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Get Off The Fence Freddy, Before You
Break It!
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 Wednesday
18th January 2006
By Howaythetoon
The usually conspicuous Freddy Shepherd has been unusually quiet these
past few weeks... and just when the man he appointed against the will
of fans needs his Chairman's reassurances, backing and ultimately
support the most, too.
Graeme Souness is currently fighting a lone battle against an overwhelming
tide of criticism from both the stands and the media following a culmination
of 15 months of utter rubbish under the Scot's management, and Freddy
is nowhere to be seen or heard.
That's not the man we've come to love and hate is it? Freddy Shepherd,
media shy? Well who'd have thought it, eh... Perhaps all those trips
to the RVI to remove foot from mouth have taken their toll on the
United Chairman.
Or maybe, he's busy playing a game of poker... with our money of course!
It's clear to me that Souness is a dead man walking as one scribe
recently wrote. He is literally clinging on to a job he was never
qualified for in the first place. Forget Barry's penalty miss, Clarkie's
last gap equaliser or goal number 200 for Big Al, those moments of
"luck" as some have coined it (although not the man himself) are not
what keeps him in a job. Rather circumstances do, namely timing and
above all else, money.
You don't have to be Albert Einstein to work out that the board now
no longer support Souness. For those of us in the know, and I don't
claim to be but I do know people who are, this has been apparent for
a while now.
As far back as a month or two ago apparently. The club I'm lead to
believe, were hoping Souness' old club Rangers were going to save
them a bob or two, or from making a decision they are loathe to make,
sacking Souness.
Having given manager Alex McLeish a month's review period back in
November, Rangers were seriously weighing up the option to replace
their manager with Souness after that month was up and tentative calls
to United were encouraging I understand.
However, skint themselves, the Scottish club were hoping Souness got
the sack first so they could offer him a route back into management
North of the Border without having to stump up money, while Newcastle
were the opposite, hoping that Rangers would come in and "poach" the
Scot, meaning they themselves could get some compensation from the
'Gers or not be forced into sacking him and thereby forking out a
compensation package of their own.
For Souness, he didn't want to leave his Newcastle position though,
he had a job to do he thought, so played hard ball. Communications
between the two club's eventually broke down and Ranger's went on
to give McLeish an extended stay of execution, while leaving the door
open for a Summer return for their former boss, perhaps...
Since then a rift between Newcastle and Souness has developed to the
point where today, the two are in a stand off. United want rid, but
don't want to add to that £50 million war chest they have handed the
Scot, while Souness himself doesn't want to resign and forsake the
compensation he is entitled to by law.
A stalemate has ensued and neither club nor manager are willing to
budge. As a side consequence we have seen the local media, or unofficial
club propaganda machine as we all know them to be, turn quite viciously
on Souness to stoke the flames further.
Meanwhile, Souness' own friends in high places, namely his media buddies,
have recently came out in force with favourable articles on his behalf
to douse those Thompson House fueled flames.
And while all this has been going on? Our team have went from one
poor result to another, with a breakdown in team spirit and direction
leading to, on the surface, a premature end to the season it would
seem, after only 21 games no less!
Having been told there is no money for strengthening, the club have
basically cut off Souness' left arm and this is not what Newcastle
United the football team need right now, in the midst of an injury
crisis and so close to that dreaded drop-zone. If we were already
hamstrung under the Scot, we're disabled now.
They must either back him or sack him and cut out these silly underhand
tactics because we can ill afford to gamble like this. The cost of
Souness' "pay-off" could run into many more millions if a decision
isn't made, sooner or later, one way or another.
We are desperate for leadership, direction and reinforcements, particularly
in advanced positions. We have scored just 4 goals more than the bottom
placed team, the mackems. Take away Owen's goals and we would be right
in the thick of it alongside them.
Well, we head into the second stage of the campaign without Owen and
it's hard to see where our goals are going to come from. Shearer,
ever the man to drag us out of the mire in years gone by, hasn't it
in him to shoulder such responsibility anymore at his age. He needs
help, Souness needs help, we need help!
Simply put, we need new players. Without them we risk a relegation
battle. If the board are not prepared to give Souness the funds to
make that happen, which they quite clearly are not it would appear,
then he has to go. The onus is on them.
Why should the Scot resign? He hasn't broken any rules or misbehaved,
he has done his job to the best of his ability and while from our
perspective, this just hasn't been good enough, did anyone expect
any different the day he was appointed?
No, we all knew that Souness and United would end in tears, it was
set in stone the day he signed. If anything, given his talent to 'success'
ratio, he's overachieved, certainly in the transfer market anyway.
While we were all biting our nails at the thought of Paul Dickov et
al, he and the club were working on deals to bring in messrs Parker
and Owen, to name just a few.
No, it's extremely naive to expect him to resign. Lets face it, he
has no obvious connection with the club, and if he can walk away with
a few extra quid, despite already being a rich man, he would be an
idiot not to.
Not everyone is morally pure and it's unrealistic to expect anyone
to be, these days. Much less a man who has had half the crowd on his
back from day one. Why should he care?
This is the club's call now. They need to get off that fence before
they break it. The fence being Newcastle United itself. They cannot
just hope the pressure makes his job untenable, Souness is a stubborn,
arrogant, selfish man, he'll dig his claws in deep if he's forced
to, as we are already seeing. Lesser men would have thrown up their
arms and went 'stuff this' long ago, to his credit. Like Jack Charlton
for example.
Nor can they drip-feed the media to spread their poison, this gets
back to the players (believe you me one or two are very unhappy) and
makes the fans even more restless and creates a wholly negative vibe
around the club which in years gone by, has sunk decent enough teams
like Nottingham Forest, West Ham United and most recently, Leeds who
despite a plethora of talent, went down like a sack of tatties. Don't
think that won't happen to us, because it can and could. We are ripe
for a massive fall.
We are precariously hovering above that drop-zone and it is not on
to just write off the season to win a hand. It's OK for Freddy and
Co. they will still trouser their dividends regardless, but for us
lot, we fear losing the likes of Shay Given (a genuine fear) and we
certainly don't want to see our club flounder in mid-table and fall
further behind teams who just 2 years ago, we were very much in the
same League with. Today, we are a million miles behind the likes of
Chelsea and Liverpool.
And the blame must lie solely at the feet of those who in their suspect
wisdom, thought Graeme Souness, a below average manager, would improve
on Sir Bobby's era. Men who went on to back this man with the biggest
transfer kitty any manager has ever had the fortune of getting their
hands on in the club's entire history, a man who they now no longer
support but don't want to sack as it will cost them some money and
some face presumably.
It's nigh time the board started to earn their hugely inflated wages
for a change and did what is best by Newcastle United, for Newcastle
United. Back him or sack him. Despite wanting Souness out, because
hey, I'm selfish, I would back the club if they decided to retain
him until the Summer and gave him just a little bit more cash to make
sure, we won't be sucked into a relegation battle or if it meant they
could bring in the "right man", despite my grievances about giving
him yet more cash. We are THAT desperate.
But I won't accept this sly, cowardly way of (mis)management. This
club MO is exactly what was deployed on poor Sir Bobby and why we
are in this mess to start with, because of indecisiveness, lack of
planning and sheer incompetence at boardroom level from plonkers who
don't have the balls to tell a man he is no longer wanted to his face.
Perhaps fans should start chanting for Shepherd and Hall's head at
the match and give Graeme a respite the next time, maybe then they
will listen? They certainly listened in August after cat calls from
the stands were sang in their honour. In came Luque, Owen and Nobby.
They dodged the bullet that day, lets cock our guns and aim them their
way once more. See how they like it.
It is they who are responsible for this mess, Souness is just a byproduct
and if rumours are to be believed, Martin O'Neill will take over anyway
in the Summer. By then however, we could be in the Championship.
Give him some funds to strengthen, or get rid and bring in someone
who can get the best out of the resources already at hand, which Souness
has shown he just can't manage, not without money or a return to the
first-team of those "proper" players anyway, and even then,
there is no guarantee.
We are in a right pickle aren't we?
Well fucking done Freddy, Douglas and Co. Hang your moronic heads
in shame and may it be your heads that roll when we fuck up again.
© Howaythetoon
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