Team Focus: Desperate Lack of Ambition Leaves Stagnating Newcastle Stuck in Mid-Table

Is there a football club at which the disparity between the ambitions of the fans and the club’s hierarchy is greater than Newcastle at present? Their supporters always want what is best for the club, and even if that was manifested all too toxically when the ‘Sack Pardew’ campaign gathered pace, their actions remained well-intended.
 
For Mike Ashley, meanwhile, the club’s owner who, not so long ago was looking to jump ship and sell, it remains a business venture, and one about which solid and reliable financial structure remain paramount in his thoughts. That is fair enough in a sense. Who are we to judge a man’s decision not to risk any more money on top of what is already a multi-million pound investment, particularly when there is a decent chance he won’t see a return on it?
 
But there is cautious business acumen, and then there is wholehearted lack of ambition. When it came to Alan Pardew and the glaringly obvious need for change if the club was to rid itself of the poisonous atmosphere permeating the St James’ Park crowd on a weekly basis, Ashley instead opted to keep his money in his pocket and keep hold of Pardew, too. Much was made of the 8-year contract that the now Crystal Palace manager had been handed at Newcastle, but it was well publicised that he would only be compensated with a year’s salary in the event of his sacking. Still Ashley decided to avoid any payout whatsoever. Pardew remained, and in spite of a brief rally with 5 consecutive wins – which remains a longer streak than league leaders Chelsea have managed all season – Newcastle remain drifting along aimlessly in mediocrity.
 
Plenty cited retaining Pardew as the best option available to Ashley; there was no point sacking him and be left without a better alternative. It was as though no decent manager with genuine ambitions for their own career would consider moving to Newcastle at this moment in time.

This is a club who attract sell-out crowds upwards of fifty thousand week in, week out; a club that earlier this century was a regular feature in the Champions League; a club that only three seasons ago finished fifth. And yet it isn’t an exciting proposition for any prospective manager. Go to Newcastle for a quiet life, people said, not if you actually want to go anywhere or achieve anything. The club is content where it is and that isn't going to change any time soon.

All this comes back around to Ashley. In the absence of adequate replacements for Yohan Cabaye – the club failed to sign anybody permanently in the summer before or in the days following his £20m departure – they stagnated. In the absence of a big name, an improvement or even just someone for the fans to get excited about to replace Pardew, they risk starting to move backwards.
 
In John Carver they have a man who knows the club and who will passionately celebrate every goal, but will he inspire the fans and players to something greater than a mid-table finish? Will he even be there after the end of the season?

Of course if there was nobody better available, Carver represents a cheap stopgap until the end of the season, but that is exactly the lack of ambition that is so infuriating about Newcastle in their current state. Remi Garde was apparently unwilling to break his year-long sabbatical to come to St James' Park, but surely a more ambitious club would have gone to greater lengths to get their man. Money talks, and all that.

 
With the form they showed earlier in the season they proved that their players are good enough to achieve something greater than they look set to this season. In Papiss Demba Cissé they have the player with the best minutes per goal rate in the Premier League (71.2). In Ayoze Pérez they have a tricky customer (1.5 successful dribbles per game) who is proving to be quite the finisher (5 goals scored). In total they have 13 league goalscorers this season; a total only Arsenal can top. Goals are coming from all over, and there is undeniable quality there, they just need a manager to extract it.
 
In Moussa Sissoko they have one of the Premeir League’s most powerful players; in Jack Colback they don’t quite have the ginger Pirlo – thanks Roy Hodgson for that one – but they do have an adept passer (88.9% pass success) with the ability to unlock a defence (4 assists). Daryl Janmaat is a very capable right-back; Sammy Ameobi has in him goals like the corker he scored at Hull last weekend; Rémy Cabella is a joy to watch at times (his 12 dribbles at Chelsea was the most by any player in a Premier League game this season) but he needs the right environment to flourish. He has only 1 goal and 1 assist to his name since a £12m move but most certainly has what it takes to provide more.

Clearly their parts have potential for great things; they just need someone to conduct them into a coherent working machine so that they can become the sum of those parts or even more. It is just a shame to see the man holding all the power at Newcastle unwilling to risk a little more for the chance of far, far greater reward.

Do you think Newcastle should be satisfied with their position or show more ambition? Let us know in the comments below