The Newcastle United Blueprint is failing

When Newcastle United appointed Steve McClaren as head coach at the end of last season it was met with a generally mixed reaction from Newcastle United fans. Most fans were glad to see the back of Alan Pardew and stand-in John Carver; the results and especially the performances in the games towards the end of the 14/15 season were woeful but that was no different to previous seasons. Newcastle United seem to follow the same pattern each year - start poor, results pick up around November/December to the point where we have a bit of distance from the relegation zone, then we simply coast to the finish, sometimes making it a real struggle to stay in the league.

Quite simply Newcastle United have been on a steady decline since Mike Ashley bought the club. Each year Mike Ashley sets a target; whether that is a top half finish, top 12, win a cup; you name it, Newcastle United fail to achieve it. As I said, a steady decline.

A lot of fans will put the blame solely on Ashley but I don’t completely agree. Ashley has some major faults and these are there for all to see in the press. He appears to appoint the wrong men; people who have no knowledge or background in football making key decisions for a top level football club, he likes to surround himself with people he knows, trusts and likes, regardless of their pedigree. So yes, Ashley has to shoulder a lot of the blame and as the owner, the buck stops with him; something he agreed with in his one and only TV interview prior to the West Ham game last season.

When Newcastle United lose, and lose so badly as they did against Leicester City, it is natural for fans to point the finger of blame. Ashley should, and does, come top of the list for those most at fault but I’d also put a huge amount of blame on the coaching staff (including McClaren) and the players themselves. At the end of the day, we have players who have represented their country at the highest level, they have captained sides and won titles across Europe; we are not dealing with sub-standard players here - we all know they are more than capable but something is obviously going wrong on match day. Are the players suited to the Premier League? Are they being coached correctly? Are the tactics right? Are there bad eggs in the dressing room? Do some of them not want to play for Newcastle United? What needs to change?

Unfortunately there are so many questions there just isn’t one correct answer. The club has a major problem and if things carry on as they are, without some drastic changes at all levels, I am certain we will be relegated this season.

There has always been a huge emphasis on buying players under the age of 26. Buy young, talented, foreign players for cheap, pray they perform, sell them for a massive profit. This has been a major part of Ashley’s blueprint since he took over and on paper, there is nothing wrong with this but in reality, it simply does not work. Yes, you might hit the jackpot occasionally with the likes of Cabaye and Sissoko but more often than not the players you are buying are cheap for a reason; the selling club wants rid of them due to either their attitude, fitness, injury record or ability - and often all 4 combined.

The one thing a lot of fans want is for Mike Ashley to sell up but lets face it, this isn’t going to happen. Protests, relegation, bad press, awful PR, it’s become a common theme at the club but he remains in charge. Whats to say if Ashley did sell up, the new owners would be any different? It could be a whole lot worse.

There are 4 key men at Newcastle United; Mike Ashley, Lee Charnley, Graham Carr and Steve McClaren. All 4 have completely different roles but all 4 have bought in to the blue print and do the job they have been assigned by Ashley. The problem is though, whilst the club remains financially stable, the results and performances on the pitch are what matters most to fans and clearly this is where the blueprint is failing.

It has been a major bug bear of mine that under Ashley, the manager, sorry “head coach”, has had no say on transfers; this is left to Graham Carr. Initially this seemed a wonderful model when we signed the likes of Yohan Cabaye, Moussa Sissoko, Cheick Tiote, and several others, for massively reduced fees, they turned in some truly world class performances (albeit not consistently) and everything was ok. Graham Carr was getting a huge amount of brilliant press; he was even getting TV spots on French TV and branded as some kind of wonder scout. Some of his finds have been excellent from a footballing point of view and because of this, they have ended up being sold on for a huge profit so you can see why Mike Ashley has stuck with this model.

When Steve McClaren was appointed, he was also made a board member, something not offered to previous managers. As a board member he would have a say on incoming/outgoing transfers but wouldn’t necessarily be the one scouting or signing players; it tended to be a group decision. Again, this model isn’t necessarily a bad thing - it works for a number of highly successful clubs in some of the top European leagues but it seems to be failing for Newcastle United now. With McClaren on the board I genuinely thought that Mike Ashley was recognising his mistakes and starting on the path to changing things but as ever, it feels like half a job; making little tweaks here and there but never fully committing to change.

This week there have been reports in the Italian press that Clarence Seedorf has been sounded out by the club to replace Steve McClaren. This has been met with quite a positive reaction from Newcastle United fans but more from the point of view that he would become our best midfielder and could actually do a job on the pitch! I don’t think the reports are true, Ashley does not remove managers quickly; he stuck with Alan Pardew and John Carver through all kinds of mayhem so I can’t see him removing Steve McClaren just down to poor results only a few months in to his tenure. However, Ashley has said he has recognised his past mistakes, perhaps changing manager early on, realising that Steve McClaren may not be the best man for the job, might be a shift in pattern?