Coverage for the week of the 30th January - 5th February 2006
 

Finally, it’s over.  After the gutless home loss to Blackburn last week, and a pathetic raising of the white flag at Man City, in a game that typified his reign in both starting selection and formation and bizarre decision making, Graeme Souness was finally relieved of his duties as Newcastle United manager.  (Article) (Article)  Cue a mass sigh of relief on Tyneside, which nearly took the tiles off the Hancock roof and the raising of a celebratory glass or two within the tf bunker.  It is this decision that obviously dominates this week’s missive on the media.

Making the front pages just as much as the back pages, in a typical NUFC way, (Article) (Article) Souness was informed by letter of his sacking at 11 am.  By 5pm furniture removal vans were pictured outside of his Tyneside residence as the now former manger had finally “talked himself out of his job.”  (Article)  Now it’s not just me that finds this amazing is it?  He either has a mate in the haulage business or the new Yellow Pages website is bloody good.  Have you ever tried to do anything like that at the last minute?  Or has the van been booked and then cancelled after every game this season?   With that man, like NUFC, nothing seems to surprise me anymore.  I’ve said it before in my weekly ramblings and I’ll say it again.  I have never doubted that Souness was an honest bloke doing his best and genuinely meaning the things he said and genuinely proud to be the manager at NUFC.  He was just totally out of his depth and as the excuses mounted and the decisions got more perplexing, his credibility and ultimately his ability were called into question until he just had to go.  To say that he was sacked just as players were getting fit (Article) is insulting and just lends more worth than it is due to the now very tired “the injuries are to blame” line that has been emanating from SJP over the last 18 months.  “They didn’t help” says Chris Waddle (Article).  Fabulous insight there from the Hebburn (Ed: Bill Quay – those things matter in that neck of the woods) sausage packer.  I really do wonder what people get paid for sometimes.

As if they need to, the BBC ask “what went wrong?” (Article) (How about everything?  Howay man!) it seems like everyone in football has an opinion on Souness, Shepherd, the club and who should take over the reigns at St James’.  Mark Lawrenson, someone we know knows all about sorting defences out (aye…) laid the blame squarely at the back four.  (Article) (Article)  That’s fine and in itself a fair point, but who was supposed to be organising the defensive areas of the side into some sort of cohesive unit.  Souness?  One of HIS entourage? Either way that is far too simple a way to look at it for me, and those who live in glass houses just shouldn’t throw stones.  It’s so much easier on the cosy seats at the BBC isn’t it Magnum PI? 

Amongst the more obscure sources of comment on Souness was Paul Dalglish.  No, you read that right, not Kenny but Paul.  (Article) Whoever next?  His neighbour’s auntie who he waved to once on the way to TESCO?  Then back in the real world there has been plenty of insight and input from fellow managers.  Paul Jewell, a name repeatedly linked with the job at SJP since Souness was sacked, offered probably the best comment on not just Souness himself but also the fragility of the manager’s position citing his own departure from Sheffield Wednesday.  (Article)  Neil Warnock, another character I like mainly for his plain talking abrasive style, was much more succinct.  “When you run out of answers, there is only one outcome.”  (Article)  Fair enough really.  Harry Redknapp, everyone’s favourite chirpy Cock(ney) character that you might not want to buy a car off, obviously on the wind up pre-match focussed rather more on the responsibility of the players.  (Article)  I wonder how much of this was going through their minds as they took the pitch before dispatching Pompey at the weekend.  Twit.  Then pf course you could not have Souness leave without the obligatory swipe from loveable old SBR (Article).  And not one mention of how horrible these fanzine editors that allow managerial criticism within their publications are at all.  Not a peep.    The bottom line is that Souness was not good enough, no matter how you look at it.  (Article) FACT!  I’ll leave the final word on Souness to the Sunday Sun’s Neil Farrington, someone who usually gets up my nose a bit and generally has an agenda and a planet all his own.  Here he dispels a few myths about Souness (Article) and then shoots himself in the foot by marking down Babayaro in his match ratings, uncannily like something Souness has often accused some of the local media of.

So what of the chairman then?  He’d certainly had plenty to say this past week, after a rather quiet time of late.  He reckons this time he’ll take his time over the next appointment (Article) (Article) and this time he’ll get it right (Article).  Something you may remember we were asking some time ago from the depths of the tf bunker.  He’s looking abroad as well as at home apparently (Article) and while he agrees that Souness had to go (Article) he now reckons that there are few who can handle the job. (Article)  For that I read few can handle the chairman.

And that’s certainly been the thrust within the press, take this from The People’s Macca (Article) and The Sunday Times’ Rob Hughes (Article) saying just that as the pressure has been well applied on the man at the top.  The press have had a field day, laying into FFS left right and centre.  Described as a man of great expectations (Article) the biggest concern is the apparent lack of any long term strategy (Article).  Celebrity slimmer and former goal machine and horse botherer Mickey Quinn (Article) (Article) was the first to turn the sights on the chairman and he was soon followed by Reade in The Mirror (Article) and Henry Winter as the bigger guns found their range (Article).  Certainly the new man under pressure is the chairman (Article=) and perhaps they are right when they say “Only an idiot or a mad man would follow his predecessors” into the NUFC hot seat (Article).

So who is that lunatic to be? (Article) It’s no easy task.  “Mission Impossible” (Article) perhaps.  And perhaps it is also right that the next appointment should be safe not sexy (Article).  Linked with the job so far have been Paul Jewell (Article), Sam Allardyce (Article), Sven Goran and his Harem of plenty, Ottmar Hitzfeld (Paully’s favourite Obersturmfuhrer) and Martin O’Neill.  The latter being a big favourite in the press and a marginal favourite within the tf bunker.  (Article) (Article) (Article) (Article)

(Article) (Article).  Never mind how his wife is or owt like that eh lads?  Classy.  Then again if you don’t ask you never know and I wouldn’t put it past FFS to ask, would you?

It would be remiss of me to let this week go without congratulating Captain, Assistant to the caretaker manager (or whatever he is) and legend Alan Shearer on becoming the club’s all time leading scorer.  A once in a life time moment celebrated in the vital win over Portsmouth.  (Article) (Article) (Article) (Article) (Article)  Mind you some people just can’t bring themselves to do this feat the justice it deserves (Article).  Bitterness must be such a horrible thing to live with.   And I’d like to know how the BBC decided that only 13 photos would sum up Shearer’s goal scoring record at St James’ (Article) and they could have picked out some better moments than that surely!  It’s like covering the history of the world in 200 words or less.  Never mind, at least they tried.  I’ll leave the last word on Shearer to a colleague and legend in the making, Shay Given. (Article)  Just one thing to leave you with this week, the essential Simon Jordan column from The Observer (Article).  Just imagine what we could do if we had a chairman as articulate, thoughtful and considered and one who is not frightened to act at the right time, even if that means being unpopular with certain groups or organisations.  Respect.

NM