You Cannot Be Serious

So yesterday's post about Terry Venables, while joshing, was also meant to convey the respect yours truly has for the man's achievements. The fact that he hasn't been so hot in 10 years doesn't detract from the fact that he was a very good manager, not to mention England's last truly great coach.

So while it was faintly silly, there was a certain logic to Newcastle United's pursuit. But this? This is beyond ridiculous.

Joe Kinnear was a beloved and relatively successful manager at Wimbledon FC from 1992 to 1999. In that time, he led them to a top 10 finish three times, and in 1996-1997 they reached the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and League Cup.

Not bad, eh? Think Sam Allardyce at Bolton - scrappy, smaller club that overachieves with a style not easy on the eye. But a heart attack let to Joe eventually stepping down and since then, well, think Big Sam at Newcastle .

At least Big Sam can point to the fact that he was fired by a Newcastle that are, well, a club in such a mess that they hire a man who had fair-to-middling success more than 10 years ago, and basically hasn't done anything in football since.

Geordie fans better hope that Michael Owen doesn't fall prey to his usual injury curse this year - without him, they may face a serious relegation struggle.

Weird.