Will Shearer be Newcastle’s saviour?

Newcastle have now appointed Alan Shearer as their manager until the end of the season. That means they have had as many managers as they have had home wins this year!

Following Kevin Keegan, the unfortunate Joe Kinnear and Chris Hughton, Shearer becomes the fourth man to take the reins at St James’ Park.

Critical

Thirty-eight year old Shearer has often been linked with a return to the club where he holds hero status but the move had looked unlikely after he had been critical of the club’s management team..

Shearer takes over with the club in the relegation zone, two points away from safety. He inherits a team that has won just one of their last fourteen games and face the minor inconvenience of a visit from resurgent Chelsea at the weekend.

Turmoil

This season has seen the Magpies in turmoil. Keegan exited under a cloud in September following a row with the board over summer transfers. He was controversially replaced by veteran Joe Kinnear, who seemed to be just about the only man prepared to take on the role, but he required triple heart bypass surgery in February leaving Chris Hughton to take over on a temporary basis.

The original plans for Kinnear to come back for the final part of the season have been shelved. That decision is probably best for everyone.

There has been a generally positive reaction to the news. Former chairman Freddy Shepherd said,

“It’s great news. Newcastle are in a fight now, they’re in the trenches, and I think Alan is the guy to carry on that fight.”

Although supportive of the appointment, others have expressed their surprise.

Former team-mate Kevin Gallacher said,

“It’s a surprise appointment – it’s thrown me a googly to say the least.”

BBC football colleague Mark Lawrenson also said that the news was a surprise to him.

“If anyone can lift Newcastle out of the doldrums it’s Alan. He’s got no experience of management but people like Jurgen Klinsmann and Franz Beckenbauer at Germany came in with no experience as well. He is regarded as a god up there in Newcastle.”

Born and bred in Newcastle Shearer became a legend with the club’s passionate and loyal following during a career in which he scored 206 goals in 404 appearances after signing from Blackburn for a record fee of £15million.

Shearer has made no secret of his desire to become a manager one day and it was pretty obvious to all concerned that Newcastle would be his choice of club. However, after he described the ownership of Mike Ashley as “strange” following Keegan’s departure, the prospect of him working for the current owner seemed remote indeed.

Rejected

At the time of Keegan’s exit Shearer rejected an offer to join the club’s coaching staff, citing his TV work and committments as the reason.

There was a huge fans’ backlash over Keegan’s exit and Mike Ashley became public enemy number one. He basically ran away and tried to sell the club. With no suitable takers, Ashley decided to stay in charge, but he is hardly any more popular with the fans.

A more cynical man than me might suggest that the appointment of a fans favourite as the manager could have something to do with the chairman looking to regain some standing with the fans. I am not that cynical.

Excitement

With just eight games of the season left, Shearer has little time to reverse the team’s fortunes. There is no doubt that his appointment will cause huge excitement amongst the fans but it will also need to totally revitalise the players immediately.

Former Newcastle team-mate Steve Watson, thinks that he will,

“He speaks sense, he’s very single-minded and knows exactly what he wants to do. He will have that immediate effect on the squad and the fans that only someone like Kevin Keegan could have. Every single player will have the utmost respect for him and listen to what he says. It won’t matter how they play, they just need to get points on the board. He won’t put up with people saying ‘I won’t play here’ and I think he will have an immediate effect – and let’s face it he’s got to.”

The only slightly dissenting voice was that of former chairman Sir John Hall. He said that the appointment was a “desperate measure for desperate times.” Having said that, Sir John agreed that Shearer could be the only man capable of rescuing the team from relegation.

“I’ve always felt Alan was the only man at this moment in time who could manage Newcastle. He’s a bit like Keegan, when we took him back 20 years ago. Keegan always had the magic touch and I think Alan’s the same.”

Only time will tell if the appointment of Alan Shearer can resue Newcastle from the drop, but one thing is for sure. They certainly haven’t got any less chance of staying up than they would have had without him.

This has to be a good move for the club whatever the short-term outcome is. The Toon army are desperate to win trophies but if Shearer can keep them in the Premier League, that would be as good as any FA Cup to the fans.