Alan Shearer will pick the brains of several distinguished managerial mentors as he strives to secure Newcastle United's Premier League status.
The former England captain's name has rarely been synonymous with humility but yesterday Shearer revealed he is not too proud to pick up the phone and ask Kevin Keegan, Kenny Daglish, Sir Bobby Robson, Terry Venables and Glenn Hoddle for advice. "I'll be speaking to Kevin, I'll be speaking to Kenny, I'll be speaking to Glenn Hoddle, I'll be speaking to Terry," he said. "I think it's important that I try to tap into all the help I can get."
That august crew are highly unlikely to advise Newcastle's former captain and record goal-scorer to stick to his publicly stated aim of walking away from the job in late May.
Significantly, even as Shearer repeatedly stressed that he would not be in charge next season, there was a feeling he was carefully toeing the party line that maintains Joe Kinnear will return in July.
Despite insisting "I'm here for eight weeks and eight weeks only", Shearer hinted at a very different subtext. Tellingly, when someone suggested that, should Newcastle avoid relegation, people would be clamouring for him to stay on he said: "Good. I want that. That's what I want."
The convalescent Kinnear's contract expires in June and the 62-year-old, who underwent major heart surgery in February has never signed a proposed two-year extension. Privately few at St James' Park expect him to return in any capacity, particuarly as the post of Newcastle's director of football has now, like Dennis Wise, disappeared.
Earlier this week Kinnear indicated he hoped to succeed Wise next season and it is thought his hitherto warm relationship with Mike Ashley, Newcastle's owner, could now be poised to turn a little messy. "Whatever part Joe plays is nothing to do with me. My job is to try to stay up, then it's up to the powers that be to decide what to do next," said Shearer before adding, pointedly: "I wouldn't have done this for any other club. I love this club."
Only time will tell what the future holds but, right now, Shearer is fully engrossed by the present. "I'm really, really excited, I can't wait to get out there against Chelsea on Saturday," he said after confirming that his most valuable asset Michael Owen is set to start against Guus Hiddink's side.
A week ago the psychological nuances involved in team selection had not even crossed his mind but, last Saturday morning, he received a phone-call from Derek Llambias, Newcastle's managing director, which prompted a meeting with Ashley late on Sunday night when he was offered the job.
Having slept on it he said "yes" and began the process of asking his BBC employers for a sabbatical before hiring Iain Dowie, a former manager well versed in relegation battles, as his assistant. "Iain gives the place a fresh look," said Shearer. "Not a very pretty one but a fresh one. Iain's big and strong enough to tell me where I'm going wrong."
That reflection proved characteristic of an authoratively confident, unscripted, and joke punctuated media address. Typically when, after making a brief introductory statement, the distinctly unimpressive Llambias scuttled away before anyone could ask him a question, Shearer quipped: "You've scared him off already."
Newcastle's new manager has never liked losing face and when asked if he was worried about the damage relegation would inflict on his reputation, he paused.
"I've come in with my eyes open and I know what the stakes are," he eventually replied. "It would hurt and devastate me if this club were playing Championship football next season. But I wouldn't be here if I didn't think we could stay up."
Owen the talisman, page 3
