Newcastle FC - Where did it all go wrong?

Firstly I would like to say thanks to Sean for letting me join the crew here and hopefully I'll be posting as much as I can!

I'm a life long supporter of Newcastle and a while back it seemed like it was all going good, in the Champions League, with Sir Bobby at the helm and a chairman happy to help his manager with money.

Then out of the blue, after 4 games into the new season, Sir Bobby is sacked for having a poor start. Madness, pure madness, and from there on Newcastle seemed doomed. Souness came in, spending a club record £16 million on Michael Owen but was never popular. The key to success at Newcastle is bonding with the fans, and Souness never did, his style of football, rough and tumble did not appeal to a very expectant Newcastle fan base and he left on February 2nd, 2006.

Then came Glenn Roeder, although not the most popular manager or hardily one of the more charasmatic, he quietly went about his business, with backing from the board, finishing 7th in 05-06 and seemingly on the right path to getting The Toon back to where they used to roam. However his good start faltered rapidly, and he left the club by mutual consent on 6th May 07 as Newcastle finished 13th. Sam Allardyce was named as the successor.

Shorlty after Allardyce joined, chairman Freddy Sheppard left the club, on June 7th selling his last shares to new owner Mike Ashely, who appointed Chris Mort as chairman. Allardyce started well, bringing in some good signings and at the start of the season Newcastle fans were optimistic of something actually happening. However Allardyce, after a good start proved to be a false dawn as the club slipped down the table. After just 8 months he left on Jan 6th 08, and Newcastle fans found themselves in a all to familar postion and things looked bleak. When Ashley arrived, he promised cash, a good future and it had all gone down the pan.

Then something amazing happened. On January 16th the "Messiah", the one and only Kevin Keegan returned to Newcastle, 11 years and 8 days since he left the club and had to be one of the most popular choices since Sir Bobby. Newcastle were in a precarious position, not yet safe from relegation to the Championship. In more staff changes, Dennis Wise came in as Director of Football, along with Tony Jimenez and Jeff Vetere. The idea to create a "crack" team to work together to bring in the best players for the job. Keegan started poorly, struggling to get a win in the first few weeks, but things clicked and the club finished 11th in the table, pretty good all things considered.

In the summer Newcastle struggled to bring in players but the arrivals of Jonas Gutierrez and Colloccini were both seen as very good signings sure to bring a touch of Argentine flair to the side, especially in the case of Jonas. Newcastle started ok, but it turned out the behind the scene, not all was well. Keegan felt that he was not being given full control, and that Wise was too much involved; that as manager Keegan should have the last say. 3 days of talking ended with Keegan leaving on September 4th. Fans were gutted. This lead to extreme protests, especially on September 13th at home to Hull, in the 2-1 reverse. Nor Ashley or Wise appeared, and shortly after Ashley announced his intent to sell the club. However, in the current financial climate a sale is not going to happen shortly, but every Newcastle fan has there fingers tightly crossed.

In came Joe Kinnear, a controversial choice after his first media conference, but fans began to back him, and although not getting stunning results, he is beginning to get decent results and recently announced that his contract has been extended until the end of the season, and it seems that all Newcastle fans can hope for this season is to stay in this league, relegation to the Championship would be a complete disaster.

But with Newcastle, who knows?

Jack F is the owner of FMStyle, a forum for the worlds best football management game, Football Manager 2009 by SI.