Joe Kinnear: Newcastle's Loon at Toon

Was it a meltdown? A calculated ploy maybe?

Nah, I'll vote for sheer stupidity.

Newcastle United interim manager Joe Kinnear is a prime example of why first impressions are so important and ultimately what happens if you don't make a good one. During his first meeting with the English press yesterday, Kinnear dropped 50 expletives, many of them personal diatribes against the reporters who have been covering the disaster at Toon this year. Most of the 50 were heavily laden F-bombs, and a couple of C-bombs. Click here if you want to read the transcript of Kinnear's exchange.

Kinnear accused the writers of undremining his position at Newcastle, and counterattacked their disbelief that on Kinnear's first day on the job, he didn't have the first team players at the park for meetings, introductions etc. Kinnear says he was meeting with the coaches, chairman and owner. "What are you? My fucking secretary?" Not exactly a classy way to address legitimate questions about--again--the first impression he made with his players. This guy needs help with first impressions, eh?

Kinnear was belligerent from the outset and wouldn't let up. The reporters had questions about the length of his contract: Six weeks? Eight weeks? Will the club be sold in the interim? The more they pinged in, the worse he got; threatening legal action, calling them slimy, calling them the C-word. It was ugly.

Worse, it doesn't help what is already at tarnished product, which in case Kinnear hasn't noticed, has a big FOR SALE sign on the front door. Oh BTW, the South African consortium interested in buying Newcastle, was in town yesterday for negotiatins. I wonder what the chairman thinks of his antics? I wonder whether the players think this guy is a loon; how can they trust him now?

In case you're wondering, Kinnear said he will hand-pick the reporters he speaks to in the future and told the rest to f&*k off.

But the real star of the day has to be the Newcastle press officer. I wonder who gets fired for this first: Kinnear, or this loon?

On several occasions, rather than trying to diffuse the situation by, well, ending the press conference before it dove to such depths, his attempts to intercede included a plea to keep the cursing off the record. To quote Joe Kinnear, "What the f*&k?"

"Let's get on to football. Let's have an agreement that everything said so far, if anyone has got their tapes on, it's wiped off and we're not discussing it."

Oh I hope some pops this on YouTube if for no other reason to see the snickering on the journalists' faces when those lines get blurted out, and to see this press officer go pale as Kinnear drops 50 F-bombs and C-bombs. 101 Great Goals has the audio. Priceless.

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