Wednesday Football

01 April 2009

by Jerrad Peters

Shearer appointed Newcastle boss

Tyneside revelers will be celebrating late into the night. Alan Shearer has agreed to manage Newcastle United for the remainder of the season, uniting the club's most revered icon with his adoring fans. Iain Dowie will join him on the coaching staff, and director of football Dennis Wise has been shown the door.

It's been a frenzied few days at St. James' Park. Magpies striker Michael Owen—again omitted from Fabio Capello's England setup despite a dearth of healthy forwards—was the subject of a massive media campaign to get him into the squad. All the while, rumors that Shearer was about to take the reigns at the club loomed large, but nothing was set in stone until the 38-year-old finalized negotiations with club owner Mike Ashley this evening. There will be a formal announcement on Thursday.

Currently 18^th in the standings and two points adrift of Blackburn Rovers and Premier League safety, Newcastle face an uphill battle in their final two months of the campaign. Shearer's first match in charge of the squad will be against third-place Chelsea on Saturday, and encounters with Liverpool, Aston Villa and fellow relegation-fighters Portsmouth and Stoke City will follow thereafter.

Ashley is hedging his bets that Shearer's presence at the club will provide a shot of momentum to keep the side in the top flight. In other words, it's an inspirational appointment—nothing more. Shearer has neither coaching background nor credentials. In fact, he turned down Ashley's advances on two previous occasions. He also rejected a call to join Steve McClaren's England staff in 2006.

While Shearer provides the stimulus to what Ashley and Newcastle fans hope will be a successful, last-minute getaway, Dowie will be expected to provide much of the actual coaching.

Released by Queens Park Rangers in October, Dowie brings 11 years of managerial experience to St. James' Park. He famously took Crystal Palace from the Championship to the Premier League on two, separate occasions, and famously coined the phrase "bouncebackability" in 2005. His task, along with Shearer's, will be to ensure that he never has to use that word on Tyneside.

Since retiring as a player three years ago, Shearer has kept very much to the sidelines at St. James' Park. With the club seeming to move from one crisis to the next with disturbing frequency, he likely protected his reputation by doing so.

But this time was different. With Newcastle in serious danger of relegation, he was swayed into the position when no clear candidates emerged to replaced Joe Kinnear. Still recovering from triple-bypass surgery, Kinnear will not be involved with the club for the foreseeable future.

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