Rapid remedy out of sight as relegation worries grow

Jan 20 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Newcastle United need emergency surgery, Sunderland remain on the critical list and Middlesbrough are fighting for their lives. Chief sports writer Luke Edwards takes a look at North East football in casualty.

THERE is not a miracle cure for Newcastle United’s ailing condition. There is no instant remedy for their ills, just a long and difficult healing process which requires plenty of care and attention from those who are responsible for the club’s wellbeing.

Newcastle do not have a magic wand to make their problems disappear and they do not have a superhero waiting to fly to the rescue, but they do supposedly have a team in place to look after its recovery.

So why, after weeks on the critical list, does the club remain in mortal danger, its top-flight survival still hanging by the slenderest of threads?

United’s first-team squad has required emergency surgery since May so why, despite the promises, the assurances and the message of goodwill from owner Mike Ashley, is it still awaiting treatment?

When Ashley delivered his new year message before the 5-0 home defeat by Liverpool over the festive period, he assured us he had the club’s best interests at heart.

However, three weeks later, it seems the billionaire, who is still unwilling to return to the club on a match day, is unwilling to pay anything more than lip service.

With just two weeks of the transfer window remaining, there is still no sign of any of new signings and the acrimony towards him is still widespread. The majority of supporters would have been willing to give him a chance at redemption, but the lack of action in the transfer market to back up his words means he remains as unpopular as ever.

Instead of moving on, Newcastle United are still hung up on the same old grievances, as a run of just two wins in 13 games has exposed many a raw nerve on Tyneside.

United are close to making one new signing this month, but the decision to offer a two-year contract to Joe Kinnear in the present climate is more likely to inflame the situation than appease disgruntled supporters who feel their club has been hijacked. Instead of new arrivals, United fans have spent most of the month worrying about which players will be abandoning a sinking ship. Damningly, while nobody wants to see popular players like Shay Given and Steve Harper leave, few would blame them if they did. Affairs at St James’s Park are a confused, chaotic mess, devoid of long-term planning and stability, undermined by conflict behind the scenes and discontent in the stands. There is none of the unity Ashley called for because his regime has done nothing to persuade people they can be trusted again.

Ashley does not run the football club, he merely owns it. He has employed people to do that in his absence, so he can divide his attention across his business empire, but if they continue to fail, so does he.

There has been no communication from senior officials at St James’s Park since Ashley decided to take the club off the market, leaving a confused and contradictory Kinnear to try his best to weather the public relations storm.

It has, at times, exacerbated problems rather than solved them. Positive transfer news suggesting imminent breakthroughs are quickly followed by bleak assessments indicating there is little money to spend and little idea how to spend it.

It is probably of scant consolation to Newcastle United’s long suffering supporters, but if there is a crumb of comfort in this crisis, it is that they are not the only ones in turmoil.

Football is in trouble as the credit crunch bites. As Manchester City bid more than £100m for a Brazilian midfielder Kaka and an inflated £14m for a striker who does not score many goals in Craig Bellamy, other members of the uber-rich, like Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich, are looking to sell up.

Ashley is not the only owner who has cause to regret investing so much in his love of football, but he is the only one who can put things right at St James’s Park. There have been three new arrivals this month, but foreign teenagers bought on the cheap for the future do not relieve the worries of the present.

There are two weeks left until the transfer window slams shut, two weeks which could make or break Ashley’s regime. Recruit the required number of players to give Kinnear a fighting chance to pull the Magpies clear of the drop zone and we may be able to forgive and forget. Fail and the protests will return and the threat of relegation will haunt the Magpies until May.