Carver Might Not Be Right ... Truth Is, We Don't Know

I don't know if John Carver is Newcastle United manager material.

And unless you are a former Newcastle, Leeds United, Luton Town, Toronto FC, Plymouth Argyle or Sheffield United player, you probably don't, either.

Pretty much all of Carver's coaching work over the past 20 or so years has come on training fields across England, away from the scrutiny of reporters, fans and the general public. We can't judge him on tactics, lineup decisions, signings and the other factors we use to hammer or praise managers.

True, Carver has filled in as caretaker manager a handful of times in his career — with less than stellar results, including last season's stint in place of a suspended Alan Pardew — but it's hard to glean too much from a few games sprinkled throughout 10 years. Caretaker managers rarely find themselves in stable situations, do they?

Carver's 11-15-10 record over parts of two seasons in Toronto wasn't terribly impressive, but keep in mind TFC is Major League Soccer's perpetual trainwreck (come to think of it, TFC might be the MLS version of Newcastle).

This is all to say it's pretty hard to declare with any degree of certainty how Carver might fare if Mike Ashley installs him as Pardew's permanent replacement ... or even as a stop-gap solution until the summer.

As I read through Carver's quotes from his debut press conference on Wednesday, his emotive references to Sir Bobby Robson and Gary Speed reminded me of a moment from the 2011-12 season. As Newcastle paid tribute to the late Welsh midfielder with a minute's applause before a game against Chelsea, Carver shook as the tears poured down his face. This is clearly an emotional, passionate man (sometimes to his detriment; see Wigan, 2013).

Carver might be a bit too feisty for my managerial tastes, but haven't we all spent the last six years complaining that this club lacks passion? Carver even talked about aiming for the Champions League on Wednesday: "If we haven't got that ambition, then we are all wasting our time in my opinion. It's no good just turning up thinking mediocrity is good enough. Let's go and win every game we can. If you don't think that way, you won't get in those situations again." It might be 90 percent nonsense, but it sure makes for better reading than "We can't compete financially with Southampton."

I'm not advocating for Carver to get the job; I still think there are better options out there. But I'll be pulling for him today against Burnley and for however long he's in the St. James' hot seat.

Comments

[@leesibbald]

Classic stuff from carver, trying to press all the right buttons to appeal to the fans. He ain't good enough for the long term but maybe could do a job until the summer when we get a proper replacement in.

[MNTOONARMY9]

In my opinion...

With Carver the passion is there, that's a plus as long as someone on the bench will help keep him from bubbling over.

Can he manage these playeers? We don't know.

What will he do from a tactics standpoint? The time he took over for Pardew last season "post-head butt" and this last match suggest rather uninspiring concepts. It's a small sample size, but I don't know if there is reason to be excited.

I had hoped that Carver would say "what the heck...I'm here as a caretaker anyway...let's roll the dice" and come out with something like.

Keeper of Random Origin
Janmatt Colo Haidara
Colback Tiote Santon

Cabella Perez Rivere/Cisse Sissoko

I mean...what have we got to lose? If our back four are a mess (and they are...seriously, a mess why not say...ok, we'll play defence by loading up our forwards and mids and keeping it in the offensive end? Why not?

(Santon as an outside mid fits his skills better...I think...but I'm just a non-football guy...so what do I know?)

[Tom]

If I had written this post after the Burnley game, my tone would be much less hopeful. I was hoping Carver would bring a slightly different approach, but he seems to be positioning himself as Pardew, part 2. Maybe that's what Ashley and Charnley want, who knows.

That said, it still is just one game. I don't place much stock in how NUFC did under Carver during Pardew's suspension because Pardew was still the one in charge. This is really the first time Carver has had an opportunity to put his stamp on the team.

Can't say I'd be real pleased if they give him the job on a permanent basis.