Mirror Football

Nicky Butt: Chris Hughton must face
shadow of Alan Shearer at Newcastle

31st October 2009, by Brian McNally

Nicky Butt believes making Chris Hughton manager will bring much-needed stability to Newcastle – but warns that the shadow of Alan Shearer will make life hard for his new boss.

The experienced Champions League winner insists that the spectre of snubbed Geordie legend Shearer will provide a tough background for Hughton, with the disillusioned foot soldiers of the Toon Army refusing to desert their leader-in-waiting.

Butt predicts that his former England team-mate Shearer will get the Magpies job within the “next five or six years” , although he expects fans to try to bring about his appointment sooner rather than later.

Butt said: “That is always going to happen with the Alan [Shearer] side of it. You will hear his name sung a few times by the fans if you are not playing too good.

“When you have someone who is that well loved in Newcastle and at the club, it is inevitable.

“I am sure it is only a matter of time before he will be manager. I’m sure it will be in the next five or six years.

“But people have to put up with that. You must deal with that. Chris will have times when the press, the fans, the players will question him and, with Alan in the background, his name is always going to pop up.

“It is something he has to deal with. In my eyes no matter who takes the job Alan is always going to be in the background until he has been here and had his go.”

Butt led the dressing-room calls for caretaker Hughton’s role to be made permanent after guiding Newcastle to the top of the Championship table and he welcomes the stability the appointment will bring.

He added: “It is definitely a big relief for everyone in the dressing room to have Chris Hughton’s situation sorted out and to have stability.

“Chris, along with Colin Calderwood and Paul Barron, have done an impressive job here under difficult circumstances right from the beginning of the season. Chris getting the job now is very much justified. He has done an excellent job. It gives us stability, everyone knows who the boss is now.

“He has done well, done it it his own way, treated the lads well and let them know every other day what has been going on upstairs.

“He has shown he is good enough to be a manager.

“We don’t know what to call him yet – whether it is Chris or gaffer. We are not sure yey – it is Chris at the moment until he tells us something different.

“But I don’t think things will change. Chris (right) has got the respect of all the players and the staff and rightly so.

“He has been big enough to drop big players. He dropped Michael Owen last season. He is not afraid of that side of the challenge. He is definitely worthy of the job in my eyes.

“To be fair to Chris, he has never known what is around the corner. So he has always been thinking, ‘Any time now I could be out of a job if someone else comes in’.

“But he has worked that way and done that well under those circumstances. He now has a contract for 18 months and he has stability and security.”

Butt, however, isn’t claiming any plaudits for himself and his fellow players over the turnaround this season or for sticking by the club.

He added: “From my point of view we should be here to try to get the club back to the Premier League because we were a major factor in why we are where we are because we didn’t perform.

“I have always maintained that last season as players we escaped criticise because things were blamed on what happened upstairs and in the background.

“I think if you speak to players honestly we should have stayed up with the squad we had.

“We have to get out of this league by any means, whether it is a horrible 0-0 or a horrible 1-0.”

Newcastle continue their promotion push tomorrow when they take on mid-table Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

Jonas Gutierrez, 26, is set to end his Newcastle nightmare by signing for Italian giants Roma in a £6million deal in January.

The Argentine midfielder moved to Newcastle in 2008 but has failed to score in 43 games.