Souness?
Graeme Souness has today become the new manager of Newcastle United, and will take over on Monday. I'm as bemused by this as I was by the events leading up to Bobby Robson's sacking.
Souness' management career has been somewhat mixed. A very successful spell at Rangers and a great start at Blackburn contrast wildly with a poor time at Liverpool and Torino, and mediocre spells at Galatasaray, Southampton, and Benfica. Why do Newcastle want Souness?
I can understand the desire to get a disciplinarian in, and Souness isn't the type to accept nonsense from anyone. In the short term, I consider this to be a good appointment. Long term though, it does seem a real backward step, especially considering the alternatives out there that would certainly have been interested - notably Gordon Strachan, Ottmar Hitzfeld, and Terry Venables. Whether the former two were considered is a matter for discussion, but Venables was certainly considered, as he confirmed over the weekend.
Fans of the club seem to have taken it poorly - a Newcastle poster on Villa Talk has said that people are selling their season tickets for a fraction of their true value - he bought a £469 ticket for £100, he claims - such is their dejection at this appointment.
In the long term, I cannot disagree. (Though not enough to force me to want to make a £369 loss…)