Newcastle United Director of Football Joe Kinnear has hit back at club legend Alan Shearer by calling him a clueless coach.

The criticism is in response to Shearer who earlier this week said he was sickened by the Newcastle PR disaster surrounding the recent events that had turned the club into a laughing stock. Shearer’s words were a result of owner Mike Ashley appointing a new member to his “Cockney Mafia” at the club with Kinnear joining the club in a senior role thereby undermining manager Alan Pardew’s authority at the club.

Here’s what Kinnear said today in the Sunday Times interview:

“What Shearer says is diabolical. This is a guy who hasn’t got a clue about coaching.

“The last game of the [2008-09] season he came up with the master idea of playing Damien Duff at left-back. Damien is one of the best left-wingers in the business, but can’t tackle. And we went down with an own goal from Damien. Shearer keeps slagging me off. He is being disrespectful to me. I am entitled to fight back.”

While I agree with Kinnear’s analysis of Shearer’s lack of quality as a manager, is this what a director of football should be doing? And by doing so, he’s ruining his relationship with many Newcastle fans who idolize Shearer as a club legend.

Let’s hope that Joe Kinnear is putting more energy into his role as director of football instead of badmouthing Newcastle United legends like Alan Shearer in the press. What do you think? Should Kinnear shut up and get on with his job, or did he do the right thing by putting Shearer in his place? Give us your opinion in the comments section below.

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