SOCCER:KEVIN KEEGAN has expressed mystification at Newcastle United's decision to sack Chris Hughton and claimed the club "can never go anywhere" while Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias remain in charge.
Newcastle’s former manager, whose relationship with Ashley ended in acrimony last year when he was awarded €2.4 million in compensation for constructive dismissal, pulled no punches in a blog for the Premier League broadcaster ESPN. Offering support for Alan Pardew, Hughton’s successor, he nonetheless described the former West Ham manager as “merely the meat in the middle of the sandwich”.
Principal criticism was reserved for the club’s owner and managing director. “Ashley has made no secret that he wants to sell Newcastle,” Keegan wrote. “And the best day will come when someone buys it from him and runs Newcastle like that club should be run. The club can never go anywhere under Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias – I promise you that.”
Keegan has particular sympathy for Hughton, his one-time first-team coach at St James’ Park.
“I do not understand the decision to get rid of Chris,” he wrote. “I lived with the same people for eight months – I didn’t understand them then and I don’t understand them now.
“The news won’t have come as a total surprise to Chris, having worked with the people he had been working with for the best part of two and a bit years. He knew what he was dealing with. It’s almost impossible to work in that environment, and that’s why I take my hat off to Chris for getting on with it for as long as he did. He did a great job under difficult circumstances, with very little investment.
“The decision is not a reflection on his work, it is a sad reflection on the people running the club. Chris certainly deserved to be treated a lot better, but I think the one thing he has in his favour is that he can walk away knowing full well that the fact those in charge at Newcastle got rid of him is no reflection on the job he did.”
Now it is Pardew’s turn and Keegan is not optimistic. “Alan is not vastly experienced,” he said. “He has managed for 17 months in the Premier League. But Alan’s a good lad. I know him well, he is very dedicated and he works very hard. The fans would be wrong to pick on Alan.”
