10 Problems Only Newcastle United Fans Will Understand

6. Having Joe Kinnear Involved In Your Club For Extended Periods Of Time

When Mike Ashley decided to appoint Joe Kinnear as director of football at Newcastle, it left the media and fans scratching their heads. What was to follow couldn't have been written. Who can forget the infamous interview with Talk Sport with the poor pronunciation of key players' names and the less than modest list of his exaggerated achievements? Explaining his accomplishments at Wimbledon in the nineties signing John Hartson on a free transfer, when in fact he paid a whopping £7.5 million for the Welshman? In the same interview he went on to take credit for the signing of Tim Krul despite the fact that the 'keeper had in fact been signed for Newcastle 3 years before he even arrived first time round. Former Newcastle player and manager of Birmingham City manager Lee Clark confessed that Kinnear had approached him inquiring about buying Shane Ferguson who at the time was on loan to Birmingham from Newcastle. During his spell as director of football he didn't manager to secure a single permanent signing and managed to sell Newcastle's captain and fan favourite Yohan Cabaye. Before his disastrous efforts as director of football, Kinnear was employed as caretaker manager after the departure of Sam Allardyce, playing a major role in the relegation season of 2008/09 before bowing out with a heart problem. In his 18 games in charge, Newcastle managed to win only 4 games.