Honest Joe has Toon fate in his hands
IT'S the job no one wanted.
And Joe Kinnear – the most unlikely appointment in football since Brenford owner Ron Noades installed himself as the club's manager more than a decade ago – started work at Newcastle United today.
To say his arrival underwhelmed fans is an understatement. A massive one at that.
However, as United's shell-shocked fans have quickly found out, one thing Kinnear has got going for him, in an era where few people in the game speak their minds, is his remarkable honesty.
The 61-year-old hasn't pulled any punches since his arrival, and his colourful interviews before and after Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Blackburn Rovers proved a bigger talking point than the game itself.
Kinnear had to cut short his media commitments to catch a flight back to London, and I spoke to him early yesterday for his post-match reaction.
Kinnear – clearly reeling from that morning's headlines, with the Sunday papers having further ridiculed his appointment after it emerged he had a two-match touchline ban to serve – was on the phone for the best part of an hour, candidly answering each and every question.
His reign might well prove a short one, but it's going to be anything but uneventful.
However, the question is can Kinnear – who led Wimbledon's Crazy Gang in the 1990s – get anything more out of the club's demoralised players than Chris Hughton?
The next few games will effectively decide whether second-from-bottom Newcastle face a relegation battle this season.
And whether supporters like it or not, United's fate is in the hands of the one man crazy enough to take on the craziest job in football.
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Weather for South Shields
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 19 C
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Wind direction: East
