Who’s Next for Newcastle?

By: Daryl | September 4th, 2008

It started on Tuesday. Then for two nights we were left wondering. All we were told was that he hadn’t been fired, which wasn’t actually very useful information. Finally today it’s been confirmed. Kevin Keegan has resigned from Newcastle United..

Like most people, I pretty much blame Mike Ashley for this. You don’t hire Kevin Keegan as manager and put him in Dennis Wise shaped handcuffs.

Newcastle fans are understandably upset, and football fans in general will be disappointed with how this has gone. Even the normally dispassionate Reuters news service was moved enough to use a metaphor:

For a second time, the ‘dream ticket’ given to Keegan, of coaching the club he once played for, has ended up crumpled up on the floor like a discarded betting slip.

Sob.

We may have seen the last of KK in top flight football. The man was a huge part of establishing the Premier League’s reputation as “exciting” (who else would have put Darren Peacock and Tino Asprilla in the same team?) so if bringing Joey bloody Batron on as an 89th minute sub turns out to be Keegan’s last action in the Premier League, then we can forgive Reuters for getting all metaphorical.

Big question now is: Who will replace Kevin Keegan? Second biggest question: Can I write this next paragraph without using the phrase “poisoned chalice”?

Fans hopes will likely turn to Alan Shearer. But after being overlooked last time, adn after seeing what’s happened to KK, I can’t imagine Big Al trading his comfy spot on the Match of the Day couch for the pressures under Mike Ashley.

Current odds have the following men as favourites:
Gustavo Poyet 10/3 (because he worked with Wise at Leeds Utd)
Dennis Wise 5/1 (the old stepping down into the manager’s shoes because that’s the job you wanted all along trick, eh?)
Alan Shearer 5/1 (this would be a brave move by both Shearer and Ashley)
David Moyes 8/1 (are Newcastle a bigger club than Everton? please, do not discuss)
Didier Deschamps 8/1 (because he’s a young manager with a good rep who’s currently looking for work, I guess)

If you like the look of any of those, then go back them at Bet Offside (odds are subject to change obviously). But given Newcastle’s recent history with managers - fired Bobby Robson and replaced him with Graeme Souness, hired Kevin Keegan’s when we all thought he’d retired - then the next Newcastle manager is going to be someone completely unexpected. What are the odds on Mike Ashley?