Where do Newcastle United go from here?

Football FanCast guest columnist Nathhosker09 reflects on a turbulent year at Newcastle United and wonders where they go from here.

Mike Ashley feels it is time he let the club move in a different direction…

During a season for Newcastle United that can only be best described as a turbulent one to say the least, once again the owner of the club Mike Ashley has decided to place the football club up for sale for a price of one hundred million pounds. Over the years there has been the big "we are a big club" tag that has had a tendency to haunt Newcastle as fifty thousand supporters and more come and see their local team week in week out with a backing that is second to none, there is no secret that the fans desire attractive fluid football that produces images that only the imagination can dream of, high scoring games are what Newcastle fans yearn for regardless of the final scoreline.  

What money, managers and players……..

Over the last couple of years Mike Ashley has delved into his pockets and has spent money on players that he thinks can help this club move forward to be competing at the highest level. Although this is what can be deemed as good intentions at the start of the season showed that appointing Kevin Keegan may only be the start of either a push for glory or the demise of a club that had been in the Premiership for the last sixteen years, three managers over the current season just gone in the form of Chris Hughton, Joe Kinnear and finally the fans "saviour" Alan Shearer the team has seen itself slip out of the top flight and into the tough tackling league the Championship.

The battle to enter the Premier League will be fierce and this requires that the club as a whole needs restructuring so that it does not meet the demise of the late Leeds United team that at one point were in the semi finals of the Champions League stretching out their palms in grasp of glory only for it all to fall apart.

Management of the highest level at the club has realised it is time for a change and a new direction in order to ensure that its survives its latest ordeal, Mike Ashley has admitted that his love for the game, more than having footballing management knowledge has not paid dividends the way that he intended, the set up of the youth system and trying to blood youngsters into a team that requires a constant flow of talent was all of a good nature, but it seemed having a director of football that controlled this had been the initial hurdle for a club. Should Dennis Wise had only played a part in scouring the world for youthful talent in order to enhance the future prospects of Newcastle United and left first team affairs to the manager then this could have been a different story altogether, the season could have ended with Newcastle either finishing in typical style of mid table or pushing the likes of Tottenham and Manchester City for a place in the Europa League instead a teetering on the brink of relegation, all season long.

Towards the latter end of the season this became apparent and the board room distress was there for all to see, in an expected fashion Dennis Wise decided to resign from his post suggesting that the board had felt that having a director of football was an indecent method of controlling who comes in and out of the club, this in particular was rectified true when the club attempted to sell Michael Owen behind the manager's back. Although this did not materalise one long serving member of the squad and fan favourite Shay Given felt that after the 5-0 humiliation against Liverpool, enough was enough, and by the end of the transfer window had moved onto now the world's richest club Manchester City for an undisclosed fee. For all the commitment Given had shown over thirteen years being the number one goalkeeper he felt that his time, towards the end of his Geordie association, was made sour due to the relationship with the board that he clearly was justifiably unhappy with.

Another man who had made a real name for himself at Newcastle was James Milner, now of Aston Villa. The young winger had many attributes notably his determination and commitment to the squad when selected and was always going to prove a significant loss

Time was not in Newcastle's favour and selling their top asset's during the winter window of January 2009 meant that something needed to be done in order to save the club from a possible downfall and save the beloved black and whites from dropping to the second tier of English football, unfortunately it wasn't forthcoming and ultimately the club owners sold themselves and the Toon support short.

Newcastle's next move…..

The new season is fast approaching and with the club up for sale it is vitally important that the club move forward swiftly, but in a way that is going to preserve them for the future. There has been the talk that the company Seymour Pierce has been placed in charge of trying to sell Newcastle to a number of supposed interested parties, one party in particular is rumoured to have been Freddie Shepherd whose consortium wants to take charge of the club and has pin pointed appointing Alan Shearer as manager as the man to take us forward and return them to the promise land of the premier league. Whether many people would agree or not, it is vital that he, or whoever takes over, is given the time required to re-shape a club that has lost all of its stability and possibly set for a summer exodus. We can hope that we return to the PL at the first time of asking, but it won't be easy.

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