Shearer gets Newcastle job...

[Berbs]

apparently.

Kinnear moves upstairs. That's the Mags fucked. Delighted

If this turns out to be an April Fools' joke I'm gonna pretend I was in on it.

[Eoin]

surely an early april fools?

[Berbs]

They said on Skysports news they're aware of the date tomorrow but judging by who the sources are they think it's unlikely to be a joke. I am merely a vehicle that passes info from Sky to here so I don't really know. I bet it's not though.

[DogTheLangerHunter]

They have an upstairs?

[corkman in dublin]

They have an upstairs?

indeed and its trophy free:cool:

[ho chi feen]

Shearer taking Newcastle down.

It really doesn't get any better than this, really.

[VzN]

The hero turned zero - Alan Shearer; Newcastle Manager.

[Philby]

I had to check three seperate sites before I'd believe it.

It's close to a no-lose for Shearer.

If they go down he can claim that it was a sinking ship when he arrived and he'll prob get a wad of cash to bring them back up (they could quite easily walk the Championship if they can keep the nucleas of their current squad together).

If he keeps them up then he'll move from demi-God to fully fledged God status in their eyes.

Shearer is canny. He could've gone to manage Newcastle 2 or 3 times previously but has waited until now.

[KD Langer]

Shearer taking Newcastle down.

It really doesn't get any better than this, really.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/04_03/Keegan_468x356.jpg


Still suspect april fools mind

[Lapsy Pa]

They deserve each other.

I hope he brings them down. Poetic justice

[ebenezer]

Has Big Al shafted Calderwood yet :?:

[POL]

April 1st you idiots

[ebenezer]

April 1st you idiots

Poor POL. :(

[Berbs]

April 1st you idiots

It's real, shitbox.

[Up For The Ba]

I`m going to the Newcaste V Chelsea game on Saturday, gonna be some atmosphere there now I`d say..

[POL]

It's real, shitbox.Yeah, and Roy Keane for ManYoo, idiot :lol!:

[Berbs]

Yeah, and Roy Keane for ManYoo, idiot :lol!:

We'll see, shitbox. We will see.

[daithi81]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/7975700.stm

Any more links?

If its true, he is out of his mind.

[ebenezer]

Just called a mate from Tyneside.

It's all a hoax.

''George Graham takes over for the last 8 games.''

[Rebelred]

Just called a mate from Tyneside.

It's all a hoax.

''George Graham takes over for the last 8 games.''

I called a mate on Tyneside too.

He said some lad called Pat Dolan was getting the gig... ;)

Still though, either its an elaborate April fools day or it's just very funny that Big Al is going to try to be the saviour of the sinking ship :)

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_512762 8,00.html

[steve sanders]

if it's an april's fools it's a pretty impressive one as every talking head is coming out of the woodwork with their views. that said the first i heard of it was on sky sports news at midnight...

like philby says, shearer has nothing to lose. newcaslte would have gone done under kinnear/hughton/calderwood, of that i'm quite sure (and have been saying as much for months). under shearer, who knows.

no mention of this on the official newcastle site, and the main unofficial one is down...

[Lapsy Pa]

A couple things I can't understand.

Apparently he turned down the job twice before. Surely at those times the club was in a healthier position than it is in now, that doesn't make sense.

The timing of it seems very peculiar. The smart thing to do would be to hire someone at the start of the two week international break, giving him a headstart and not three days before the end of said break. He has little time to get them ready for the chelski game.

I think that ashley hired shhheeeeeeeera to take the heat off himself and appease the "toon army".

It'll give the fans and the players that actually give a toss some hope but I think he left it too late in the end.

[POL]

Gerald McCarthy has been named as his assistant

[de mange]

its past midday - surely it will be announced as a hoax now?

[Myerz]

Good move by Newcastle. Will he succeed? 8 games, can be done.

[Berbs]

Gerald McCarthy has been named as his assistant

Him or Iain Dowie.

[Loftydog]

Oh if this is genuine, it is most amusing

[daithi81]

POL is about to get the pwning of a lifetime...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/default.stm

It's all over the Beeb.

[Castlehaven Erbel]

POL & Sporting predictions continue their usual recipie for disaster.

Its always fun to watch though.....

Shearer to become Newcastle boss

Shearer spent a decade at Newcastle before retiring in 2006


Alan Shearer is set to be appointed as Newcastle manager until the end of the season, BBC Sport understands.

And former QPR boss Iain Dowie will be part of his coaching staff.

Shearer, 38 an ex-Magpies striker, 38, has often been linked with a return to St James' Park but has been critical of the club's management structure.

He would be owner Mike Ashley's fourth manager this season following the exit of Kevin Keegan, as the club fights a grim battle against relegation.

Keegan exited under a cloud in September following a row with the board over summer transfers. He was replaced by veteran Joe Kinnear, but he required triple heart bypass surgery in February leaving Chris Hughton to pick up the baton on a temporary basis.


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Archive - Shearer joins Newcastle in 1996
But Newcastle have slipped to third from bottom of the Premier League - and plans to have Kinnear back for the final part of the season have been shelved.

Former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd told BBC Radio 5 Live: "It's great news. Newcastle are in a fight now, they're in the trenches, and I think Alan is the guy to carry on that fight."

Kevin Gallacher, a team-mate from Shearer's playing days at Blackburn Rovers, said: "It's a surprise appointment - it's thrown me a googly to say the least."

BBC football pundit Mark Lawrenson told Breakfast he was also "hugely surprised".

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Archive interview: Alan Shearer
He added: "If anyone can lift Newcastle out of the doldrums it's Alan. He's got no experience of management but people like Jurgen Klinsmann and Franz Beckenbauer at Germany came in with no experience as well. He is regarded as a god up there in Newcastle."

Shearer, a born and raised Geordie, scored 206 goals in 404 appearances during a 10-year playing stint at Newcastle to earn legendary status on Tyneside after joining for a record £15m fee from Blackburn.

The former England striker, who retired from playing in 2006, has made no secret of his desire to become a manager one day.

However, he was thought to have strong reservations about Ashley's regime - describing it as "strange" following Keegan's shock exit.

The same month, Shearer, a pundit on the BBC's Match of the Day, rejected an offer to join the club's coaching staff.


Archive: Alan Shearer - Euro 96
Both on and off the pitch, Newcastle have lurched from one crisis to the next this season following the departure of Keegan early in the campaign.

Following a fans' backlash over Keegan's exit, Ashley raised the possibility of selling the club, before deciding to stay on.

Key striker Michael Owen has been involved in just four games this year because of an ankle injury, while Charles N'Zogbia moved to Wigan in the January transfer window after a high-profile bust-up with Kinnear.

Newcastle, who have 29 points from 30 matches, host third-placed Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday with eight games of the season left.

And one of Shearer's old Newcastle team-mates, Steve Watson, thinks the new manager will have an immediate impact.

606: DEBATE
Will Shearer save Newcastle from the drop?

Saj C - BBC Sport
"He speaks sense, he's very single-minded and knows exactly what he wants to do," Watson told BBC Radio Newcastle.

"He will have that immediate effect on the squad and the fans that only someone like Kevin Keegan could have. Every single player will have the utmost respect for him and listen to what he says. It won't matter how they play, they just need to get points on the board.

"He won't put up with people saying 'I won't play here' and I think he will have an immediate effect - and let's face it he's got to."

The supporters have also been galvanised by the decision, with hordes crowding St James' Park to celebrate the news.

And Magpies supporter Frank Gilmour said the appointment of Shearer was certain to create a buzz.

"You can guarantee people will be starting to queue at the ground now to buy any remaining tickets for the game against Chelsea," he said. "The atmosphere at that game on Saturday will be unbelievable."

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Former Newcastle chairman Sir John Hall, who brought the boyhood Newcastle fan to St James' Park as a player, called the move "desperate measures for desperate times" and said he would have preferred Shearer to be a long-term appointment.

He added: "I've always felt Alan was the only man at this moment in time who could manage Newcastle. He's a bit like Keegan, when we took him back 20 years ago. Keegan always had the magic touch and I think Alan's the same."

Former Magpies chief executive Freddie Fletcher oversaw the transformation at St James' Park when Kevin Keegan arrived and he can see parallels between the two appointments.


"It's very similar to what I did when I came in 1991 when we had to sadly dismiss Ossie Ardiles and drop in Kevin Keegan short-term to keep us in the then First Division," he said.

"This is a similar move, it's a sensible move and it's the best chance we've got of staying in the Premier League."

John Anderson, a former Magpies defender, welcomed the move but warned: "It's going to be a big, big ask to keep them up - they've got a very tough run-in."

[Lapsy Pa]

Alan Shearer is set to be appointed as Newcastle manager until the end of the season, BBC Sport understands.

And former QPR boss Iain Dowie will be part of his coaching staff.

Jesus H Christ like

[Berbs]

POL is about to get the pwning of a lifetime...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/default.stm

It's all over the Beeb.

Where is POL? He's gone all quiet. I wonder why?

[POL]

Teddy Mac announced as coach

[daithi81]

Teddy Mac announced as coach

You took one HELL OF A BEATING!!!!!

[Berbs]

Teddy Mac announced as coach

Has this incident been good or bad for your self-esteem? Bad, I imagine.

[samsung]

Please, please, please let Newcastle be relegated now. This would be a perfect way to finish that unambitious, tossers career.

[daithi81]

Please, please, please let Newcastle be relegated now. This would be a perfect way to finish that unambitious, tossers career.

Man U fan?

[POL]

haha, some amount of suckers caught out by that one, bet you that berbs simpleton was down watching "U2" yesterday and all :lol!:

[daithi81]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45625000/jpg/_45625973_shearer2_p a_466.jpg

Shearer arrives at Newcastle's Alan Shearer at Longbenton training ground


Watch Shearer's first news conference live on the BBC Sport website at 1430 BST

:lol!:

[Berbs]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45625000/jpg/_45625973_shearer2_p a_466.jpg

Shearer arrives at Newcastle's Alan Shearer at Longbenton training ground


Watch Shearer's first news conference live on the BBC Sport website at 1430 BST

:lol!:

They really are taking the joke a bit far at this point.

[daithi81]

They really are taking the joke a bit far at this point.

Especially when he will be there for NUFC vs Chelsea, standing on the touchline, barking orders at the team.

[Berbs]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_513456 4,00.html

There's the back of Teddy Mac's head in the background.

http://www.skysports.com/

Or is it?

[POL]

poor berby :lol!:

[wat_boy]

http://www.redandwhitekop.c om/forum/index.php?action=dla ttach;topic=198423.0 ;attach=168600;image

[elwood blues]

haha, some amount of suckers caught out by that one, bet you that berbs simpleton was down watching "U2" yesterday and all :lol!:

the truth does hurt.
you were pwned big time you might as well own up.

[west cork rebel]

any one still think this an elaborate April fools?

[wat_boy]

any one still think this an elaborate April fools?

i take it you've not seen his press conference so? found it a bit cringe worthy myself when he said he was going to talk to glen hoddle, kevin keagan etc.. not the best people to be asking for advice there alan given there past records in the prem

[Berbs]

the truth does hurt.
you were pwned big time you might as well own up.

Have a bit of class and leave POL alone, he doesn't embarrass himself intentionally you know. It just happens him alot.

[KD Langer]

poor POL.


epic self pawnage!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!

[west cork rebel]

i take it you've not seen his press conference so? found it a bit cringe worthy myself when he said he was going to talk to glen hoddle, kevin keagan etc.. not the best people to be asking for advice there alan given there past records in the prem

I did, and my point exactly he hasn't a clue has he? to seek advice from the likes of Keegan and Hoddle you must be pretty heard up.

Plus he did not at all look so confident in that interview.

[mightyquark]

Poor POL...Another bad week at the races for POL Mc Shame.

[POL]

any one still think this an elaborate April fools?heh heh, obviously :lol!: poor quarky!

[VzN]

Great result for the saviour today.

[daithi81]

Did they play any good?

[mightyquark]

heh heh, obviously :lol!: poor quarky!

In fairness POL why dont you just own up and admit that you were done on this one...

[mightyquark]

haha, some amount of suckers caught out by that one, bet you that berbs simpleton was down watching "U2" yesterday and all :lol!:

???????????????????? ???????????????????? ?

[VzN]

Did they play any good?

Seemed relatively tight in first half (a surprise for Newcastle) but as always they made too many individual errors. Might stay up, they don't have to play Chelski every week after all.

[ho chi feen]

Shearer: saviour or self-promoter?

Alan Shearer is already taking out insurance on being a false Messiah



Comments (2) (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/apr/05/alan-shearer-newcastle?commentpag e=1)
Digg it (http://digg.com/submit?url=http%3A%2 F%2Fwww.guardian.co. uk%2Fsport%2Fblog%2F 2009%2Fapr%2F05%2Fal an-shearer-newcastle&title=Football%3A+Al an+Shearer%2C+Newcas tle+manager%2C+coach %2C+saviour%2C+hero. ..)

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2009/4/3/1238762916947/Alan-Shearer-001.jpg Newcastle United manager Alan Shearer looks to the future. Photograph: Scott Heppell/AP



Another of those weeks when very little made sense and, once again, the catalyst was Alan Shearer (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/alan-shearer). There he was surrounded by adoring press doing his best to look like a Messiah (albeit a pro-tem Messiah) and in reply to a tame question admitted he had taken the job because a friend had said to him how would he feel if he didn't take the job and Newcastle managed to stay up.

This was odd. Surely the point of being a Messiah/Hero to the Geordie nation is that you take on the role because you could not live with dodging your destiny and Newcastle being turfed out of the promised land. If your nation, be it Jewish or Geordie, can be saved by a stricken Joe Kinnear or interim Chris Hughton there really is little call for a Messiah. With one answer Shearer had revealed that this whole exercise is all about Shearer and very little to do with Newcastle. He, and his brand, couldn't live with someone else receiving credit for something he might have done so he graciously/grudgingly agreed to do it for however many hundreds of grand a game. Once again it is all about Shearer. If he succeeds he is hailed; if he fails he can say like so many false Messiahs before him, "if only I had had the time".

The Shearer brand is based on the Shearer look and it was in evidence as he cased his many friends in the press room just reminding them, if such a reminder were needed, that it would be unwise to stray out of line. He even tried it on the fans, perhaps trying to stare down anyone tempted to put in an early critical call to 606. It is very similar to the look that Alan Sugar employs from his stacked chair as he surveys his boardroom full of nincompoops and it is probable that Shearer used it in his job interview.
Big Al has the brand, the look, the patented goal celebration but he doesn't have the medals to back it all up. In fact he only has a single medal (1994-1995) for actual achievement and a host of gongs for mythical achievements (Overall Player of the Decade, Outstanding Contribution to the Premier League (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague) and the rest). Ruud Gullit was on to something when he told him he was "the most overrated player he had ever seen", even if it cost him his job. It is also notable that the Geordie that Alex Ferguson regrets not signing most is the rickety and unreliable Gascoigne rather than the creosoted Shearer, and not signing him has never cost him his job.

Shearer's appointment will automatically improve Match of the Day and thereby allow the BBC to increase its advantage over its only terrestrial competitor as ITV's coverage continues to be hobbled by an over-reliance on one man. When they have a slot to fill the call goes up "Where's Andy?" and, having located the tagged Townsend, the cameras are dispatched to do the show right there with Andy and whoever else is around. So it was that Wednesday night's "reaction" programme featured Andy and drinking buddy Graeme Le Saux and someone who I assume must have been an autograph hunter and had been roped in at the last minute to do a bit of linking under the obviously cod name Matt Smith. How else to explain a discussion on "Being Wayne Rooney" which possessed not a shred of sense and Smith's perpetual use of the phrase "at international level". As in "you can't waste chances at international level" whereas, I suppose, at national level, as the career of Shearer attests you can waste as many as you like and still be judged to have made the "outstanding contribution".