazing managerial appointments in living memory and Alan Shearer, whilst a popular move, smacked of total desperation.

Coincidental

I would say that whilst there does seem to be a problem in the North East, the location of the three teams is purely coincidental. The only similarities between them are that they have made bad signings, have made doubtful decisions about their managerial posts and that their teams are just not quite good enough.

It will be a fascinating day tomorrow and I have a feeling that Middlesbrough will be the only one of the three teams to go down. Even if that is the case, the other two teams will need a total overhaul in the summer if they are not going to struggle again next season. As for Middlesbrough, they will look at the fate of teams such as Charlton, Norwich and Southampton, all relegated from the Championship this season, and worry deeply about their future.