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GOODBYE BOBBY, HELLO CLIVE 3-9-04
I have refrained from commenting on the situation up the road at St James' Park because it was too obvious and too easy to do so. I also didn't want to comment because I don't hate the Geordies at all and in fact, don't even dislike them one iota.
Years of living away from Teesside have made me replace the delight taken in petty local rivalries with the hatred of alternative and more suitable scenarios. I like the city of Newcastle and get on very well with it's people but I can remain silent no longer because the situation at Newcastle United is now farcical at best and has been so at regular intervals during recent years. This week, that situation reached an unprecedented level of madness when the club decided to sack their great manager Bobby Robson.
I am not suggesting that it was not time for a change at St James' because it is obvious to me that Bobby had nothing left to give to the club and that his time was up and he had run his course as manager. What I cannot fathom out is why the club treated him in the manner they did? The bullet points:
Bobby Robson rescued Newcastle from relegation and kept them in the top five.
His heart has been in that club from birth (I bleed back and white).
A more experienced manager will not be found in any continent on this planet.
His commitment to the Newcastle cause was far beyond the call of duty.
Bobby is by far the most decent and honourable man in the game.
What club would not shell out millions for a manager with those attributes? Yet Mr Frederick Shepherd decided to announce to the press pre-season that he would not be renewing Bobby's contract when it expired at the end of this campaign. Before he had informed Bobby. Does it take a brain surgeon to work out what the result of that action will be? And when the inevitable confusion arrived, Shepherd made his victim into the scapegoat.
But having written the defence for Bobby, I must redress the balance by pointing out the doubts that existed over Bobby's judgement. My big question is; "How can such a decent and honourable man recruit such an assortment of dishonourable men?"
The Newcastle squad is peppered with players of dubious reputation and includes formerly suspected rapists, a hit and run convict and a man who was almost found guilty of committing GBH in an unprovoked racial attack, amongst others. Not a set of people that you would wish to have connected to your own organisation. His leaving statement also raises doubts about his hold on reality.
Robson said: "I've had a marvellous five years, and it has been a phenomenal experience. I wish the club all the success in the future. Whoever replaces me, and I have not got a clue who that will be, I wish that person success and happiness. I know what I have left him - a club that is neat and tidy. The squad of players we have assembled is for many years to come."
Bloody rubbish! The club is about as neat and tidy as the desk that I am writing this on. Tab ends are scattered all over the keyboard, scraps of paper are randomly placed in no particular order and empty beer cans litter any spare areas. Hell, I'm sure I could find last night's dinner in this lot somewhere and that is a far more accurate reflection of the Geordie club's current state.*
And that squad of players will probably be together for many years to come but not at Newcastle United. They'll probably end up turning out for HMP Durham XI in glamorous fixtures against the likes of Wandsworth, Belmarsh and Dartmoor.
However, look back at the bullet points and I would wager that if Steve Gibson had been in Freddie Shepherd's shoes on Monday morning, Bobby would have departed from his manager's role with dignity intact and the club's standing would have been strengthened by the promotion of a man who has experience that you cannot put a price on. The Geordie people deserve a lot better than to have this most callous of chairmen in charge of their club and that is currently the difference between them and us. I wish them all the very best and I sincerely hope that they do not turn out to be the next Leeds United. The removal of Freddie Shepherd would ensure that that does not happen. Enough said on that subject, so we'll move on to another favourite topic of mine- the England manager's position.
Sir Clive Woodward is most definitely the man for the job. His approach to management is exactly what the England role requires, i.e. taking control of the whole organisation and not trying to do all of the required tasks himself. Clive Woodward is the diplomatic version of Brian Clough because he has a natural authority and will insist on doing the job without inteference and in his own way without offending those who need to be told to stop getting involved in things that they know nothing about.
Clive has stated that rugby is not his number one sport. He is a football man and his real personal ambitions will be achieved in the country's main game. He is not an egg chaser by nature. That is not to devalue the game of rugby because last year's World Cup triumph was the biggest thing to happen to sport in this country since 1966 but can he make the transition from one sport to another? Well the odds are stacked against him on that one but they would always be when the question is asked of an ordinary man. But Clive Woodward is no ordinary man. He won the Rugby World Cup in the wrong hemisphere with an unfashionable team and in doing so, proved that he is a man who can handle any given situation that may arise in his appointed position and lift himself above the lame beurocracy that has haunted English football at a national level for many years. The Swedish Chef is dead. Long live the King! But please, when you sack The Swedish Chef, let him walk away with his dignity intact and do not do what needs to be done, Freddie Shepherd style.
Until after the next Boro game
Steve
*Steve Goldby is actually a very clean living and tidy person. The above description of his working area was written purely for dramatic effect and in no way resembles the truth... rather like everything Freddie Shepherd says...
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