January shopping now a necessity

Nov 18 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Joey Barton’s knee injury has once again exposed the limitations of Newcastle United’s squad. It is a weakness which must be addressed in the New Year, no matter who owns the club, argues Chief Sports Writer Luke Edwards

MOST fans began to fear it over the summer, Kevin Keegan realised it when the transfer window shut at the start of September and now Joe Kinnear knows it – Newcastle United’s squad is ill-equipped to cope with the demands of a Premier League campaign.

A lack of depth in the key areas of defence and midfield was enough to persuade Keegan to run away from a situation he had long viewed with suspicion – the presence of a specialist recruitment team which was making a mess of the one thing they had been specially appointed to do.

Newcastle’s executive director (football) Dennis Wise and the recently departed head of recruitment Tony Jimenez may have had an idea about who they wanted to sign but, as Keegan waited patiently for the new arrivals he had requested, they proved to be incapable of getting them. It was a failing which brought down the man who gave them power beyond their credentials, Newcastle’s billionaire owner Mike Ashley, and it is a failing which may still bring down a football club.

The 2-2 draw against Wigan last weekend not only emphasised Newcastle’s limitations against another Premier League struggler, it also highlighted how sparse resources are at St James’s Park.

When the transfer window slammed shut at the end of the August and Keegan slammed the door shut on his way out of St James’s Park for the last time, it was easy to see how the Magpies’ campaign would unfold in the coming weeks and months. Kinnear’s appointment as an interim manager may have been a bolt from the blue, but the rest of the drama has been depressingly easy to predict as injuries expose a squad which looks as fragile as the global economy, where even the smallest setback can have disastrous ramifications. Newcastle did not sign enough players in the summer and they were always going to pay the consequences, it was just a matter of how high that price would be. With a good first-choice XI, United needed to have good luck with injuries if they were going to avoid a relegation battle, but as countless former United managers will testify, that has rarely been the case at St James’s Park.

As Joey Barton faces up to the prospect of spending the next two months on the sidelines after damaging his knee ligaments, it is time for Ashley to face up to the fact he must provide transfer funds in January if he has still failed to offload his unwanted plaything.

Newcastle can not cope with any more than one injury in any area. Although Danny Guthrie is a decent replacement for Barton in the centre of midfield, they will be stretched to breaking point if anything should happen to him or Nicky Butt.

It is the same in defence, where there is no like-for-like cover at either right back or left back, while the alternatives for Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor at centre-back do not inspire much confidence.

Only in goal, where Steve Harper is a more than able replacement for Shay Given, and in attack, where Michael Owen has been left on the bench in recent weeks, has Kinnear got what can be considered healthy competition for places. For a club of Newcastle’s stature it is a ridiculous state of affairs and one which must be remedied in the New Year.

According to Keith Harris, the man in charge of selling the club, two American-based investment groups are keen to buy, but nothing is certain and Newcastle are still in danger of drifting towards disaster.

In an ideal world, the new owners will be in place in a matter of weeks, a manager will have been appointed on a permanent basis, a significant transfer kitty will have been opened ahead of the January transfer window and a steady procession of international stars will be house-hunting on Tyneside. At worst, however, even if Harris’ confidence is misplaced and Ashley remains in charge, he must invest in the team or risk seeing his multi-million pound investment’s value crash in the Championship. As far as United’s unpopular owner is concerned it has to be a case of speculate to accumulate.

Whether anyone will be willing to sign for a club which does not have a permanent manager and which could be sold at any time is open to considerable question, but Kinnear must be given the means to strengthen a threadbare squad.

Keegan did not hang around to find out what would happen to such a small squad, but Ashley has and it is up to him to clear up the mess he helped create.