Pardew’s position may become untenable at Newcastle

Where do you start trying to work out what’s happened at Newcastle United in the past week?

Obviously, the first thing to do is to make sure it isn’t April 1!

The next reaction is that maybe Mike Ashley is simply winding up the club’s fans again.

First there was the “Cockney Mafia,” then the re-naming of St James’ Park to the Sports Direct Arena, and the new sponsorship deal with payday loan company, Wonga.

But Ashley has never done anything so out of left-field as making Joe Kinnear his Director of Football.

Most football appointments are well trailed in advance. A few come as a bit of a surprise.

I can’t remember any that has totally gobsmacked so many people.

Let’s forget the already infamous radio interview in which Kinnear called Manager Director Derek Llambias “Lambezee”, and mispronounced most of the players’ names.

Forget, too, the inaccuracies about his transfer market record and managerial achievements. Ignore Joe’s assertions that he has access to any manager in the world and phones Sir Alex Ferguson every day.

Nor is it relevant that when he was the Magpies’ boss, he fell out spectacularly with most of the media in North-East.

The only thing that matters is that he can do the job.

There are three main aspects to being Director of Football a knowledge of and ability to attract players, a solid day-to-day working relationship with the manager and the complete faith of the owner.

We can take as read that Kinnear ticks that last box. There are major doubts, though, about how in touch Joe is with the modern game. Four years out of work is a lifetime in football. New tactics mean players need different assets. New markets have emerged. Agents have more influence.

Neighbours Sunderland have just appointed a Director of Football who worked at Inter Milan. In comparison, Kinnear’s appointment seems less than progressive.

Then there’s the potentially tinderbox relationship with Pardew, who can’t be comfortable either with losing Llambias his biggest ally in the boardroom or being told he has to report to Kinnear.

There are few examples of established managers working well with someone who has final say on transfer policy.

There are plenty of the relationship becoming untenable.