Aston Villa 1, Newcastle United 0
May 25 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal
Even when Shearer sent on Michael Owen and Shola Ameobi to try to set up a grandstand finish, all they could muster was a couple of hopeful headers that sailed over the bar.
A fierce and long overdue reckoning now awaits the men who have brought this noble football club to its knees.
The roll-call of the culpable is long and inglorious and it would take several hundred pages to properly bring to book all of those responsible for this relegation.
As an ashen-faced Shearer admitted afterwards, there are plenty who have to take their share of responsibility – himself included.
But there are others who should bear the brunt of the frustration and anger bouncing around Tyneside this morning.
There is Dennis Wise, long gone after trousering thousands of pounds for wretched transfer picks like the woeful £10m liability Coloccini. Joe Kinnear, the fool whose bark hid a man hopelessly out of of his depth, and Chris Hughton, whose desperate caretaker spell yielded one win in nine games, must also hold up their hands.
Mike Ashley, of course, is the symbol of this catastrophic failure – making disastrous decision after disastrous decision and bearing overall responsibility for turning United from an established top-flight club into another Championship sleeping giant fallen on hard times.
His mismanagement does not come in isolation, however. His predecessors in the boardroom must accept that failed gambles taken on their watch have contributed to this sad day.
And then there are the players. The likes of Michael Owen, a club captain who posted displays worth much less than his weekly wage and chose not to speak through all of the turmoil, and Joey Barton, whose conduct this season has been nothing short of disgraceful.
Neither of their inevitable departures will be lamented.
Some of the players have stood up to be counted, but few in the dressing room could claim with any conviction that they have fulfilled their potential.
There are many more factors that have contributed, but trying to account for all the bad decisions this season is enough to make your head spin. Inevitably, some of those calamitous calls had a direct impact as Shearer tried to conjure the greatest of escapes at Villa Park.
Trying to compete for nine months with only two recognised full-backs was exposed as a dreadful folly – and sure enough, neither Habib Beye nor Jose Enrique started at Villa Park, against a team that relies on the speed and invention of its two exciting wingers.
The club’s appalling decision not to strengthen sufficiently in January, when it was clear United were entering a downward spiral, also came home to roost. How desperately the club needed new blood – players capable of turning a game like yesterday’s.
Finally, and most pressingly, there was the decision to let James Milner leave the club with no adequate replacement waiting in the wings.
Against his former club the midfielder was a man possessed – showing the kind of commitment and desire that United have lacked so often this season.
The inquest begins this morning. Shearer will be seeking answers from Ashley – about investment, about his personal intentions, about his blueprint for jolting the club out of its depressing cycle of failure.
Ashley is entitled to ask Shearer whether he will do a better job if his caretaker spell is made permanent. While the evidence on the pitch is inconclusive, the whispers behind the scenes are that he has begun to chip away at some of the rot that has set in and has taken some bold decisions.
If he accepts the challenge, it is the first positive in a season of negatives. A humiliated city holds its breath.
