Newcastle 1971/72 Management

Hey Joe

Ultimately this was a great season for Harvey who at last was allowed to open the cheque book and did so with great effect by signing three of United's best ever players in Malcolm Macdonald, Terry Hibbitt and Tony Green.

But in the early months The Magpies struggled badly and as they propped up the rest of the teams there were calls from some supporters for his head.

But Joe was in no mood to resign, claiming correctly that he had been in tighter spots before and citing the club's injury problems as the main cause of the club's predicament.

He was also on the receiving end when the slinging of mud followed the Hereford disaster with many fans choosing to blame the management rather than the players.

New Style

Dave Smith had moved to Arsenal and he was replaced by Keith Burkinshaw; it heralded an attempted revamp of United's style as concentration on defence was replaced by reliance on attack.

"We must try to bring back the excitement that has perhaps been missing. That means scoring goals", he said at the start of the season.

But it was clear that it would be a gradual process as United's attack only clicked into gear intermittently and they drew a blank in almost half of thier League games.

But he was also a hard task master as confirmed by Tudor after pre-season training. "We seem to do everything we did before, only twice. I've got a blister on a blister on my foot"