Friday, October 03, 2008

As Joe Kinnear says - "**** you ******* *****"

My Geordie grandfather must be turning in his grave. He was a devoted Newcastle fan, having been born in the shadow of the ground, and although he lived most of his life in London, left much of his heart on Tyneside. How he would have been depressed by the reports today of temporary manager Joe Kinnear's first encounter with the local press.

Kinnear, who will (probably) be in charge until the club is sold, and a permanent manager is found, mounted a hairdryer attack on the local hacks, delivering a torrent of 46 swear words in a matter of a couple of minutes. It was all over a story that he had given his players a day off on Monday - his first official day at work. His outburst came only a few days after the BBC apologised on air for Kinnear's swearing on Football Focus.

Ironically, while Kinnear was berating reporters and suggesting that he may not talk to them again, he also identified a lack of communication as the main source of the club’s problems, with Spanish full-back Jose Enrique now deployed as a translator for some players.

What a silly man Joe Kinnear is. In his position, getting the press on his side is important, since he also needs to win over the club's fans, as well as improving the team's performance. Prime rule of media management - never,ever, blame the press for your problems. As soon as someone does that, whether a politician or football manager, they're on the slide. Joe Kinnear's tenure may be even shorter than expected.

5 comments:

Starting11 said...

Not only does this loon make a poor first impression, he has this meltdown with perspective buyers for the club in town. A win all around I say.
I linked to your post in my blog today: http://startingeleven.blogspot.com/2008/10/joe-kinnear-newcastles-loon-at-toon.html

Jeremy Jacobs said...

Poor old Joe. Could do with going one of your excellent courses.

MediaCoach said...

Thanks for the link, starting11 (cool name). Nice blog of yours. Oddly enough, some Toon fans seem to like him bashing the media. If he gets results, all will be forgiven.

MediaCoach said...

Thanks for the plug, Jeremy. Tell you what - I'll train him, you interview him on TV.

Jeremy Jacobs said...

OK, let me see what I can do