Daryl Janmaat and Jack Colback air concerns
Senior dressing room voices have urged Newcastle United to make their minds up about the identity of Alan Pardew’s successor but with no appointment imminent, it seems they will be kept guessing for a little longer.
Newcastle are conducting thorough due diligence on a handful of candidates including Rémi Garde, but John Carver, the caretaker, is expected to be in charge of Saturday evening’s Premier League game at home to Southampton.
“It will be good when the club makes a statement to say: ‘This is the new coach,’” said Daryl Janmaat, who would be happy to see Carver appointed until the end of the season at least. “It will be better for everyone. Then everyone knows. If it’s John Carver, it’s good. We like him. I think he can do a good job.”
Jack Colback has expressed similar concerns about the current hiatus. “It’s never a good thing when you don’t know what’s happening,” said the midfielder. “And the fans want to know what’s happening too.”
Last weekend Lee Charnley and Graham Carr, Newcastle’s managing director and chief scout, met Garde, the former Lyon manager and Arsenal player, for preliminary talks.
It appeared that an end to the uncertainty surrounding the managerial vacancy at St James’ Park could be in sight but Newcastle were dismayed when details of their rendezvous were leaked to the French media and swiftly made it clear Garde was not the only contender for the job.
While the 48-year-old is understood to be keen on relocating to Tyneside and further discussions are expected, Charnley and Carr may be minded to keep Carver in place until May when they will reassess their options.
Although the team have yet to win a game since Pardew’s defection to Crystal Palace at the end of last month, Carver has had to contend with a raft of injuries and the board may be swayed by his evident support from within the dressing room.
Mike Ashley, the club’s owner, met Charnley and Carr at the weekend after returning from a holiday in Barbados and is understood to have advised them not to rush into any hasty decisions.
The position is complicated by the fact that other short-listed candidates including St Etienne’s Christophe Galtier and the former Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel will not be available until the summer.
Carver wants the job and has urged Newcastle not to let “things drift”. He has made it clear he would be happy to continue in temporary charge until the end of the season.
Ashley, Carr and Charnley are thought to have discussed potential transfer targets and a replacement for Steven Taylor, who will be out until next season after rupturing an achilles tendon, at centre-half is a priority.
Pardew had been keen to recruit a new striker but that seems an unlikely prospect. Swansea City have expressed an interested in replacing the Manchester City-bound Wilfried Bony with Papiss Cissé. However, Newcastle’s Senegal striker, currently at the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea, is still experiencing problems with screws inserted in a knee during surgery last April and may struggle to pass a medical. Moreover, Newcastle know they cannot afford to offload Cissé, their sole experienced striker, this month unless a replacement is lined up.
Whoever takes the manager’s job will hope to retain the services of Moussa Sissoko and, with Paris Saint-Germain stating they have no interest in Newcastle’s key midfielder, that looks an increasingly realistic prospect.
By Louise Taylor
