Newcastle close in on promotion but will there be a rude awakening?
Chris Hughton has united a divided dressing room but the Magpies won't find their imminent Premier League return easy
Sometimes it really can be better to travel than to arrive. Behind the joy of Monday's anticipated Tyneside promotion party – a point at home to Sheffield United will be enough – lurks the unspoken fear that Newcastle United's surprisingly pleasant journey back to the Premier League could end with a horribly rude awakening.
Much hinges on the answers to the following questions. Will Chris Hughton prove a strong enough manager for the top tier? Will he be replaced this summer? Is Mike Ashley, Newcastle's owner, likely to renew his efforts to sell the club? If the current regime remain in power, will they supply sufficient investment to avoid another relegation struggle?
Second guessing the Garbo-esque Ashley is a fool's game so, with uncertainty swirling like fog on the Tyne, the only thing Newcastle fans can do is enjoy the moment.
Whether or not Hughton is the right manager for the long haul, the former Spurs coach has, ever so politely, waved two fingers in the direction of those who claimed he could not reunite a once divided dressing room, let alone choreograph a winning formula.
A series of his predecessors have fought, often forlornly, against player power. Where Hughton has been particularly clever is in harnessing it as a promotion catalyst.
Recognising that his dressing room contained some forceful figures, among them Kevin Nolan, Alan Smith, Steve Harper and Nicky Butt, Newcastle's manager permitted that quartet to form a powerful, unusually influential, "players' committee".
Seconds after the final whistle blew on last Monday's watershed win over Nottingham Forest, Nolan and Hughton stood locked in a fierce embrace. It served as a reminder that an element of dressing-room democracy can be highly effective. The Rafael Benítez model, manager as aloof dictator, is not the only way.
Although Hughton is blandness personified when confronted by reporters, he possesses considerable personal charm and knows how to use it. "When Chris wants something, he gets it," Nolan says.
Newcastle's manager has made tough decisions – in an earlier caretaker incarnation he dropped Michael Owen – but whether his brand of "consensus management" will continue working in the Premier League is anyone's guess. What happens, for example, if Nolan's form dips? That question is considerably more pressing after the alleged altercation between Andy Carroll and Steven Taylor, which has left Taylor nursing a broken jaw. Hughton's refusal to comment on the incident, while continuing to select Carroll, has tripped alarm switches – particularly as Carroll and Nolan share an agent.
Sadly, the episode is clouding what should be a celebration of the former Ireland full-back's coaching, tactical and recruitment acumen. Granted, Newcastle have by far the division's highest wage bill but their manager has still performed wonders in repairing a once infamously leaky defence. The back line have kept 20 Championship clean sheets and have conceded only 30 goals all season, the best record in the division.
Effective as Hughton's training-ground drills have undoubtedly been, Harper also deserves considerable credit for this impressive statistic. The consistently reliable, frequently inspired, goalkeeper – for so long Shay Given's St James' Park understudy – is surely the team's player of the season.
Harper, though, has been pushed surprisingly close by previous underachievers such as José Enrique, Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez.
Hughton has also invested wisely. In January he added to Newcastle's upwardly mobile impetus with the shrewd acquisition of Wayne Routledge, whose pacy incision has been very effective.The not inconsiderable challenge now is to maintain a similar trajectory next season.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/apr/03/newcastle-united-close-promotion?
