5. Kenny Dalglish And (The Majority Of) The Entertainers (1997-98)
Kenny Dalglish's time at Newcastle has always been a mystery because his preceding managerial record at Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers were exemplary. However, a large reason behind Dalglish's failure was his decision to disband Kevin Keegan's "Entertainers" - a move which led to his subsequent fall-out with much of the Magpies squad. Popular players such as Peter Beardsley, Lee Clark, Les Ferdinand and David Ginola were shipped out by the Scot, who attempted to completely overhaul a squad which only needed tinkering with. The departure of Ferdinand in particular soured relations with the fans, with the veteran striker extremely happy on Tyneside before Dalglish appeared to effectively force him out of the door. Although there were no explosive "fall-outs" with players, Dalglish's heavy-handedness and desire to completely gut a squad that had twice finished second in the Premier League ensured his stay at St James' Park would be a short one.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
