Wednesday 1 April 2009

Big blow for Toon

Relegation threatened Newcastle United have received a heavy blow with the news that when Alan 'the elbow' Shearer take over at St.James's Park, he will recruit Iain Dowie as his first team coach.

This is not an April fool's joke, although it could be. Perhaps the innovative road run Dowie organised before Charlton's defeat at Newcastle attracted Shearer's admiration?

With Dowie having failed as a manager at Charlton, Coventry and QPR, it's not rocket science to bring him in to help out the Barcodes.

7 comments:

Ketts said...

The link Wyn is Dowie was on the coaching staff at Southampton when Shearer was in his formative years.The then young Geordie was hugely impressed with his mentor.

After a lengthy career in the game England's finest striker of recent times had no hesitation in naming the man he wanted to help him save the Geordies bacon.

We know Dowie's departure from Charlton was not for footballing reasons & he did have a coaching team foisted upon him.

Shearer is no fool & Dowie may yet surprise you.

Wyn Grant said...

I know there is a Southampton connection. But if Dowie was simply unfortunate at Charlton, why was he not a greater success at Coventry and QPR? He certainly made some surprising signings at Charlton.

WattO said...

Strange days indeed. From what you see of Shearer on the idiot box, I can't see any managerial acumen there at all. It will take more than emotion and club loyalty to keep The Magpies up.

Ketts said...

I agree entirely Wyn.As a manager,Dowie most definitely needed managing.I would still contest that his signings were better than Pardew's though!

Charlton were spoilt by Curbs & were probably caught on the hop by Dowie's eccentricities.I do also wonder how much the Murray/Jordan spat had to do with his appointment as well.There are reports today that he is claiming £1.5m from Charlton as we agreed to pay any compensation that Jordan was awarded,though I do not think there will be much mileage in that.

However,Dowie does have talent as a coach apparently.Certainly Shearer's hand will be very firmly on the tiller & Dowie will be under his scrutiny.He may well be one of those people who is a good coach but a poor manager.We shall see.

Wyn Grant said...

You're quite right, there is a difference between being a coach and a manager. But much of what I heard led me to question the general soundness of Dowie's judgements. Also, his coaching techniques were somewhat unorthodox.

Anonymous said...

Ketts,

I'm not sure where you got your information from and I know you did post on April 1st so maybe I'm falling into your trap but...

...Dowie and Shearer were not at Southampton together at any point in their careers. Sheare left Southampton in 1988 and Dowie didn't arrive until 91, leaving in 95, and he wasn't coaching at the club during this period at all.

It'll be interesting to see if any formal agreement was made by Charlton to pay Dowie's legal fees in his case against Jordan. Given the nature of the club's relationship with Jordan it wouldn't surprise me if such an agreement was made. Certainly Dowie would be crazy to start another legal case without any substance given the costs he incurred in the original trial. That being said, surely he's done enough damage to this club already and received a decent enough pay off from Charlton for the little that we have to show from his time here.

I hope for Newcastle's sake they haven't employed Dowie as a defensive coach though it may revive the career of a certain Djimi Traore... surely not.

James O'Brien

Anonymous said...

I take that back. My apologies. Shearer didn't leave for Blackburn till 92, so there was a 1 year overlap but did Dowie really start coaching at Southampton whilst still a relatively young player?