Joe Kinnear has said that there are no problems behind the scenes at Newcastle, and that he and manager Alan Pardew are working well together.
Many people say Kinnear’s appointment as director of football earlier in the summer as a direct move to undermine manager Alan Pardew at the northeast club.
The Magpies suffered an opening day 4-0 loss at the hands of Manchester City, and only managed to scrape a draw with West Ham which has added to the discontent of the fans.
“We are working together – not plotting against each other,” Kinnear told the Daily Mirror.
“I don’t understand where the negativity has come from – we are two games into a 38-game season and already the doom-and-gloom merchants are looking for a scapegoat.”
Fans are also unhappy about Newcastle’s lack of moves in the transfer market while poised to accept the loss of one of their best players Yohan Cabaye to Arsenal.
During the West Ham game some fans unfurled a banner that read ‘Joe Kinnear, the clown of the Premier League’, yet the 66-year-old Kinnear is not fazed by it.
“Alan Pardew has signed 16 players costing £60m in the last two years, Newcastle United’s wage bill is now comfortably in the top 10 in the country, and he will continue to get all the support the club can reasonably provide,” Kinnear added.
“Before the season started, we had sat down and agreed the squad was big enough, and strong enough, to finish in the top half of the table. But we are working together – not plotting against each other.
“There seems to be a perception, from outside the club, that we are at loggerheads, but I don’t know why people are jumping on the bandwagon because it is a false picture.”
