ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Newcastle Utd 0 Fulham 1: AS THE final whistle approached black clouds gathered, lashing rain cascaded down and the temperature plummeted.
It seemed an apocalyptic moment, a case of the gods venting their fury on Newcastle United and decreeing Alan Shearer’s team would not be spared relegation after all.
The more superstitious among the club’s employees certainly saw it that way. “I didn’t like the rain storm at the end,” said one. “It was uncanny, there’s a message there. We’re doomed.”
At least Shearer is made of sterner stuff. Newcastle’s manager proved a rare beacon of rationality amid the near hysterical fallout which in effect leaves his team’s fate in Hull City’s hands. After an afternoon featuring two controversial refereeing decisions it would have been too easy to envisage Kevin Keegan turning into an emotional, finger-jabbing, wreck and Joe Kinnear erupting into a swear-fest at officialdom. Shearer was cool logic personified. Where Keegan and Kinnear speak impulsively, Shearer pauses momentarily and mentally edits himself before answering questions.
It explains why he merely asked Howard Webb “what was all that about” in the wake of the referee’s contentious disallowing of Mark Viduka’s headed equaliser for Kevin Nolan’s perceived blocking of Mark Schwarzer, Fulham’s goalkeeper.
Earlier many thought Diomansy Kamara’s winner should have been ruled out for offside but Shearer – who subsequently saw Sebastien Bassong sent off for a professional foul on Kamara – afforded Webb the benefit of the doubt before refusing to lambast the referee over Viduka’s disallowed leveller. “What’s the point, nothing can be done about it now,” he said.
Shearer acknowledged that Newcastle’s worryingly low tempo in a first half of frequently frittered possession had simply not been good enough. Nolan, for instance, may be adept at gamesmanship but when it came to passing and moving the midfielder proved horribly ponderous. Unfortunately, he was far from alone.
“It’s bitterly disappointing,” said Shearer. “But I still think there’ll be a twist in the tail on the final day. The stakes are massive now but it’s not over yet. We’ll give it a right good go at Aston Villa.”
Much will depend on Hull’s result at home against an appreciably weakened Manchester United and, outwardly, Roy Hodgson had nothing but sympathy for Newcastle’s plight. Even so, one wondered if the Fulham manager was perhaps experiencing a strange sense of delayed revenge.
After all Hodgson became manager at Blackburn Rovers shortly after Shearer’s defection to Tyneside. During his Ewood Park tenure, there was always a feeling that the departed centre-forward’s dominant personality somehow lingered on, serving as a sort of elephant in the room prompting Blackburn’s players to privately question the manager’s every move.
Significantly, Blackburn struggled to adapt to life after Shearer and Hodgson’s consequent sacking almost certainly cost this much travelled coach any chance of the England job.
Now, he is deservedly back near the top of the tree. Twelve months after rescuing Fulham from relegation, Hodgson’s reborn side stand on the brink of a Europa League place. Commendably, the potential manager of the year has transformed previously written-off players such as Dickson Etuhu and Aaron Hughes into decent Premier League performers.
During his Newcastle days Hughes was deemed not quite good enough but, on Saturday, he shone alongside the excellent Brede Hangeland in central defence.
“Roy Hodgson knows exactly what he’s doing and gets us fully prepared,” said Hughes. “Every player knows his job.”
Whatever division Newcastle end up in next season, all the indications are that Shearer will stay on as the manager.
Superstitious or not, Geordies should view his return as a rainbow arcing through Tyneside’s storm-scarred skies.
Guardian Service
