What's going on at Newcastle United?
I've been somewhat bemused by the way things have been going at Newcastle United in the last few days. While rumours of serious disaccord in the dressing room had plagued the club for months, a series of increasingly bizarre events have confused many.
It started with manager Bobby Robson being informed of this being his final year in the job by a reporter from Sky Sports, severely undermining him on national television. Chairman Freddy Shepherd clearly didn't think it was necessary to inform his manager of this.
Shortly afterwards, star centre-back Jonathan Woodgate was sold to Real Madrid for £13m, seemingly with no replacement lined up. Approaches for Rangers' Jean-Alain Boumsong and Celtic's Bobo Balde were quickly rebuffed, with the Toon's current rearguard looking seriously short of personnel.
Which explains perfectly, of course, why Newcastle's main transfer target at the moment is none other than Everton's vice girl specialist and occasional goalscorer Wayne Rooney. While it's increasingly likely that Rooney will end up at Manchester United, were this deal to come off, Rooney would join four excellent strikers already there with Shearer, Bellamy, Kluivert and Ameobi.
And having gained two points from four games, scoring six but conceding nine in the process, the club today announced the departure (or sacking, depending on which way you read it) of Sir Bobby with immediate effect. A sad end for one of English football's most honourable men, his undermining in recent weeks by both his chairman and his players has been nothing short of scandalous.
Can anyone claim that Robson's sacking and his dropping of Alan Shearer in Saturday's 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa were purely coincidence? Whoever comes in (unless it's Shearer himself) to replace Robson will surely have to win over the Shearer influence to stand any chance of success.
Early names in the hat for his replacement include Alan Shearer, Steve Bruce, Martin O'Neill, David Moyes and David O'Leary.