page_title: 2008–09 Newcastle United F.C. season
section_title: Joe Kinnear
hierarchical_section_title: 2008–09 Newcastle United F.C. season / Season summary / Joe Kinnear
caption_attribution_description: English: Joe Kinnear
context_page_description: The 2008–09 season was Newcastle United's 16th consecutive season in the top division of English football. This season saw the club relegated from the Premier League to the Championship, the first time the club had been relegated since 1989.
  Things had looked reasonable for Newcastle at the start of the new season, but a major falling out between Kevin Keegan and the board saw Keegan resign as manager. This led to an awful run of form under caretaker manager Chris Hughton and the surprise appointment of Joe Kinnear was made to try to help the team out. A health scare saw Kinnear have to leave his office as manager in February. Under Hughton and Colin Calderwood, the club went on another horrible run of form as they were sucked deeper into the relegation battle. Ex-player Alan Shearer was appointed as a temporary manager for the last eight matches of the season but he was only able to win one of these games and Newcastle were relegated.
context_section_description: Assistant manager Chris Hughton took over as caretaker manager for several weeks, during which Newcastle were eliminated from the League Cup by Tottenham Hotspur and lost all their league matches. On 26 September, Hughton was replaced by Joe Kinnear as "interim manager." Kinnear's appointment proved completely unimpressive with the fans and resulted in Kinnear profusely verbally abusing and swearing at the media upon his first media interview. He then announced he would not speak to any national press again and would only speak with the local media. In his first two matches in charge, Newcastle managed 2–2 draws with Everton and Manchester City, coming from behind both times (the latter with ten men).
  In the last week of January, key players Shay Given and Charles N'Zogbia left, causing an already thin squad to lose more talent. Amongst ongoing criticism of the club board following Keegan's departure, Joe Kinnear managed five wins, ten draws, and 11 losses, and talks opened between Joe Kinnear and the board as to whether he would consider a full-time position the following season. On 7 February, however, the club's torrid season took another major blow when Kinnear was admitted to hospital following heart problems, and Chris Hughton once again took charge of the team, this time with the help of Colin Calderwood. By the end of March, the club was struggling to find form and keep pace with the opposition. With scarce wins over the course of the season, the team now faced a relegation battle.
caption: Joe Kinnear in January 2009
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