Finally, Souness Fired

Filed in archive Managers on February 3, 2006

source: theage.com.au

Newcastle have finally put Graeme Souness out of his misery and given him the boot. His reign at St. James has pretty much been a disaster from start to finish. The Newcastle board were insane to fire Sir Bobby Robson in the first place after the grand old (slightly senile) man of English football had turned the club from relelgation fodder into top four material, but to replace him with Souness, a man who has failed at every club except Rangers (where even I could have won a Scottish championship in the '90s) was just silly.

The thinking was that Robson was too 'nice' and had allowed players like Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy too much leeway. Souness was brought in as a disciplinarian, and soon clashed with Bellamy who famously called his boss "a liar" in a televised interview. Bellamy was moved on to Blackburn Rovers for less money than the Welsh striker was worth, creating a crisis up front for Newcastle.

Souness then splashed the cash to cure Newcastle's ills, only to see big-money signings like Owen, Luque, Parker and Emre go down with injuries. For most managers this would be a viable excuse but everywhere Souness has managed there has been an injury crisis. Coincidence?

Rumours that he ignores things like tactics and defending during training, preferring to focus on full-blooded five-a-side battles are corroborated by his teams tactical ineptitude, defensive frailty and massive injury list.