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Tyne Talk

Timing is everything

9 years ago
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Whether it is comedy or….Newcastle United, timing is everything.

The acceptance is that Steve McClaren will very shortly be appointed as the latest Newcastle United Manager/Head Coach, the next day or two according to the journalists ‘in the know’.

It is over two weeks now since McClaren was sacked by Derby County and yet this dead period, for Newcastle United, has been allowed to stretch out even further.

It is now 163 days that Newcastle have being without a manager.

You might ask what difference then does another couple of weeks make?

Well funnily enough, the deadline for season ticket holders to renew was extended by  Newcastle United on the 28 May, three days after Steve McClaren was sacked and became available without compensation having to be paid by Mike Ashley.

The deadline to renew your season ticket was extended to 10 June – tomorrow.

Surely any normal club in these circumstances would have made the managerial appointment, laid out the exciting plans ahead, then Steve McClaren could have gone off on holiday.

The excuse used is that the former England boss had holiday plans already arranged. I think many fans have got so used to being fed rubbish that they have become immune to it, their dodgy information detector is now rarely activated.

For normal people fair enough. If you were starting a new job then pre-booked holiday plans are important because you can’t easily change your itinerary by a day or two, as you would then lose your money and wouldn’t be able to book another one because you’d be skint. Or at best it would be costly to change the arrangements.

We are talking here about an appointment of a multi-millionaire to the most important post at a major north east company. For Steve McClaren to change his holiday schedule by a day or two…so what? Mike Ashley could lay on his private jet if it was a clincher to the deal.

So the question is, why have we had these added couple of weeks of torture if indeed McClaren is going to be unveiled?

Was the idea that in these couple of weeks, thousands of fans who had decided not to renew (fans had their renewal packs from March so it wasn’t like they’d not had time to renew if they had wanted to!), would suddenly be swayed by all the nonsense transfer stories being pumped out?

Many of these stories put out there by journalists friendly to the club, with claims of sources inside the club saying they are serious about Austin, Ings, Ayew, some £10m defender from Schalke and countless other domestic and foreign ‘targets’?

Do they really think we are that stupid? Well I think the bottom line is that they indeed do think that.

However, I believe  a line has been crossed now, many supporters realise that you don’t have to have a season ticket, or at least you don’t have to blindly renew it without any effort shown by the club.

You can wait and see if Mike Ashley follows up his end of season interview with action, you can decide just to go match by match or not at all. It’s not like the Keegan or Sir Bobby days when you  may have worried you would never get back in.

Putting out teasing stories of investment in a manager and players, is a very poor substitute for actually appointing and buying players.

Compare us to Liverpool.

They had the disgrace of finishing sixth only 12 months after losing the Title only at the last gasp – imagine sinking that low!

The scousers have already shaken up their backroom staff by getting rid of Marsh and Pascoe plus they have signed James Milner and Danny Ings, plus they are showing serious interest in many other players that you have heard of.

What are Newcastle fans fed?

We are told nothing of substance and instead get baseless transfer speculation encouraged by the club, as well as strong hints that the new manager/head coach has to accept that the likes of John Carver and Steve Stone are part of the package if he wants the job!

We all want to have hope that things are about to change for the better but these past weeks suggest so far that nothing at all has changed.

Today marks only 60 days until the season kicks off and 22 before pre season training begins.

Every day that goes by feels like another nail in the coffin that is next season.

Until something of substance is shown, why should any supporter put a single penny more into Mike Ashley’s pocket?

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