Dear Newcastle United: Positive PR Doesn't Win Any Points

Anyone doubting that crisis management specialist Keith Bishop wasn't having a big impact on the way news was being reported about Newcastle United at the minute must surely have changed their mind by now. Somewhat coincidentally, since the start of the main bulk of the Sack Pardew protests a couple of weeks ago, a steady trickle of ex-players have emerged to praise Mike Ashley, or say Alan Pardew is doing as good a job as possible, and current players have been encouraged to say how wonderful everything is behind closed doors at St. James' Park. The latest star to add their name to the list of positive mouthpieces is Fabricio Coloccini, misfiring on the pitch but happy to be the spokesman for pro-Pardew unity. Once more his statement is very much a case of saying nothing at all under the guise of being positive and pro-active:

€œWe have a tight group and we are staying positive. It is a difficult time for us but we have confidence in this group and the manager. €œWe have to improve and look forward.€

Does this really need to even be said? Yes it's a difficult time, the Premier League table confirms as much with a simple glance, and indeed the fact that the team need to improve and look forward. It's just more empty words designed to add a bubble of protection around the manager, and "prove" to the media and fans that everyone is pulling in the right direction. But as with Daryl Janmaat, Papiss Cisse and Mike Williamson's words, the proof is very much not in the pudding. If everyone is so motivated to progress and everything is so happy, what is happening on the pitch? It's not down to bad luck or in margins: some of the performances have been utterly sub-par, no matter how many times we're told it was only the Southampton one that was bad. Actions will speak louder than any of these PR heavy words, and until someone starts to drag the team up the league, this campaign of positivity and distraction (helped by Roy Keane's attempts to sell his book) is the no more than straightening the curtains on the Titanic.