Newcastle Sack Hughton | Thebigtip

Newcastle United manager Chris Hughton has been sacked and has left the club with immediate effect.

Hughton was sacked by owner Mike Ashley on Monday following a run of poor results.

Hughton joined the club in a coaching capacity in February 2008 from rival English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. He was thrust into the limelight just over six months later when he was handed the caretaker manager reins after boss Kevin Keegan’s shock resignation.

Hughton took a step back when Newcastle appointed Joe Kinnear as temporary coach but was then forced to return to managerial duties when Kinnear was hospitalised with heart problems.

Following the unsuccessful attempts by Alan Shearer and Iain Dowie to keep the club in the Premier League, Hughton assumed caretaker responsibilities for the third time before being given the job on a permanent basis in October 2009 after an impressive start to Newcastle’s first Championship campaign.

Hughton guided Newcastle to the Championship title with two games to spare but the club were still tipped by many to go straight down. Despite this, Hughton led Newcastle to an impressive return to the top league, winning 6-0 at home to Aston Villa in their second game back, completing a 5-1 demolition of local rivals Sunderland and securing an impressive 1-0 victory away to Arsenal

There were, however, murmurings about Hughton’s position at the club as repeated questions regarding a contract extension were steadfastly batted away by the Newcastle front office. A run of just two points from their last five games seems to have given owner Mike Ashley the excuse he needed to ease Hughton out of the door.

A statement on the club’s website read ‘The board would like to place on record their thanks to Chris for his considerable efforts during the club’s transition from Championship to Premier League football. Regrettably the board now feels that an individual with more managerial experience is needed to take the club forward.’

Many fans were left disappointed and confused by the sacking as Hughton appears to have done an excellent job with few resources and has helped the club out of several holes in the two-and-a-half years that he has been there, both in a caretaker and full-time manager role.

Martin O’Neill has been installed as the bookies favourite to take over from Peter Beardsley who has been put in temporary charge.