Joe Kinnear stuns Newcastle fans by getting their players' names wrong in radio interview
18 Jun 2013 00:01
Toon's proposed new director of football unable to pronounce Ben Arfa, Cabaye or Ameobi and makes string of other errors
Newcastle fans claim their club has been turned into a laughing stock after new director of football Joe Kinnear gave a cringeworthy defence of his job.
The former Toon boss gave a radio interview a day after he announced himself that he had taken the position at St James’ Park.
Kinnear took to the airwaves after the appointment was greeted with widespread criticism from the Magpies' fans.
But instead of clarifying his position, he launched into a gaffe-strewn rant against the fans and media, while repeatedly getting the names wrong of players and management wrong – including pronouncing Yohan Cabaye as ‘Cabab’.
He also claimed to have signed a player who had already been at the club for several years when he arrived.
He referred to managing director Derek Lambias as ‘Lambezee’, Shola Ameobi as 'Amanobi', Jonas Gutierrez as 'Gaultierez' and Hatem Ben Arfa as both ‘Ben Afrie’ and 'Ben Afra'.
When asked about supporter unrest, he said on talkSPORT: “Look at my record. These people ask what have I done. Where have these people been - on another planet? I’ve played in five Cup Finals and won the lot. I played more than 400 games for Tottenham Hotspur.
“Already they’re jumping on the bandwagon and saying, ‘look out, Pards’. But I expect it, it’s water off a duck’s a**e.”
Kinnear, who actually made 258 appearances for Spurs, said he will meet manager Alan Pardew on Tuesday as both men attempt to establish some boundaries.
The 66-year-old, who managed the Geordies in the 2008-09 season - which ended in them being relegated from the Premier League - claimed to have brought keeper Tim Krul, who made his Magpies debut in 2006, to the club.
He also claimed to have paid £50,000 for striker Dean Holdsworth when Wimbledon manager (actual figure: £720,000) and to have been Manager of the Year three times (he was LMA Manager of the Year in 1994).
Reliving his infamous rant at reporters in October 2008, just days after he replaced Kevin Keegan, Kinnear also claimed his Newcastle side had beaten Spurs earlier that night, 2-1.
However, the incident happened on a Thursday (hence the UEFA Cup scores on the Mirror back page reporting his outburst - see below), and the Magpies had not played since the previous Saturday - when they LOST 2-1 to Blackburn.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/joe-kinnears-newcastle-return-mistake-filled-1959361
