If you are a football manager in England you aim and goal would be to be part of the Premiership. I was watching Newcastle play today and they were bad and bad is a compliment for this team. I felt sorry for Steve Bruce who is managing them as these days he looks like a washed up alcoholic.
I think any manager out of a job would jump at the chance to get back into work managing a premiership team except this one. The club is a giant in the North of England having a great stadium and a huge fan base yet they are a side that is looking like they are going down yet again this season.
It has nothing to do with the manager and more to do with what he has been given as a team. You could send the Pep Guardiola's and Mourinho's of this world and they would struggle as it is a job that is only going to end in failure. Steve Bruce will be made the scapegoat for the teams dire position at some point if he doesn't resign first.
The Newcastle team needs a total overhaul and with a tight owner who won't release the funding required it is a mission impossible. I think Steve Bruce has probable aged another 5 years in the first few months of this season and must be under so much stress and it will only get worse.
Rafael Benitez was the previous manager who took on the poison chalice and went down with the team and bought them back up again and it looks like they are going the same route yet again. I don't understand why anyone would risk going down again as there are no guarantees of coming back up. Other teams are spending like crazy to stay in the Premiership and sides in the Championship below are also doing the same trying to come up.
If we look at the league tables they are dotted with teams that were once in the premiership and haven't been able to get back. These are household names that have massive stadiums from the days they were in the top league in the land. Every year 3 teams come up and 3 teams go down and Newcastle are playing with fire and they will get burnt at some point.
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At the start of this season they spent 68 Million pounds on new players and sold 35 million pounds worth of players and a deficit of 33 Million. Last season being back in the Premiership they received in excess of 120 million pounds and had an average gate of 51 000 spectators per home game. Newcastles financials are actually looking quite good and then why risk it. Newcastle has an exceptional fan base and according to estimates generates an extra 10 Million pounds a year more than any side out of the top 6 in the league.
There are rumors that there is a bid on the table from investors looking to purchase the club and surely that bid will drop the further the season moves forward. They are buying a Championship team in reality as this is not really a Premiership team. We have seen the scope of what could happen when they had the likes of Shearer,Gillespie,Ginola and Beardsley in the team. The supporters that this club has deserves better than what they are currently being offered.
Most of the teams in the premiership spend big money to stay up and even the likes of Aston Villa who were promoted from the Championship have spent 10's of millions more as they know how hard it is to get back in once you drop out. Villa were once a household name and had been in the doldrums for some time and will spend to stay up at all costs.
As a spectator what Mike Ashley is doing doesn't make sense and I am sure he will offload the team very soon as his plan is not working. I said the other day that Manchester United were in trouble, but they look a much better side than than Newcastle.
