As the Joe Kinnear saga kicks into full gear, The UK Daily Mail thought it would be good to breakdown some of the statements made by Kinnear and see how much was truth versus lies. Kinnear’s inability to tell the truth and in some cases outright lie continue to make a mockery of the situation and the North East club. His claims around signings in particular will worry many at the club, especially as he has been handed the reigns in terms of bringing in players to strength an already skeleton Newcastle side. Douglas, a long awaited arrival from FC Twente, is now no longer on his way, despite three months of negotiations, simply because Kinnear had never heard of him. Fears over the other two signings that Pardew has requested – Aston Villa’s Darren Bent and West Ham defender James Tomkins also look in doubt as Kinnear decides on the direction he feels is best for the club. All in all its a worrying situation that continues to develop at Newcastle.

(Image from Reuters)
Below is an extract of the article by James Andrew which whilst amusing will concern die hard Newcastle fans and fellow supporters of the club:
1) I’ve never been sacked in my life. FALSE – Kinnear was sacked by Luton Town in 2003. Health problems contributed to his departure from Wimbledon and he opted to resign from Nottingham Forest after a 3-0 defeat to rivals Derby County and at Newcastle his interim contract came to an end – after more health problems. Luton remains the only blot on his CV.
2) I have played in five Cup finals – I have won the lot. FALSE – Kinnear played four finals with Tottenham. He won the FA Cup in 1967, Football League Cup 1971 and 1973, and the UEFA Cup 1972. He did feature in the 1967 Charity Shield, but Tottenham’s 3-3 draw with Manchester United meant that the trophy was shared. And as a manager he has never taken a team to a major final.
3) I had over 400 games for Tottenham Hotspur – FALSE. Kinnear played at Spurs for 10 seasons between 1965 and 1975 and in that time he played 196 games. Not the 400 he claims. In fact if you add his two seasons at Brighton into the mix then he still only played 212 games in his career.

(Image from Getty)
4 I have been manager of the year three times – FALSE. Kinnear won the LMA manager of the year once, in 1994 when he guided Wimbledon to a sixth place finish ahead of more established teams including Liverpool, Aston Villa, Everton and Tottenham. In that season he won the manager of the month award three times.
5) I have traveled all over the world as a manager – FALSE. Kinnear has managed Wimbledon, Luton, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle in England. And then in the early years of his managerial career he managed in India and Nepal. Not exactly ‘all over the world’.
6) I bought Dean Holdsworth for £50,000 and sold him for £3million. – FALSE. Kinnear signed striker Holdsworth for £650,000 from Brentford, not the £50,000 he claims, in 1992 and then sold him to Bolton in 1997 for £3.5m.

(image from Getty)
7) I signed John Scales on a free and sold him for £3million – FALSE. John Scales joined the Crazy Gang in 1987 a full two years before Joe Kinnear arrived. But it is true he sold him for £3.5m to Liverpool in 1994.
8) I brought Tim Krul to Newcastle – FALSE. No, Joe, I’m afraid you didn’t. Tim Krul joined Newcastle in the summer of 2005 when Graeme Souness was manager. He was sent out on loan to Falkirk and Carlisle and then made his first team Newcastle debut in the UEFA Cup on November 2, 2006 away to Palermo when Glenn Roeder was in charge.
9) I sold John Hartson – FALSE Joe Kinnear claimed he did not have a budget to work with at Wimbledon. Yet he signed John Hartson for a club record fee of £7.5m in January 1999 from West Ham. Hartson confirmed that on his Twitter feed that Terry Burton was the one who sold him for £6m to Coventry in 2001.

(Image frrom PA)
10) Newcastle did not score a goal in the last three home games of last season – TRUE. When it comes to recent history Kinnear is more reliable, Newcastle lost 3-0 to local rivals Sunderland, they were then thrashed 6-0 by Liverpool and lost 1-0 on the final day of the season to Arsenal.
Kinnear score 1/10
Remarkably out of ten statements made by Kinnear in a space of one day, only one was the truth leading many to wonder whether he is simply delusional or a pathological liar. Either way, it doesn’t bode well for the long term future of Newcastle. For Kinnear to be accepted, he needs to start telling the truth, start underplaying his role and calm the bravado talk of his past successes long enough for the Geordie faithful to see the real Joe. Until he does this, he will face a constant uphill struggle for acceptance which can only end badly for either Kinnear or the club.
To read the full Daily Mail article, click here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2343836/Joe-Kinnear–play-TRUE-FALSE-interview-claims.html
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