Yes man?

No doubt you've seen it plenty of times in the press over the last week few weeks - but in case you've been on another planet and missed it, here it is: John Carver is a Geordie, he loves the club to bits and he worked with the great Sir Bobby Robson. 

Now that's all well and good, but does that qualify him to manager our club, or more importantly does that mean he will not be another 'yes man'? - I have my doubts.

Carver was Alan Pardew's closest lieutenant and strongly defended his boss against fan protests yet was quick to distant himself from AP when his former boss left for Crystal Palace

JC -"I am no Pardew clone. I’ve done some things different on the team meetings, how I’ve worked with the players is slightly different. I am my own man.

“This is how I look at it is you live by the sword, you die by the sword. If I don’t do it my way and I don’t get the job, then I’ll think ‘why didn’t I do it like that?’

“I’m going to do it my way and if I don’t do the job then at least I know I’ve done it my way.”

I am not sure if other than the 1st half at Chelsea we have seen any difference in how Carver and Pardew set up their teams.

Carver also wanted to make it clear he would not pander to boardroom pressure - yet immediately towed the company line in fielding a weakened team in the FA cup.

Carver is not the choice of the fans and will face an uphill struggle to convince the fans of how effective he can be as our head coach.

Carver needs to be his own man, stand up to the board and make the following demands to ensure our season does not just drift away into a relegation battle.

- A first team centre half must be brought in. We cannot finished the season with only Colo, Willo, and Dummett. Taylor is out for the season & unfortunately we have sold Mapou yanga M'biwa so a replacement must be signed.

- Moussa Sissoko must not be sold in January. He has been our best player & team leader this season. His future will be a press headline until the transfer window slams shut, but for the sake of our season any transfer must be put off till the summer.

Carver has 16 games to win over the fans & prepare the club for hopefully and exciting managerial appointment in the summer.

Good luck JC 

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Carver till the summer

Today first team coach John Carver has been appointment Head Coach until May. Although this is something we all really saw coming I really cannot get excited about his appointment.

I am not convinced JC will be able to get this group of players going - will things be any different to his time at the club under Pardew? I think a clean break for the club would have been a better option - even on a short term deal. A new coach with new ideas, new faces around the club would have been beneficial. 

I while I can understand waiting till the summer if it means we can appoint a top coach, I am also concerned that nothing is set in place for the summer. Could we get De Boer, Tuchel, Garde etc... to sign a pre-contract agreement?

Its all good FDB saying he will talk to us in the summer - but what if there are better jobs available then? I see Steve McClaren is still linked - what is Derby are promoted?  I have the feeling we are just going to go through all this again in the summer rather than having it signed and sealed.

No doubt JC cares about the club and has been in and around the club for years - i am just unsure he has what it takes to be the leader. Of course i hope he proves me wrong. But right now Premiership survival has to be the main aim - i just hope he have not taken a massive risk in appointing JC.

Normal service resumed

Apologies for the lack of posting recently. I have the massive privilege of travelling home to the North East for Christmas with my family. During this time I was able to be at St James for the Sunderland, Everton, and Burnley games.

A lot has happened over the last few weeks - another derby defeat, Pardew has gone, and we continue in the never ending search for a new manager continues!

I will be back to regular posting at the end of this week.

Cheers