Saturday, February 23, 2008

Satisfied With Kevin Keegan?

Kevin Keegan was hired for his second stint in charge of Newcastle on January 16. I wrote a post that day questioning that move by Magpies owner Mike Ashley, saying Keegan was nothing more than a blast from the past and that the way to move forward in the future was not by looking back to that past.

I took a lot of heat from Newcastle fans in the few days after that. The Toon Army was out in full force, telling me that Keegan was one of the best things to ever happen to their club and that he would turn their fortunes around after the Sam Allardyce debacle and be a success.

Well, the facts seem to prove otherwise, at least up to this point. I understand that it's a bit harsh to judge Keegan on a month's worth of results; he hasn't had a full transfer window to bring in his own players and was out of soccer completely for a couple of years before coming back to Tyneside. Still though, Newcastle are winless in the Premiership since Keegan has been at the helm and are just 1-2-4 in all competitions since the day he was named manager, with that win coming in a game in which Keegan wasn’t even in charge. They've dropped to 13th in the league and are only six points out of the relegation zone. They've been extremely uncompetitive and disappointing in multiple-goal losses to Arsenal, Manchester United, and Aston Villa.

I'm interested in hearing what you Newcastle fans think. Do you still believe Keegan is the guy to take you out of this rut of mediocrity? Do you want him out of there and Alan Shearer in to replace him? Do you, like me, still want to take a wait-and-see approach and see where Newcastle is at the January transfer window next season before passing judgement on Keegan?

Let me hear you.

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