John Carver is determined to win over those Newcastle United fans who do not want him to continue as the club’s head coach after the summer. After Alan Pardew’s interim successor was booed by a minority of travelling supporters at the end of the recent 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace, Lee Charnley, Newcastle’s managing director, publicly urged everyone on Tyneside to get behind Carver. “Let’s not think this is a massive issue, because it’s not,” said Carver, who takes an injury-ravaged squad featuring only four fit senior defenders to Manchester City on Saturday. “The reaction of the majority of people I’ve met on the street has been really positive towards me, but it’s a different vibe on social media.”
As a Newcastle fan, Carver, who is gradually making the team more attacking while tightening certain aspects of their defence, understands the desire to criticise. “If I was in the stands I’d be having a go about the same issues at times,” he said. “Our fans are very knowledgeable people. I genuinely mean that. I think we are fortunate in the north-east to have very knowledgeable fans here and at Sunderland. They love the game. So when people start having a go I can half understand that. Let’s not make them out to be bad fans because they’re not – but [criticism] takes away from the importance of supporting the team.”
Having served as Alan Pardew’s No2 for four years, Carver became accustomed to his predecessor weathering sometimes sustained abuse from fans. “There’s always going to be people out there who’ll have a go at you and you’ve got to deal with it,” he said. “But the important thing is making sure there’s a relationship between me and the fans. I think’s it’s important and I’m trying to create that. It’s important people understand I only want the best for this club.
“I got that minority reaction at Crystal Palace because I took off a forward for a defender – but I had to do it. If I explain that to people they might start to understand it. I was trying to get a point from the game rather than lose all three. Every point we get is crucial.“
Carver recently canvassed tactical opinion from a group of junior schoolboys at his local golf club. “I sat with nine, 10, 11-year-old kids for 15 minutes talking about the team,” he said. “It was quite funny. I asked one kid to write his side down in formation on a piece of paper. He had two defenders in a 2-6-2. I told him we would do that against Manchester City.”
The former Toronto manager feels social media distorts the consensus while also lacking context. “It gives someone a voice,” he said. “You might have a 15-year-old kid who has an opinion, puts it out on social media, it starts a discussion and, all of a sudden this lad, this Joe Bloggs, gets a bit of an ego.”
