Newcastle United restored a grand old tradition to sports journalism this week — that of being called a c*** by Joe Kinnear. It used to be a badge of honour, like a tear-up with Sir Alex Ferguson. If Kinnear had not called you a c*** at least once, you were not doing the job properly.

I lost count of the number of times he called me a c*** one night after a Wimbledon match at Selhurst Park. I recall the disagreement started in the car park, went up three flights of stairs to the press conference and continued as a heated row for about five minutes beyond that. It followed some long-forgotten spat between Wimbledon and Tottenham Hotspur. Kinnear had a pop at Tottenham, Terry Venables, the Tottenham manager at the time, had a better pop back and because I reported his response it was somehow my fault.

Anyway, the last thing Kinnear said was that he would take any questions, but none from me. So I waited, let about six go, asked him something about the match that had just taken place and he answered. It was never mentioned again and never reported. That is Joe Kinnear. And I am not saying that it is the most sophisticated way to go about your business, but football, and football writing, are hardly the most refined industries, either.

Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, holds some pretty extreme views, too. His team drew 1-1 away to Sunderland on Saturday and he made his standard complaints about the referee and the tactics of the opposition. But because he presents this in a reasonable way, in sentences that do not resemble Chubby Brown’s closing routine at Stockton-on-Tees working men’s club, he is considered urbane, even rational.

No one would argue that Wenger’s manner is not preferable. It is the modern way, with mutual respect and distance, but, surprise, surprise, Wenger did not want to be caretaker manager of Newcastle United. No one did. That is why they ended up with a man who has not been involved with a top-flight club for almost a decade and is resolutely old school, albeit with a managerial track record that suggests he can galvanise ordinary players into exceptional performances, given a chance.

Within football, Kinnear’s reputation is sound and his first result, away to Everton yesterday, was solid enough. What he has to accept is that this is not how he was widely perceived on arrival. His anger at his treatment shows little awareness of his predicament. Those who have created this mess do not even want to turn up at St James’ Park, so he is the figurehead, the ally of an unpopular board and a very unpopular board member in Dennis Wise.

Kinnear’s appointment merely underlines the extent of the crisis. He is clearly temporary, which affords little respect, and from the beginning his statements were contradicted, undermining his authority. It would help if he recognised this, if he saw that so much of what he regarded as personal criticism was aimed not at him, but at a distant target, his employers.

This type of incident polarises opinion. A good number of supporters, whose initial judgments were every bit as harsh as those in newspapers, now see Kinnear as their champion for creating a siege mentality and attacking the mockery of their club. Damning criticism, however, came from Sir Bobby Robson, a man who suffered far greater torment at the hands of the press, who said that Kinnear’s players would not be motivated by a rant against reporters. He also stated that newspaper coverage of Kinnear’s first week had been fair.

Ultimately, there must be a better way of taking Newcastle forward than a cyclical debate over who is the biggest c*** in the room. And if Kinnear cares to be taken seriously, even by c***s, he must continue yesterday’s good work and find it.

Tug-of-war for Walcott as Capello and Pearce make their case for the Arsenal forward’s services in 2009

If England defeat Wales in the play-offs for the European Under-21 Championship finals, Stuart Pearce, the head coach, wants Theo Walcott to be made available for the tournament in Sweden next summer. Pearce will have noticed that in 2007, when England last qualified, the man of the match for Holland in the final was Ryan Babel, now of Liverpool, who inspired a 4-1 win over Serbia, despite having made his full international debut in March 2005 and being a playing squad member at the 2006 World Cup finals.

In many leading nations, such as Italy, if you are young enough, you play when there is a trophy at stake. Your ego is swapped for the chance of winning a medal.

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• Graham Spiers