Kinnear Rant 254: Blame FSA and KKK

The latest rant in a long line from Joe Kinnear has seen our current manager take aim at the previous two St James Park hotseat incumbents. Fat Sam Allardyce and 'King` Kevin Keegan take the rap from the former Wimbledon boss, as he sees their failures to strengthen the squad as the reason he is struggling now. Kinnear said:

'I've inherited this. They are not my players, everybody has forgotten that. But our biggest problem is a lack of strength in depth. Why wasn't it addressed by the last manager Keegan or the manager before him Allardyce? I am carrying the can for it. It is as simple as that.

People think things will turn out okay whatever happens, but I don't believe they will. We must do something about it. The squad has to be strengthened, there are no ifs and buts about it. I have expressed it to (owner) Mike Ashley and he is very open about it.

People have said that previous managers maybe didn't get what they want. I don't believe that will happen to me. I haven't got any reason to think he won't go my way. I have probably spent more time spelling it out to him than any other manager. I see him regularly and talk to him regularly. I have spelled out the gravity of the situation.

I say, 'we're not prepared for anything like the disaster we face and you've got to realise the importance of that'. I want to be judged on what I bring in, the depth of the first-team squad is not right at the moment. What I inherited was potentially a relegation squad. With the injuries, once they came, we were in deep trouble.

We must look to stay up this season and have a big clear-out in the summer and address everything completely differently. We need to get the squad back in shape and make sure we have appropriate cover in every position. We need to take a leaf out of the book of the other top clubs. They don't seem to have a problem like we do.'

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