1. The dismissal of Bobby Robson - either too early, or too late. August 2004
At the age of 71, the patriarch of the British coaching workshop was an extremely charming and active person, perceived his charges not as children even, but as grandchildren (that is, with amazing warmth) and from time to time, to the amusement of the press, they confused their names. The pros and cons of the late Bobby Robson's work came out clearly in the Newcastle game. With the middle peasants and outsiders, the team of Shearer, Robert, Bellamy and Jenas pulled loose and at ease, not without some even dashing. But she never lacked the alignment and training to fight Manchester United and Arsenal. In August 2004, when Didier Drogba, who had fallen in Marseilles, knocked out Newcastle from the UEFA Cup, club head Freddy Shepperd decided to dismiss Robson - either too early, or too late, but certainly not timely. Before the transfer window closed, a couple of days remained, and the new coach had no chance, with all the wealth of Newcastle, to adjust the composition “for themselves”.
2. Appointment of Graham Sunness as head coach. September 2004
Over the course of a year and a half at Newcastle, Suness managed not only to make black and white hopelessly gray (14th place in the 04/05 season), but also to put the only forward forward from the team, except for Alan Shearer, Craig Bellamy. And besides, to lower 8 million pounds (about $ 16 million) to Jean-Alain Bumsong, who immediately became one of the tactically weakest defenders of the Premier League. Two years later, Boomsong was sold with a triple markdown.
3. Catastrophic personnel policy. 2002 - 2006.
Newcastle is a unique example of a club in Europe that degraded in the absence of any financial problems. Moreover, until the last moment the Magpies, thanks to their fantastically loyal fans, brought tangible profits. "Newcastle" is good at selling (for Jenas and Woodgate, good money was gained). But all the latest acquisitions of the team look either not very convincing, or completely anecdotal.
The young Portuguese attacking midfielder Hugo Viana, acquired in 2002 for 9 million pounds, left the team last summer five times cheaper, having scored 5 goals for the entire time of the performance in it. Damien Duff, bought back from Chelsea for £ 5 million last summer, is also playing slurred, and most importantly, in the place of Charles N'Zogbia, one of the best players of last year's Newcastle. To acknowledge their mistake and return N'Zogbia to the base, the team's coaches are still not resolving. And even with trusted players, like Nolberto Solano, Newcastle gets ridiculous, like selling a Peruvian midfielder to Aston Villa in 2003 - and then buying it back for a lot of money.
But the worst things are traditionally the case with the search for a partner, and now a replacement for Alan Shearer. At Karl Corte, the team lost 6 million pounds, gaining in return half a dozen goals. Losses from the purchase of Spain striker Luke have not yet been calculated, since he has not yet been sold, but they will be large: the striker, for whom the Magpies paid Deportivo 9.5 million pounds, scored 3 goals in 30 matches. On account of Obafemi Martins, acquired last summer from Inter for the same money, so far only one goal in the championship of England. Michael Owen, bought in the summer of 2005 for 16 million pounds from Real Madrid, began to score, but already twice in less than a year and a half he received severe injuries (from the last that happened at the 2006 World Cup, he should recover by February). There is no particular doubt about Owen’s playing properties, but when he bought the most “brittle” striker in Europe for that kind of money, Newcastle clearly took risks, as practice shows is unjustified. Now the fans of “forty” can only dream about the return of Alan Shearer, although at the end of the last, farewell season, he looked tired and weighty. And they can be understood: look at the torment of Shola Ameobi there is no more urine.
4. Maintaining the post of head coach for Glen Raeder. Summer 2006
Glen Raeder, who received Newcastle in February 2006, helped the Magpies end the season with some dignity. But the club management was unable to realize in time that the improvement in the team’s well-being was related more to the resignation of Suness, whom she hated, than to the arrival of a new coach, and extended Raeder’s powers for another year. A middle and spineless coach, Raeder scares fans of the “forty” sinister career statistics: he once occupied seventh places with Watford and West Ham, and the next season he flew out of the Premier League with these clubs. Finishing his last championship with Raeder at the head, “Newcastle”, recall, finished seventh ...
5. The lack of interest in the club from its manager and owner Freddy Shepperd .
Even considering all of the above, it is hardly worth giving in to the popular temptation to certify Newcastle with an English variation on the theme of the Moscow Dynamo. The Magpies continue to keep a certain level of the game, at least in the UEFA Cup, and sell all the tickets in their 52,000th arena. But in the nature of the activities of the owner of the team, Freddie Shepperd still slightly overlook Fedorychev’s features. He has lost any interest in the club, in addition to financial, and prefers to watch the game “Newcastle” from somewhere on the Mediterranean coast. And he is not as active as at first, he refutes information about the possible sale of the club. A potential buyer is Belgravia, an American investment group, offering £ 235 million for the club (colossal money compared to 63 million recently sold to American businessman Aston Villa, or 85 million that the Icelandic businessman paid for West Ham) . Potential buyers of Newcastle are foreigners, whose arrival in England was so feared several years ago. But public opinion has changed a lot since then. When the locals manage football so badly, then maybe okay, let them take