According to The Telegraph, the new owners of Newcastle United are discussing appointing an ‘experienced interim manager’ to replace Steve Bruce until a suitable long-term option emerges.
Bruce was expected to be sacked this week, however it was revealed on Thursday that the 60-year-old will be on media duties for today’s press conference and looks set to be in the dugout this Sunday.
That said, The Telegraph say he’s still expected to be sacked by the Saudi-backed consortium – even if we win on Sunday – it just seems they’ve been reluctant to pull the trigger until a replacement is in place.
No names are mentioned in the piece when it comes to a potential interim appointment – a role Guus Hiddink took up twice at Chelsea – however they claim Portuguese coach Paulo Fonseca is on our radar as a potential long-term option.
The former Roma and Shakhtar Donetsk boss is known for playing an attacking style of football and is said to be keen on a move to England, with him being interviewed for the Tottenham job earlier this year.
It’s claimed Frank Lampard and Lucien Favre are also on the Saudis shortlist, however Brendan Rodgers and Rafa Benitez are believed to be non-starters, being settled at Leicester and Everton respectively.
Who knows, perhaps there’s been a few early knock-backs, leading to the consortium looking at a short-term appointment able to keep us up and oversee the early stages of this new era?
Elsewhere, the piece claims that two others key appointments are also being focused on, with the club eager to replace managing director Lee Charnley and bring in a sporting director.
He wasn’t the most motivated manager before but how motivated is he today. He knows he is going to be replaced albeit with a nice fat cheque in his pocket for services rendered, I say that just to make the statement grammatically correct, not because he has offered services. He has always kowtowed to Ashley doing so meant he would never be sacked. No way would Ashley pay him compensation. Instead, Ashley gave him a three-year contract with two years rolling. Knowing full well that he was selling up Ashley structured the contract he gave Bruce so that any new owners would have to pay out to remove Bruce and Ashley did not have to put his hand in his pocket. I suppose that is how he has made his millions.
Unless the players are highly motivated by the take-over and feel they have to perform to get another club before they too are replaced, but now that appears to be going to be done slowly not how most of the fans would have it.
Splish splash a hundred million here and a hundred million there. It definitely is a long term plan if they are going to groom academy players and build up rather than down. Now, this is totally alien to Newcastle United they have never operated this way. I was involved on the playing side in what would now be called the academy. Even then and through the ages perhaps the odd player made it from Schoolboy to juniors then the N’s then finally the reserves before the first team. We all had jobs apart from football, mostly because it was the Northeast they served their time in the Shipyards. So the majority fell by that wayside when they discovered girls were more interesting. The first team was made up of Scots; players from around the country and a couple of foreign players over the years.
I just hope that the Saudi’s way of building, does give more Northeast lads a chance of breaking through, because of the training structure they put in place. Only time will tell and we have to be patient and stop the silly games of who we are going to sign. it is more important than ever to wait until a player pulls on the famous black and white shirt do we say they have signed.
David Dutch(Quote)
How about Moriniohio ???
Raymond(Quote)
The Best Manager in the World today. Is at Benfica. His name is Jorge Jesus having won the Brazilian league. The Copa America. Only got losses in Extra time in the world club championship and already has Benfica in pole position in the Portuguese league. He is the manager for Newcastle
Al(Quote)