where's me country?

Should Souness Go?

1.25.2006

The last few weeks have been lived in tumult around St James' Park. Nothing is new in that regard, another manager has tried to take a bunch of party loving misfits and one deranged chairman and make a successful club out of them.

I myself reckon that the manager has little or no managerial qualities and his greatest strength is turning disagreements into personality clashes into mass exoduses. Newcastle have taken 1 point from a possible 15 over the last few games. We are at this stage sinking slowly to the depths of the premiership, only consoled by the fact that Sunderland are uncatchable at the bottom. Yet the manager walks out in front of the press braces himself, grits his teeth and commits himself to seeing off this current crisis and doing much better when we have something resembling the team he payed 50 million pounds for.

Freddy is having none of it, he wants top fare football, scinitillating form and results. Im not surprised the fans can only be fleeced so much before you need to look to UEFA for revenue. A 'big club' like Newcastle must be up there, he cries.

Well cry all you like Freddy but until such time as someone removes the two donkeys that we have dressed in football boots and jereseys from center back we are on the slippery slope to the 3rd division (since that is all their talents qualify them to play at). Souness is not a great manager, he is something of a dodgy personality but above all else he is the only manager that is willing to come within an asses roar of St James' lunatic asylum.

There was an argument for a quick heave in the first week of january let the new lad get settled and still have some transfer time left for loans and quick fixes. As january ends we have taken no such impetus. As a result we look likely to can the guy in the middle of march with no possibility of achieving anything anyway and getting a new manager in for the hell of it. Let him finish this season. With that team, no one can do much better than right now unless cash is flashed. If by May we have options, then Ill be first to call for his head. Right now is the wrong time to sack him. That moment passed two weeks ago.

The argument is always made that a manager is only as good as his players, and Souness has about five players who are committed, motivated and able. Two of those are over 35.

The rest of the players have to shut the hell up, pull up their socks and work for a change. We all know Titus and Boumsong are crap so make sure they arent left on their own. Double the work and we might, MIGHT, start to draw games.

Christ, it looked so easy when Owen was unveiled.

(I know my non-soccer loving readers will be a bit perplexed by all that but I needed a good rant at the insanity that seems to afflict a managerial stint at Newcastle at around 18 months.)
RR
Categories: Soccer, Comment, Newcastle, Souness

This entry was posted on 1.25.2006 at 1/25/2006 06:26:00 p.m.. There are . If you want, you can leave your own response by clicking here. You may also send this post to a friend of yours via email, or bookmark it for yourself by using icons below;