Newcastle United’s director of football Joe Kinnear (Picture: AP Photo)

Where’s our Wally? You know the one? Distinctive looking but impossible to spot and when he does turn up it is inevitably in a bewildering scenario which proves to be a source of humour for many.

After months without being seen, Newcastle United’s deal-breaker Joe Kinnear has been sent to Germany where it is claimed he will finalise negotiations with Borussia Moenchengladbach for Dutch international striker Luuk De Jong.

With calamitous Kinnear, whose reckless acts after boasting on national radio about his return to the club forced former managing director Derek ‘Llambezee’ Llambias to resign and, it is alleged, caused chief scout Graham Carr to consider his position, in the driving seat I suspect this transfer is only headed to the scrap-heap.



When Kinnear announced he had rejoined the Toon at the command of Mike Ashley in June 2013, his bumbling, clumsy and confused interviews, caused a media-storm and led many to think he had lost his marbles. Sadly, for the Toon, that was Ashley.


One of Kinnear’s first acts, after offending many of United’s star players and all of the St. James’ Park faithful, was to cancel the free transfer of another highly-rated import from Holland in FC Twente defender Douglas.

A deal was supposedly in place to bring the 26-year-old Brazilian born centre-back to Tyneside after a successful stint in Holland which saw him turn out in the Champions League.

Kinnear claimed he’d never heard of him and ended our interest in the player.

MORE: Yohan Cabaye puts himself firmly in the shop window once again

Darren Bent ended up at Fulham (Reuters)

Can a man who offends so easily and regularly courts controversy, let’s not forget in his first stint on Tyneside his mispronunciation of Charles N’Zogbia (Imsomnia) led to the Frenchman calling time on his Toon career, capable of completing a transfer in the modern game?

Newcastle were in desperate need of forward reinforcements last summer and were allegedly in advanced talks with England international striker Darren Bent – who had been frozen-out at Aston Villa.

On this occasion, Kinnear, it was claimed, failed to ‘impress’ Bent and his representatives after he demanded the forward wait until the end of the transfer window to force a better price. Such hard-nosed tactics only resulted in the end of the negotiations.

If Kinnear’s expletive ridden interviews and confrontational manner with the media are anything to go by then it’s no surprise the Toon have only succeeded in bringing Loic Remy to the club since his appointment. A player on-loan from a relegated club.

‘Judge me on my signings’, proclaimed Kinnear after experts and fans questioned his credentials as the club’s head of recruitment. As we near the end of his second transfer window at the club, we’re still waiting for a player to put pen to paper on a permanent deal.

It’s more in hope than expectation that Newcastle will sign a player this transfer window – rumors continue about Remy Cabella – but it’s clear to me the best deal the club can make would be to end its ties with Joe Kinnear.

MORE: Luuk De Jong would be a superb signing for Newcastle United