I think everyone agrees that Shepherd needs to show Roeder the door (but only after he has gone through it himself), but whoever is running the board needs to accept this painful truth: Good players only go to clubs where they think they are going to win something. So the only way forward for this club is to break the bank, not on a player, but on a manager - a winning manager. If we are relegated it will cost us tens of millions.
Let’s use that money to get a manager that players will be prepared to leave their clubs for and follow him to St. James’ Park. If that means buying someone out of their contract, so be it. If the board offer enough money they will be able to buy in a manager with talent and the skills necessary to succeed.
Two years in the
Champions League will repay ANY investment in a new manager. As a starter, how about Scolari? He didn’t want to leave Portugal before the last World Cup, but would he accept an offer now? If he came to
Newcastle how many Brazilian or Portuguese players would follow?
The alternative is Curbishley or a lower league manager wishing to make good. We missed out on Martin O’Niell - the only ‘local’ manager with the ability to cut it on the international stage, so now we must cast our net further.
Ponder on this - what have
Chelsea,
Arsenal,
Liverpool and
Man Utd got in common? They are all teams that were performing below par before their boards spent good money to bring in quality managers to fix them. And quality attracts quality. Veira, Henry and Fabregas would not have gone to
Arsenal under George Graham - they wanted to play for Wenger.
Chelsea’s millions were first spent on Mourinho before they attracted Drogba and Ballack. Whoever runs
Newcastle Utd needs to learn this lesson and spend the money on the manager… the players will follow.
