Since the days of Sir Bobby Robson, Newcastle United have not had a manager who the fans loved and adored till date. Since the exit of the legend on 30 August 2004, Newcastle United have employed and sacked 10 different managers with
none spending more than two years at the club with the exception of Grame Souness (two years ) and Alan Pardew (five years).
Things got so bad that the club suffered a relegation in 2009 under club legend Alan Shearer after Joe Kinnear had completely destroyed the team after taking over. It is sad that Newcastle is in this mess again after nearly winning the league twice under Kelvin Keegan's five year spell (1992-1997).
Last season Newcastle survived relegation on the last day of the season after beating Sam Allardycee's West Ham 2-0. With the appointment of a seasoned Premier League manager in Steve Mclaren on 10 June 2025. McLaren came to the Tyneside with a battered image after he was disappointingly dismissed first by Nottingham Forrest and then by Derby County all because of poor results. It is easily forgotten that McLaren is the same man to have won a league title in Holland with Twente, despite the financial prowess and player quality of both Ajax and PSV. Also McLaren won a league cup trophy with Middlesbrough and also took them to the UEFA Cup finals where they were beaten by Spanish side Sevilla 3-0. Also to be mentioned is that McLaren failed woefully at both Wolfsburg and England after he failed to qualify the Three Lions for the 2008 European Championship in Austria and Swizerland.
This season alone McLaren spent in excess of £50m to recruit players such as Wijnaldum, Mbemba and Mitrovic in the summer. As if that wasn't enough , Seydou Doumbia, Andros Townsend, Jonjo Shelvey and Henri Saviet were all signed in excess of £20m in the winter . It is shocking that after these investments, results still did not improve as Newcatle lost seven times in their last 10 games , scoring nine goals and conceding a whopping 21. Also , McLaren lost all his last five away games and his team did not score more than one in their last 10 games with the exception of their 3-3 draw with Manchester United at Saint James Park.
In total McLaren's Newcastle lie 19th in the table , having played 28 games and winning six , drawing six and losing a further 16 with a goal difference of -25 and on 24 points. This was clearly a bad return on investmrnt by owner Mike Ashley and it was clear that the continued stay of McLaren in the dug out will cost the team it's Premier League status next season .
Therefore there is no guarantee that the man brought in to replace McLaren as the new manager (Rafael Benitez) will save the team for relegation , yet it is clear that Steve McLaren had reached a point where his stay was detrimental o the success of the team. While Benitez has lost his first game yesterday 1-0, against league leaders Leicester City, he still has nine more games to play which are like finals to him. Steve McLaren might have rocked the boat of the team from North East if Rafa Benitez fails to save them .
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