FORMER NEWCASTLE CAPTAIN HAS 'POP' AT MIKE ASHLEY

ABOVE: Mick Martin has suggested a toon LEGEND would have suited the role better than Joe Kinnear

Joe has experience but he has antagonised the fans and they can't associate with him

Mick Martin

23rd June 2013

By Clive Hetherington

MICK MARTIN reckons Newcastle chief Mike Ashley could have won over the fans by going for a Toon LEGEND as director of football INSTEAD of Joe Kinnear.

Former Magpies skipper Martin believes Bryan 'Pop' Robson who recently lost his job as Sunderland's chief scout, and fellow 1969 Fairs Cup-winning hero Bob Moncur, were better suited for the role.
And Martin, 61, who is scouting for the Republic of Ireland, says he would have also been a more popular choice than Kinnear, 66.
The ex-Manchester United midfielder, a team-mate of Kinnear with the Republic in the 1970s, said: "I played with Joe at international level for three or four years and got to know him quite well.
"Joe has experience but he has antagonised the fans and they can't associate with him.'' Controversy hit Kinnear provoked widespread anger on Tyneside last week when, in a gaffe-littered radio interview, he said he was more intelligent than his Toon Army critics.
He was also ridiculed after mispronouncing a string of names, including a reference to Newcastle midfielder Yohan Cabaye as "Kebab''.