Respect the referee like Joe Kinnear
Newcastle's replay with Hull City in the FA Cup was punctuated by an incident in which Hull manager Phil Brown and his counterpart at Newcastle Joe Kinnear had what might lightly be described as a frank exchange of views. The incident was serious enough that both managers were removed from the touchline. Brown, after a little time to calm down, reflected in the Telegraph that while he would rather the incident went unpunished, the referee was right in the moment.
Then Newcastle's Chris Hughton, who is a coach I rate highly, became embroiled in a row with our dug-out about what? I couldn't understand it. Our point was that the tackle from behind was bang out of order so why are they being supportive?
That was my whole argument. Consequently, Joe became involved and we went close to each other and were rightly dealt with by the referee and sent to the stands.
I would not advocate that sort of activity among our players so there should be no exception among the managers and coaches.
Reasonable logic, Phil, and a fair reflection of the severity of the incident. Joe Kinnear doesn't agree, though, not even a little bit, as is reported by the Telegraph on the same day:
"It's part and parcel of how I feel. If you have something to say you have to say it. I didn't attack him in any way or anything else like that. We didn' t lock horns but we had plenty to say to each other.
"This was strictly between me and him. I don't know how the referee got involved.
"There must be some sort of rule that says you can't have a ruck with an opposing manager. That's all I saw it as – a ruck. I finished it but he instigated it."
Joe hasn't obviously checked the laws of the game, which specify quite clearly that you can't have a ruck with an opposing manager. The reasons behind not allowing two managers to have a ruck are so obvious that it makes little sense to regurgitate them here, but there'll be more controversial refereeing decisions made this year than the one Phil Dowd took to send the two managers to the stands.
Kinnear, though, might well want to double-check the rules of the game, and Mike Ashley might wish to clarify to him that if Kinnear has something to say, he doesn't have to say it. As we'd featured in our magnificent 7 youtube clips this week, sweary Joe is not afraid to speak his mind, regardless of who's listening. Someone really ought to have had a word when it emerged that Kinnear was still serving a suspension on the touchline when he arrived to Newcastle.
A month later, he was charged for misconduct by the FA for laying into referee Martin Atkinson after he awarded Fulham a penalty. Note the four words at the start of the Independent's summary:
It appeared innocuous but Kinnear added: "It was what happened before, not the penalty itself. Johnson completely pushes Cacapa out of the way, nicks the ball and gets the penalty and we've got a Mickey Mouse ref doing nothing. That's the standard of refereeing in this country. You can count the ones you want to respect on one hand."
Kinnear, only recently back into football, may well have missed the memo that circulated about the Respect the Referee campaign that the FA has been pushing since the summer. Still, if he had discovered it, he must have forgotten a month later when he was sent from the touchline during Newcastle's game with Stoke.
Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear was unhappy with the free-kick awarded against Sebastien Bassong for a foul on Fuller in the run-up to the goal.
The 61-year-old made his frustrations clear, resulting in referee Mike Riley sending the former Wimbledon to boss to the stands.
Our advice to the FA is that it might just be the time to start hearing those misconduct charges. They'll definitely help Kinnear to relax and respect the referees.
Sport without Spin - all work copyright of Mark and Rich 2008