As a football fan, it’s natural to always want to be the best. That goes across the board, for all clubs. The best players, best ground, biggest trophy cabinet, the whole shebang.
More specifically, I want to focus on my club having ‘the best coach in the Premier League.’ Not my words, but the self confession of interim head coach John Carver, who’s currently on an eight-game losing run – the worst in Newcastle’s Premier League history.
So where does the 50-year-old Geordie get off with such an absurd quote at a poorly executed time? Well, it’s not quite that simple.
If the general public had watched more than a six second vine of Carver, followed by a bearded man from The Hangover laughing, they’d know Carver was speaking about self-belief. Here’s the full quote: “I still have the enthusiasm for it. I try to take as not much notice on the outside, because they can’t affect me. What can affect my situation is my trail of thought and how positive I am – and I am a positive guy. I still think I’m the best coach in the Premier League.
“That’s what I think. Now there’s nothing wrong with that, but I still do. And if I have the right tools I can do the job. I’m doing the job to the best of my ability at the moment, and I’ll continue to do that for the next three weeks.”
Now, I’m not an advocate for John Carver, nor am I trying to sell him as being the next saviour of Newcastle United. I still proudly maintain Pardew should’ve departed long before he did, and now the board have left an out of depth coach in charge of an underwhelming, underachieving, cowardly squad of players. But, for all of Carver’s technical and tactical flaws, he shows fight. A trait which comes rare in the current squad list, bar Jack Colback.
Carver’s buffoonery aside, his biggest flaw for this quote is just having a positive mental attitude, that’s not something that should be mocked. More ambitious people would admire him for being so bold, whilst the majority sit back and cackle. There’s enough to be annoyed at Carver with for Newcastle fans, but this out of context quote to sell papers and get hits on websites isn’t one of them.
In an ideal world, I’d love John Carver to be head coach – IF he was up to the job. Wouldn’t you? Experienced in the game, worked with Sir Bobby and Newcastle throughout. The reality is he isn’t and a continental, modern day head coach can’t come quick enough – provided we beat the drop. Otherwise it’s Carver in the Championship come August.
