Another one who doesn't rate Souness

[Isegrim 9900]

Abject display proves it is time for a change at St James' Park

By Tony Cascarino

Graeme Souness has no excuses and is on borrowed time

DISMISSALS CAN BE SWIFT AND BRUTAL or slow and agonising. When under-pressure managers reiterate time and again that they are not going to resign and suddenly the chairman goes quiet, even though results are still poor, it is often the case that the two have talked and failed to come to an agreement about how the manager should leave.

 

Which usually means that they are unable to strike a compensation deal. Paying off Graeme Souness would probably be expensive and it is hard to imagine that Newcastle United have much in the coffers after his £50 million spending spree. There are cheaper methods.

 

I have seen cases where chairmen decide to send in the infantry for an assault that they hope will oust the enemy within through sheer force of numbers. I am talking about the fans. Demonstrations, radio phone-ins, boycotts, boos. Coupled with a board that has no intention of manning the barricades, they can make a manager’s position untenable. As Souness’s position surely is, which he must admit in private if not in public, where he remains defiant.

 

The Scot’s excuse of choice is Newcastle’s injury list. He is right, of course, there are a lot of key players missing. But what are managers paid for? To overachieve, to coax performances and secure results above expectations.

 

I sat at Craven Cottage on Saturday watching an abject Newcastle display and thought that even the number of absent players was not an adequate reason to explain the standard of football played by those who were fit to pull on the shirt. Even below-par teams, if they are well coached, can mesh into a unit, can be organised and can execute tactics. Newcastle resembled a bunch of lads just slung on the pitch any old how. It was hard not to conclude that even if Newcastle had a full- strength team, victories would owe more to the natural ability of their stars than to the way they were instructed.

 

Start with the line-up, which smacked of a manager living a game-by-game existence, thinking: “If I don’t lose, I get to do this again next week.” Alan Shearer up front on his own, with Albert Luque and Nolberto Solano tucking in behind. Outcome: no threat. At his age (35), Shearer cannot endlessly run into the channels any more.

 

Luque cost £9.5 million but is nowhere near as good as James Milner, who was sent to Aston Villa on loan. Jean-Alain Boumsong is £8 million of gladiator. Tough-looking enough to be a bouncer, he may be more suited to stopping people entering discos than to preventing players sauntering past him on the pitch. He’s so dodgy even I dominated him, aged 34, when he was a teenager with Le Havre and I was at Nancy.

 

There were lots of chants of “Souness out” — but all from mocking Fulham supporters. The away fans were unsure how to react, not wanting to seem disloyal but not prepared to sing in support of their manager. So they responded by chanting the name of the team. Perhaps they will heap scorn on Souness if Newcastle are as bad at the next home match.

 

I have no personal gripe with Souness, but sadly there were no positives to take. There will not be a turnaround, just more mediocrity, and that’s down to bad buys and inadequate coaching, not because Newcastle are an impossible club. There is no light at the end of this dark, dark tunnel.

[sweetleftpeg 0]

Fucking typical, all the media boys who's views are at least taken in (Hansan, Green etc) are his mates and won't slag him, and the only one who does is the Shitehawk nobosy ever listens to cos he's usually full of shit. By the way, I would check that quote about playing against Boumsong, cos Cascarino is known to make shit up to make himself look good.

 

By the way, I think a lot of what he says is spot on.

[Renton 22001]

Fucking typical, all the media boys who's views are at least taken in (Hansan, Green etc) are his mates and won't slag him, and the only one who does is the Shitehawk nobosy ever listens to cos he's usually full of shit. By the way, I would check that quote about playing against Boumsong, cos Cascarino is known to make shit up to make himself look good.

 

By the way, I think a lot of what he says is spot on. 

79809[/snapback]

 

I like Cascarino actually, and at least someone is prepared to tell it like it is - he is spot on there. Some of the backing Souness has had in the media this week have been fairly unbelievable:

 

On Friday night Rodney Marsh said on John Barnes's crappy footy program words to the effect "The thing I like about Souness is he never backs away from a fight, and he will always come out and defend his corner, and not make excuses". WTF - the same Souness that has been FORCED to make the after match interviews by Shepherd, and has a pathetic excuse for everything.

 

On thursday, Beresford said he truely believes Shearer will hold aloft the FA cup. WTF! Dickhead.

 

And on MotD on Saturday, they glossed over our match with no reference to our performance. When they showed the league tables, they mentioned all the movement apart from us going down to 13th. What a surprise.

[sweetleftpeg 0]

Fucking typical, all the media boys who's views are at least taken in (Hansan, Green etc) are his mates and won't slag him, and the only one who does is the Shitehawk nobosy ever listens to cos he's usually full of shit. By the way, I would check that quote about playing against Boumsong, cos Cascarino is known to make shit up to make himself look good.

 

By the way, I think a lot of what he says is spot on. 

79809[/snapback]

 

I like Cascarino actually, and at least someone is prepared to tell it like it is - he is spot on there. Some of the backing Souness has had in the media this week have been fairly unbelievable:

 

On Friday night Rodney Marsh said on John Barnes's crappy footy program words to the effect "The thing I like about Souness is he never backs away from a fight, and he will always come out and defend his corner, and not make excuses". WTF - the same Souness that has been FORCED to make the after match interviews by Shepherd, and has a pathetic excuse for everything.

 

On thursday, Beresford said he truely believes Shearer will hold aloft the FA cup. WTF! Dickhead.

 

And on MotD on Saturday, they glossed over our match with no reference to our performance. When they showed the league tables, they mentioned all the movement apart from us going down to 13th. What a surprise.

79815[/snapback]

 

Oh yeah, the BBC is so pro-Souness it's almost criminal. I had the Monday Night Club on Radio 5 last week where they invited 3 NUFC season ticket holders to air their views. All were anti-Souness and imo did a good job, they were level headed and had good arguments without ranting, saying they were sure he might be a good bloke but tactically he hasn't got a clue. The bloke on there (the head of football on Radio 5, can never remember his name) said NUFC fans are always whinging and this anti-Souness feeling was just more knee-jerk stuff from us. Jesus wept!

[David Kelly 1260]

Cascarino is spot on bad buys and inadequate coaching is what has left us where we are (and considering the Smoggies are now only one place above the relegation spots we could end up falling further yet).

 

I watched some of goals on Sunday yesterday and was yet again subject to the same excuse of the players we have missing. It made me think about who we did have playing in the midfield in particular (which is where we are struggling the most to provide any sort of entertainment). We had Solano who above all else is a ball player, Clarkie who is the same, Bowyer who was once considered good enough to play for England, and Nzogbia who always looks good when he has the ball. How come these players can't manage to string two passes together when yesterday I saw a West Brom midfield that consisted of Greeening, Wallwork, Inamoto and Darren Carter knocking the ball about very nicely. These are hardly world class players and taking their league position into account you would expect that they aren't exactly full of confidence yet the way they played made us look like a Sunday pub team (and a poor on at that).

 

What Souness is doing to the team is nothing short of criminal and surely even putting Glenn Roder in charge until we can find the right replacement must be an improvement on where we are now. The financial issue doesn't really matter as Souness has made it clear he won't quit so we will have to pay him one way or the other (either wages or by paying off the rest of his contract) and at least by paying off now we might manage to get some more money in terms of league position and possible ticket sales for future cup games (because I certainly won't pay to see another game as long as he is in charge and I'm sure there are more than a few others who feel the same).

 

The time has come I feel to make our feeling felt at the games but unfortunately there is such a sense of apathy around the place at the moment it seems most fans can't even be bothered to do that!

[Guest alex]

Cascarino's book is canny like.

[Bombadil 0]

BBC Newcastle falls into the same category. The match commentary is crap, they're up Souness' arse and their interviews are pathetic, they virtually hand him his excuses on a plate. Hansen and Lawrenson are the worst though. The Blackburn fans who came on the forum the day Souness was appointed were spot on, they predicted this would happen and they were pissed off about the protection he's always getting from his mates in the media.

[Guest alex]

BBC Newcastle falls into the same category. The match commentary is crap, they're up Souness' arse and their interviews are pathetic, they virtually hand him his excuses on a plate. Hansen and Lawrenson are the worst though. The Blackburn fans who came on the forum the day Souness was appointed were spot on, they predicted this would happen and they were pissed off about the protection he's always getting from his mates in the media.

79856[/snapback]

Going off BBC Newcastle, you'd think we were robbed. The papers seemed to think Fulham were the better side in a woeful game.

[Renton 22001]

BBC Newcastle falls into the same category. The match commentary is crap, they're up Souness' arse and their interviews are pathetic, they virtually hand him his excuses on a plate. Hansen and Lawrenson are the worst though. The Blackburn fans who came on the forum the day Souness was appointed were spot on, they predicted this would happen and they were pissed off about the protection he's always getting from his mates in the media.

79856[/snapback]

Going off BBC Newcastle, you'd think we were robbed. The papers seemed to think Fulham were the better side in a woeful game.

79859[/snapback]

 

Century weren't much better; Moncur refused to directly criticize Souness (although I am certain he is intelligent enough to see how incompetent he is). This would be the same Moncur who is on NUFC's payroll anf gives pre-match dinner speeches to the corporates mind.

[sweetleftpeg 0]

Supermac is the same, although I haven't listened much lately so don't know what his stance is at the moment. Usually it's backing the club though.

[Jusoda Kid 1]

Supermac is the same, although I haven't listened much lately so don't know what his stance is at the moment. Usually it's backing the club though.

79865[/snapback]

 

On Legends the other night Macdonald said that the thought had crossed his mind that souness was actually playing for the sack with some of his bizarre team selections.

 

He wants the shithouse out imo

[Renton 22001]

Supermac is the same, although I haven't listened much lately so don't know what his stance is at the moment. Usually it's backing the club though.

79865[/snapback]

 

On Legends the other night Macdonald said that the thought had crossed his mind that souness was actually playing for the sack with some of his bizarre team selections.

 

He wants the shithouse out imo

79869[/snapback]

 

I would say SuperMac has been gunning for Souness for months now, so I think SLP's criticism is a bit unfair tbh. He was also brave enough to point out that some of Souness's were basically shite long before anyone on here said it - Boumsong especially springs to mind. He has a bit of egg on his face for slagging off Parker maybe, but I concur that the way we have him playing is excessively negative and we can't play fluent attacking football with him in that position (just an opinion, obviously).

[sweetleftpeg 0]

Supermac is the same, although I haven't listened much lately so don't know what his stance is at the moment. Usually it's backing the club though.

79865[/snapback]

 

On Legends the other night Macdonald said that the thought had crossed his mind that souness was actually playing for the sack with some of his bizarre team selections.

 

He wants the shithouse out imo

79869[/snapback]

 

I would say SuperMac has been gunning for Souness for months now, so I think SLP's criticism is a bit unfair tbh. He was also brave enough to point out that some of Souness's were basically shite long before anyone on here said it - Boumsong especially springs to mind. He has a bit of egg on his face for slagging off Parker maybe, but I concur that the way we have him playing is excessively negative and we can't play fluent attacking football with him in that position (just an opinion, obviously).

79883[/snapback]

 

Like I said, I haven't listened lately but in the past he's defended the club when they need the local media to give them a kicking. He still doesn't rate Parker from the little snippets I've heard, anyone know why?

[Shearergol 0]

Agree with the article apart from this line:

 

Luque cost £9.5 million but is nowhere near as good as James Milner

 

On current form, the statement might look true. But if you evaluate the true abilities of the two players, it's as wide of the mark as any statement could be.

[Renton 22001]

Supermac is the same, although I haven't listened much lately so don't know what his stance is at the moment. Usually it's backing the club though.

79865[/snapback]

 

On Legends the other night Macdonald said that the thought had crossed his mind that souness was actually playing for the sack with some of his bizarre team selections.

 

He wants the shithouse out imo

79869[/snapback]

 

I would say SuperMac has been gunning for Souness for months now, so I think SLP's criticism is a bit unfair tbh. He was also brave enough to point out that some of Souness's were basically shite long before anyone on here said it - Boumsong especially springs to mind. He has a bit of egg on his face for slagging off Parker maybe, but I concur that the way we have him playing is excessively negative and we can't play fluent attacking football with him in that position (just an opinion, obviously).

79883[/snapback]

 

Like I said, I haven't listened lately but in the past he's defended the club when they need the local media to give them a kicking. He still doesn't rate Parker from the little snippets I've heard, anyone know why?

79886[/snapback]

 

I think he's backed himself into a corner on that one and won't admit he was wrong, which is understandable, tbh.

[Ted Maul 0]

Supermac is the same, although I haven't listened much lately so don't know what his stance is at the moment. Usually it's backing the club though.

79865[/snapback]

 

On Legends the other night Macdonald said that the thought had crossed his mind that souness was actually playing for the sack with some of his bizarre team selections.

 

He wants the shithouse out imo

79869[/snapback]

 

I would say SuperMac has been gunning for Souness for months now, so I think SLP's criticism is a bit unfair tbh. He was also brave enough to point out that some of Souness's were basically shite long before anyone on here said it - Boumsong especially springs to mind. He has a bit of egg on his face for slagging off Parker maybe, but I concur that the way we have him playing is excessively negative and we can't play fluent attacking football with him in that position (just an opinion, obviously).

79883[/snapback]

 

Like I said, I haven't listened lately but in the past he's defended the club when they need the local media to give them a kicking. He still doesn't rate Parker from the little snippets I've heard, anyone know why?

79886[/snapback]

 

I think he's backed himself into a corner on that one and won't admit he was wrong, which is understandable, tbh.

79932[/snapback]

 

I don't think he's a fan of the 'holding midfielder' tbh. Didn't he slag Butt off like there was no tomorrow last season?

[Renton 22001]

Supermac is the same, although I haven't listened much lately so don't know what his stance is at the moment. Usually it's backing the club though.

79865[/snapback]

 

On Legends the other night Macdonald said that the thought had crossed his mind that souness was actually playing for the sack with some of his bizarre team selections.

 

He wants the shithouse out imo

79869[/snapback]

 

I would say SuperMac has been gunning for Souness for months now, so I think SLP's criticism is a bit unfair tbh. He was also brave enough to point out that some of Souness's were basically shite long before anyone on here said it - Boumsong especially springs to mind. He has a bit of egg on his face for slagging off Parker maybe, but I concur that the way we have him playing is excessively negative and we can't play fluent attacking football with him in that position (just an opinion, obviously).

79883[/snapback]

 

Like I said, I haven't listened lately but in the past he's defended the club when they need the local media to give them a kicking. He still doesn't rate Parker from the little snippets I've heard, anyone know why?

79886[/snapback]

 

I think he's backed himself into a corner on that one and won't admit he was wrong, which is understandable, tbh.

79932[/snapback]

 

I don't think he's a fan of the 'holding midfielder' tbh. Didn't he slag Butt off like there was no tomorrow last season?

79933[/snapback]

 

With some justification to be fair. I can see his point of view, and it was touched on last week.

[Papa Lazaru 0]

Excellent article from Cascarino and it mirrors completely that of Graham Taylor, who have both pointed out we are a joke.

His mates and arse kissers in the media won't say it, but people who are neutral to him and the club will, and these people are pointing out that we have no structure, no coaching, no tactics, no clue, no creativity, no ideas, no hope and anythign else you care to name.

 

Its embarassing, but hopefully more and more will come out and start saying it instead of the usual bullshit where the toon fans are blamed for being critical.