By admin Newcastle United’s managerial history under Mike Ashley makes for interesting reading.
It’s a who’s who of the same old names we’ve seen in English football for the past 20 years or so.
Sam Allardyce, Steve Bruce, Alan Pardew, Chris Hughton, need we go on?
However, there is one interesting name in all of this that we can’t help but think about almost 15 years on.
Indeed, Alan Shearer’s short reign as the caretaker manager of the Magpies was incredibly intriguing – albeit brief, and those eight games he took charge of remain the only matches he’s ever managed to this day.
Shearer’s managerial career never took off after that, but, speaking on The Rest is Football, the 53-year-old has now stated that his original plan was to become the full-time manager of Newcastle after relegation, but, instead, he was snubbed by Mike Ashley.
“Did Alan think he was going to be made permanent Newcastle manager after relegation?” Shearer was asked.
“Yeah, absolutely, we shook hands on a deal. I was told I was going to be the manager. We agreed everything, and they said they’d be in touch, but I’m still waiting for the call! I got a call later saying there was an issue with the bank. That was in 2009 and I’m still waiting for the call, the answer to that is yes I did,” Shearer said.
Shearer could’ve been great
Ultimately, it all worked out in the end for Newcastle as they were promoted from the Championship at the first-time of asking, but we can’t help but ponder what a proper Shearer tenure would’ve been like.
He’d certainly have commended respect in the dressing room, and his punditry in recent years has show he has a fantastic tactical understanding of the game.
Factor in that the fans would have been well and truly behind him and you have a recipe for success there.
Perhaps this was a bit of a missed opportunity by the Magpies.