‘Interesting’: 48-year-old gaffer could keep his current job and manage Newcastle – journalist

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Speaking to Stadium Astro, Newcastle United journalist Chris Waugh has been speaking about the Newcastle manager job.

Steve Bruce has left the Magpies and the Tyneside club are on the lookout for a new gaffer.

Newcastle’s new owners are expected to be rather ambitious with this appointment, and one intriguing gaffer they’ve been linked to is Roberto Martinez.

Martinez is, of course, currently the manager of the Belgium national team, and just one year out from the World Cup, it’s hard to imagine the Spaniard giving up the chance to head to Qatar with the Red Devils’ golden generation one last time.

However, Waugh is led to believe that Newcastle could manage Newcastle while keeping his job as the Belgium boss, at least initially.

What’s been said?

Waugh spoke about Martinez potentially getting the Newcastle job.

“It’s interesting that you’re mentioning Martinez as well. There are links with Newcastle’s backroom staff, Graeme Jones is in interim charge and he’s worked with Martinez for 11 years, so there is a connection there. I’ve even had it suggested to me, not by people from the consortium, but from people in and around the club that Martinez could come in and still be Belgium manager to begin with and maybe Jones could have a bit more of a role, so that’s an interesting one,” Waugh said.

Interesting

Waugh describes this prospect as interesting, and he’s absolutely right.

It’s very rare to see a national team manager take a club job, but it has happened before.

Gus Hiddink took charge of Chelsea back in 2009 while he was still the manager of Russia, and Martinez could follow his example at Newcastle.

Of course, this isn’t likely to be a long-term solution for the Magpies and Martinez may have to leave Belgium eventually, but if the 48-year-old is prepared to work two jobs at once, Newcastle could soon appoint a very talented manager.