A hastily released statement by Keegan pointedly clarifies that his position has become untenable due to pressure put on him by other people at the club telling him who he could sign and allegedly pick for the team. He wishes Newcastle United all the best in the future but felt that he simply could not carry on any further. The statement reads “I’ve been working desperately hard to find a way forward with the directors, but sadly that has not proved possible.” “It is my opinion that a manager must have the right to manage and the club should not impose upon any manager any player he does not want.”
It’s hard to feel any sympathy for the board and owners of Newcastle United, they’ve brought this situation entirely upon themselves by creating a situation that was simply unworkable, Quite why Wise and Jiminez are in positions of such power in a Premiership football club is beyond me. Mike Ashley has completely misread the situation and I would expect St James Park to be swamped by hundreds of angry Toon fans as we speak. This is a PR disaster of gigantic proportions and I think Ashley and Co are now facing an open revolt from fans, the only bonus to the situation is that the club do not have a league game until the 13th of September. Anyone with an ounce of football knowledge would know that the one person the club could not afford to lose was Keegan and Ashley would be wise to stay as far away as possible from the ground.
It’s becoming a more commonplace situation when people with no knowledge of the game surround themselves with people who have no feeling for the fans or the club’s history and feel they can make footballing decisions with no experience at all. I saw some postings on various websites in the period between Tuesday and today, blaming bored men who play too much Football Manager and think that it’s easy to run a football club. I think if we’ve learnt anything over the last 72 hours, it clearly isn’t and requires time, patience and understanding unless you have no idea what you are doing. The other crazy thing about this situation is the Geordies hate figure, Dennis Wise is expected to take temporary charge for the next league. Where do they go from here? Chris Waddle doesn’t believe the fans will boycott the team and thinks they’ll forget about keegan if Wise wins three games on the trot, which I honestly cannot see at all.
It’s going to be a long night in Newcastle for the Newcastle board and owner.
