FEISTY JOE WAS NEVER ORDINARY
Irish Spurs star and Crazy Gang boss has died at the age of 77
JOE KINNEAR was a man who did things his own way.
As a dependable full-back, he served as a key member of a starstudded Tottenham side before embarking upon a managerial career which brought him huge acclaim with Wimbledon’s ‘Crazy Gang’ – but ended in a hail of controversy at Newcastle.
Kinnear, who has died at the age of 77, was granted a trial by Watford at 15 but they did not offer him a contract. When he left school, he took a job as an apprentice printer and played part-time for non-league St Albans City, where he was spotted by Spurs.
There, he signed amateur terms with the club’s youth team, having been asked to switch from his right-half role to right full-back, and won his first professional contract at the age of 18. He made his senior debut under manager Bill Nicholson in a 4-1 home defeat by West Ham on April 8, 1966.
He made 258 appearances for the club, winning the League Cup twice and UEFA Cup, as well as 26 caps for the Republic of Ireland. A move to third division Brighton in
1975 amounted to just 16 appearances, as a knee ligament injury effectively ended his playing career.
He took a part-time coaching role with Southern League Woodford Town, later completing his coaching badges, before coaching the Nepal national team.
Spells working in the United Arab Emirates followed and he was later made caretaker boss of fourth division Doncaster. But it was with Wimbledon Kinnear (below) would finally make his name as a manager. Initially recruited by FA Cup-winning boss Bobby Gould as his reserve team coach, he was handed the first-team reins in January 1992. Kinnear guided the Dons to sixth in the Premier League in his second full season and to three major semifinals on modest resources.
In March 1999 he suffered a heart attack and decided the time was ripe for change. A brief spell as director of football at Oxford was followed by an eventful reign at Luton and a difficult tenure at Nottingham Forest.
But it was at Newcastle where he was catapulted back into the headlines. Kinnear had been out of work for almost four years when Toon owner Mike Ashley asked him to take caretaker charge. His first press conference descended into an expletiveridden rant and his subsequent appearances before the media were often entertaining, if not always factually accurate.
Fresh heart problems soon forced Kinnear to step down, although Ashley turned to him for a second time in June 2013, this time as director of football.
He lasted only seven months, resigning in February 2014 and soon dropping out of the spotlight. His wife revealed in September 2021 Kinnear had been living with dementia since 2015.
AFC Wimbledon hailed their former boss as a “true legend of the club, who gave us some amazing memories”.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said: “He will always be remembered at this football club for his achievements.”