In 2008/09 Newcastle United’s season was nothing short of a soap opera. The campaign began with legendary club manager Kevin Keegan, back for his second stint, falling out with the board and new owner Mike Ashley. His resignation promptly followed, and so the club’s league position plummeted in his absence. Joe Kinnear was pulled from obscurity, and things failed to improve before he was forced to leave after a health scare in February.
Then with the club sitting 16th with eight games to go Tyneside’s messiah Alan Shearer was drafted in to save his boyhood club but could not prevent them from being relegated after one win in nine games. The Magpies should never have dropped to the Championship, their squad contained a Premier League-winning trio of Nicky Butt, Alan Smith and Damien Duff. But the moral of the story is that no club is too big to go down if they are mismanaged, and West Ham should be wary.
After 19 games Newcastle sat in 12th that year, the Hammers currently find themselves just a precarious point above the drop in 17th position. Plus, by this stage in the season, the Magpies, like West Ham, had appointed their second manager. While David Moyes’ reintroduction may look like a sensible decision at the moment, based on his previous stint, if his players are anything like as underwhelmed as the fans then further trouble could be on the horizon.
Another way in which both seasons align is that the Hammers have invested heavily on incoming transfers to minimal effect. Newcastle had recently purchased Balon D’Or winning striker Michael Owen from Real Madrid, and he finished as the club’s top scorer when they were relegated with a meagre eight goals.
Sebastien Haller was brought to London for an equally exorbitant fee for the time and has failed to deliver at the London Stadium with just five Premier League goals to his name. The Frenchman is set to eclipse Obafemi Martins and Owen’s total for the season. Still, his recent form has been dreadful, having scored just once in his last ten appearances.
David Gold and David Sullivan have swallowed some pride in reappointing David Moyes, but that does not mean it will be all rosy from here. West Ham still have a lot of work to do yet and having the squad to get out of the scrap does not mean they automatically will, and they only need to look at Newcastle’s 2008/09 season for evidence.
