With Newcastle still aiming to bring Steve Bruce to St James’ Park, news emerged in the Daily Mirror on Saturday that the Sheffield Wednesday manager would want to bring Graham Carr back to the club.
As if going for a manager like Bruce did not appear to be enough of a backwards step, a return for former chief scout Carr, should be a sign that the club is well and truly in reverse gear.
Highly thought of at the time, he signed an incredible eight year contract at St James’ Park in 2012, and was responsible for identifying players like Yohan Cabaye, Ayoze Perez and Cheick Tiote.
But there were plenty of less successful transfers suggested by him, including Gael Bigirimana, Romain Amalfitano, Curtis Good and Emmanuel Riviere.
The club seem to want to revert to the failed Alan Pardew blueprint
He left the club by mutual consent in 2017, at a time when the club rightly agreed to give Rafa Benitez more influence on signings.
But news of a Bruce appointment, and Carr coming back will leave many fans feeling that they are going back to the failed Alan Pardew model at the club.
It is like they are trying to wipe out all trace of Benitez from the club, and going back to the previous ways of a new, low-budget manager having little, or no, say in transfers.
The situation has gone full circle, to a blueprint that did not work then, and will not work now.
What an utter shambles our football club has become.
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