Yesterday I read the news that Kevin Keegan had parted company with Newcastle United FC. This after being trumpeted as the Saviour of this befuddled club a mere eight months ago. Today it’s all denials and talk of Keegan being in ‘frank discussions’ with the board. Football betting fans will join me in a cynical shrug and know that the writing is now on the wall. Some will say it’s down to a management that doesn’t understand football. Others will claim that the induction of Dennis Wise, an ominous figure lurking in the background, made the Messiah’s resurrection of the club nigh on impossible.

Thatcher, Pink Floyd and The Death of The Visionary

Personally, I trace it all back to 1979. This was the year that Thatcher came to power and the beginning of the era of monetarism. I was in the music business then and I saw the worrying signs of alarming change. Back in the sixties and seventies there were visionary A&R people in record companies who would spot a band like the Pink Floyd and see a long term potential. These people were respected for their far-sighted cleverness and the vast amounts of money invested by the record company in the long term build of the band was testament to the regard in which such people were held. After three or four loss-making albums, huge success occurred and their faith produced enormous rewards..

Since the early eighties, when the bean-counters took control, it has all changed. Moneymen declared that an album must recover its costs or the artist would be out of the door. On this basis, U2 would never have survived their first release. The visionaries were all sacked and the era of the slow-build was over. This poisonous approach gradually pervaded all businesses and, as Premiership betting enthusiasts can see, football has suffered like all the rest. It’s OK if you’re long-term established, but when new managers come in, the pressure is on to win the first match. They’ll get away with losing one but lose two and there’s muttering. Three, and questions are raised, four and new names are being mentioned. Five and they’re out. No chance to explain about the long-haul building and nurturing of a team. That’s all drowned out by the deafening shouts of ‘SHOW US THE MONEY!’