Souness Out. Newcastle in Limbo

Manchester City 3 Newcastle 0 – the fifth defeat in the last six premiership games. For Manager Graeme Souness, who had lived ‘on the brink’ for so long, it was clearly the last chance. And for Newcastle Chairman Freddy Shepherd evidently the last straw.

Souness’ sacking was entirely inevitable, the only unpredictable element being its precise timing. It brings to an end a 16 month tenure at St James Park and gives many Newcastle fans what they have been crying out for over a substantial period.

Graeme Souness is a real football man and he will react accordingly. He knows that he has brought some very good players to the club and been given too little time to prove what Newcastle might achieve had they all been available to play for a sustained period. Now that he has gone and the transfer window is closed, it falls in the short term at least to the caretaker partnership of Glenn Roeder and Tyne hero Alan Shearer to do better. And since according to reports neither of them holds a UEFA Pro Licence, they would be in breach of premiership regulations if they remained in office for more than 12 weeks. Interesting.