Tyne & Wear Derby 14th April 2013

In a previous post (http://wp.me/p26N3N-2n) at a time before Di Canio had been appointed, a fan poll suggested a near 40% of SAFC supporters were ambivalent about his appointment. This was clearly well before yesterdays game where, if the poll was re run, a significantly different perspective would be obvious. Such is the fickle nature of success starved supporters.Reading todays press and fans response on Twitter, it appears the Newcastle supporters are devastated about the loss. Why is this?, well, it’s partly because it was ‘the Derby’ and on that day nothing else matters but the frustration is also because Newcastle are not the  team  they were last year.

Until yesterdays match they were 17 points worse of than the same point in the season last year. The European campaign will have had a big affect on the performances this season but it was a distraction. Premier League success is the yardstick that most supporters want to see. It guarantees significant TV rights which is the vehicle for paying  high wages  for    players which in turn guarantees better players and hopefully consistent success. Consistency isn’t something Newcastle have had this season as against last years campaign. The 17 point difference is immense and will be worrying for many Geordie fans – has it been the Euro journey or was it simply that last year was one of these freak seasons like Ipswich had recently where they punched above their weight but were not able to sustain the level of football.

The derby yesterday was more than two North East rivals slugging it out. It was a survival battle for Sunderland and for Newcastle, it was another frustrating loss which would have been unthinkable last season. Now the Geordie faithful are looking over their shoulders at the bottom of the table. Although they are two points ahead of their rivals, Newcastle’s run in to the end of the season looks pretty tough with two tricky and away games they have a really tough game on their visit to West Brom who have had a great season. If they lose on Saturday, with a significantly inferior goal difference to their local neighbours, it will be another worrying issue for the Geordie faithful. If yesterdays disturbances in Newcastle were due to local fan frustration, its unthinkable what the fans will do to their town if they slump to a relegation spot.

Shearer to re enter premier league management?

Writing in the Times today, Gary Jacobs identifies Blackburn Rivers have designs on making Alan Shearer their new manager if Steve Kean is sacked. ‘If Steve Kean is sacked’! Surely its only as matter of time before this becomes a reality.

It seems that every Blackburn Rovers fans who cares to make a comment, comes out with the same line, he must go. To a neutral on this matter like me, this seems odd. Steve Kean may not be the most charismatic of managers but he seems to have done a decent job. Who else did Blackburn think they could get? The ‘minor league’ of Premier League management stock in the form of the likes of, Steve Bruce, Mick McCarthy and Owen Coyle may be possibilities but none of these have really done anything remarkable so far.

Kean’s fate is expected to be decided as early as tomorrow after talks with the club owners, despite the club being second in the npower Championship after seven games.

Shearer was part of the Blackburn side that won the Premier League title in 1995, scoring a record 34 goals, and he turned down a previous approach to return to his former club when Sam Allardyce was dismissed as manager in 2010.

Shearer was in charge of Newcastle United for eight games, picking up five points and failing to save them from relegation, in his only previous experience as a manager of a club in 2009. He left Newcastle at the end of that season and held what he described as “unsuccessful” talks about becoming Cardiff City manager last year.

The BBC pundit has previously blamed the Blackburn owners, the Venky’s, for the club’s malaise and has expressed sympathy for Kean in the summer. “There is only the owners you can blame really – they are the only guys you can look at and what disappoints me is that nobody really hears from them,” he said.

Kean, 44, has been under pressure from large sections of fans calling for his dismissal throughout his tenure since he replaced Allardyce. Blackburn were relegated from the Premier League last season and the fans continued their abuse of the Scot after the 2-1 home defeat by Middlesbrough on Friday.

Blackburn are also considering Tim Sherwood, the Tottenham technical co-ordinater, who looks after the development side at the club.

Will this move make Blackburn Rovers a force once again? Share your view.

Opening weekend of 2012/12 season

The opening day of the new season was anything but mundane. With Liverpool getting humped by West Brom and Swansea knocking five in against Mark Hughe’s QPR – this was as big a surprise as Joey Barton thinking he could get around his ban for last seasons idiotic sending off by serving his sentence in a non league club. Newcastle got a great win at home and no doubt will reignite the belief, amongst the geordie faithful, that last season was no fluke. A lot of people will be watching the ‘toon’ to see if they can repeat their 2011/12 achievement.