Joe Kinnear's disastrous reign as Newcastle United boss ended not long before the club's relegation in 2009 - and yet the figure still returned as "Director of Football" in 2013. Kinnear's tenure as manager started off in controversial fashion in September 2008 following four years without a job after leaving Nottingham Forest - when he swore 52 times in a press conference, including calling Daily Mirror journalist Simon Bird a "c**t" repeatedly - and his record as boss brought a win percentage of just 22.2% (18 games, four wins, eight draws, six losses). As has already been mentioned, his period as manager included many embarrassing incidents for supporters - most when he called Charles N'Zogbia "Insomnia" in a post-match interview - and Kinnear left his role in February 2009 after undergoing a heart-bypass operation. Incredibly, despite the fact Kinnear had been hated during his time as manager, Mike Ashley appointed the Dubliner as director of football in June 2013 - something which the former unveiled himself during a Talksport telephone interview live on the radio. During this embarrassing interview, Kinnear claimed to have signed Dean Holdsworth for Wimbledon for £50,000 (actually £650,000), to have bought Tim Krul for Newcastle (he was actually brought in by Graeme Souness three years earlier), that he had been awarded the LMA Manager of the Year award on three occasions (he won it once), that he'd never been sacked, that he had replaced "Derek Lambesi" as director of football at the Magpies (actually Derek Llambias), as well as calling Toon midfielder Yohan Cabaye "Kebab", playmaker Hatem Ben Arfa "Ben Arfi", winger Jonas Gutiérrez "Galteirez" and striker Shola Ameobi "Shola Amamobi". Add to this the fact he sold Cabaye for £20million and failed to make a single permanent signing during his time as director of football - he merely brought in Loïc Rémy on loan during his first transfer window and then Luuk de Jong on loan during his second - and Kinnear's two spells at Newcastle were simply embarrassing. He is rightly seen as a villain on Tyneside.
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.
