Source: Telegraph
Lee Clark fears Alan Shearer can't save Newcastle
Shearer has just five games left to haul his club out of the relegation zone and has admitted the forthcoming Tyneside matches against Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and then Fulham will decide the club's fate.
However, Clark, now managing League Two side Huddersfield, has expressed grave reservations as to whether or not Shearer will be able to pull off a great escape by winning those fixtures with the daunting games at
Liverpool and then finally Aston Villa remaining.
Newcastle up as Dennis Wise leaves St JamesAlan Shearer stirs emotional rescue on TynesideAlan Shearer and Iain Dowie backed to steer Newcastle out of relegation trouble"I have obviously looked at what they have got remaining and looked at the fixtures initially I thought that the three home games were the bankers," said Clark.
"But then when I sat back and reflected on it I thought well not necessarily so. It is not going to be cut and dried as that.
Tyneside-born Clark, who played more than 200 games for Newcastle in two spells, believes Portsmouth, who visit the North-East next Monday, Boro and Fulham will all prove to be difficult opponents for a side that has won just four of its 16 home games this season.
"You hope you are right that the home games will be enough to get the necessary points to keep them up but it is easier said than done," said Clark, 36.
"Portsmouth, even though they are not winning many games, are not losing many games," They are picking up quite a lot of draws but they have stopped their losing habit so that will be tough.
"Roy Hodgson has done a magnificent job at my old club Fulham and proved what a top-class manager and coach he is and he has got them very well organised and that showed with their win at Manchester City.
"And Middlesbrough is a local derby and Gareth Southgate and his lads are fighting for their lives as well plus in a local derby the old adage is that form goes out the window." Clark, who played with Shearer at Newcastle, is currently cutting his managerial teeth with League One Huddersfield and believes that strength of character will prove to be crucial in the final run-in with his old club currently second bottom of the Premier League following a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham.
"At this moment in time I have started a new career and I am enjoying because things are okay and going well and we're getting some positive results," said Clark.
"But I imagine if you have a downturn in form and things are going against you have to have steely character and be a strong person to withstand that. I wouldn't want to be in that position. It must be horrendous.
"The people who are down there with their clubs I know some of them well â " Alan, Gareth Southgate, Phil Brown and Ricky Sbragia who was a coach in my Sunderland days.
"They are that sort of character and they will need all that determination to keep the pressure from the players because the last thing they need is for the players to feel the tension that's around to stop them getting the required results."
