Journalists say Newcastle United boss Joe Kinnear has been a lot more approachable since his amazing rant at the beginning of his reign.

"Since then he has been fine," Simon Bird, the Daily Mirror journalist who took the first hit when Kinnear flipped, told the Observer. "He's answered the questions, he's sat and talked - he's sort of loosened up and been a bit more lighthearted and jokey. He's not been over-friendly or over-charming, but he has answered the questions."

The downside for journalists to Kinnear's loosening up has been that the manager tends to use language for language's sake and sees no real need to give them reliable information. A number of writers have attested to his habit of "saying one thing one day and completely the opposite the next" and "being elastic with the facts".