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 Monday
28 November 2005 By Howaythetoon During Graeme Souness' short tenure as United manager he has preached the need for proper strikers, proper midfielders and proper defenders to turn around a side that had finished 4th, 3rd and then 5th. Numerous enough times to be granted those very wishes by his Chairman Freddy Shepherd, and to the cool tune of over £50 million of our hard earned money no less. Yet with a month still to run before the January sales kick in, the man who said "judge me on my own team", is busy preparing another shopping list it would seem. With a host of names in various positions linked over the past two to three weeks. Many of whom would improve the squad no end and on paper, fix some of the winter blues that sees us currently occupying 12th spot in the League ahead of the crucial festive period that will shape our season for better or worse. Ailments of a defensive, creative and goalscoring nature, worryingly. Which takes us back to Souness' first and second spending spree. In Babayaro, Moore, Boumsong, Faye, Emre, Parker, Solano, Luque and Owen he has bought enough quality (all are internationals) in defence, midfield and attack to improve a team that had finished 5th the season before he was handed the job. So why the hell does Souness now need more money? And why should he be handed more of our money? There is an old saying; a good workman never blames his tools. That doesn't apply to the Scot however because he's not a good workman and he doesn't just blame his tools, he blames everything and everyone else too. From hamstrings to pitches, from referees to inexperience. He basically needs money to compensate for his managerial deficiencies which are coaching and tactics. He admits as much himself, stating: "I don't believe in tactics, proper players win games" That may be the case, but even club's brimming with quality footballers in every position such as Chelsea, rely on good honest coaching and solid tactics at the end of the day to win games. That's what separates Jose Mourinho from Claudio Ranieri and as much as it hurts me to say this, Sir Alex Ferguson from Kevin Keegan, for example. Those that need to, can and do. Those that can't, spend and hope for the best or eventually get sacked. And for Newcastle, that's the situation we find ourselves in with Souness at the helm, today. Yet from where I sit, it's not new players we need, as welcome as any improvement in playing staff would be. Wayne Bridge for example won't suddenly shore up the defence and stop us conceding goals where as another striker won't suddenly open the floodgates in our favour at the other end either. What we need is good solid coaching and tactics that work, tactics that get the best out of our myriad assortment of talent. We have the tools, but the workman has done a cowboy job thus far. Wigan have one of the best defensive record in the League and sit in a European spot. How is that? They haven't spent over £50 million and their backline comprises of players educated in the Fizzy Pop Leagues! But they are where they are because in the amiable Paul Jewell they have a manager who knows what he's doing, who knows how to get the best out of the tools he has at his disposal. Sam Allardyce is the same at Bolton, Alan Pardew at West Ham, Alan Curbishley at Charlton and former Magpie Stuart Pearce at Man City, despite all being fairly average managers in my opinion. But all are above us in the League, despite a paucity of talent in contrast to what Souness has available at his disposal, much less the finances to feed a third world country he has enjoyed to fund it all. They don't need money to achieve results you see and neither should Souness, not after spending over £50 million. It's prohibitive and would be sheer madness on the club's behalf, especially given the recent financial results, to hand the Scot yet more money. If he can't get the best out of the players he has bought, now that he has 'his' team, he never will. Even with one or two more 'proper' additions. Not now, not next year. It's now truth or dare time for us all, club, fans and Chairman alike. Do we dare give Souness yet more money, given the lack of value we have had so far from our expensively assembled squad? Boumsong at £8.5 million is playing like a nervous wreck and looking anything but an international centre-half - more like Championship material... or the SPL! Owen misses more games than he plays. Nobby is a shadow of the player he once was first time around. Where as Luque remains a gamble until he proves otherwise. And while Parker and Emre have proved shrewd signings so far, we are still conceding goals and we are still struggling to create them. Something is amiss at United and that something is know-how. Something which Souness just doesn't possess, never will and the longer we go on trying to prove otherwise, the more we will suffer. We are heading nowhere fast with the Scot at the helm. If our next opponents Wigan, a side made up of Championship players who finished below Sunderland last season, can play good football and win games, then there is no excuse for Souness. He has used them all, and it's decision time at St. James' Park. I have defended Souness in the past but I can't nor will not defend him anymore. My threshold has been broken and I've had enough. He has to go. We all know it, those who favour him, and those that don't. We all hope he succeeds of course, even those more vitriolic in their criticism. But who are we trying to kid, eh? There isn't a sign on Earth that even hints towards any kind of tangible success being wrestled our way, under Souness' management. No manager in the club's history has been handed more money than he has, and this is arguably our best squad since Kevin Keegan's time. Yet we can't beat a side who got thumped 4-0 off West Brom only a week ago. We can't even string two passes together never mind results and there are so many players under performing at the club, we are beaten before a ball is kicked. When was the last time we played really well? When was the last time we come back from a one-nil deficit to win? When was the last time you, as a fan, thought hey, we're a good team? We know we have the capability to become a good team because of the quality players we have at Newcastle. But that hasn't materialised and that is down to Souness and his coaching staff. He's bought us a proper team, created a squad of proper players, aye, but we lack a proper manager to knit it all together and it's time we went out and got one. Someone who can match the fans' ambitions and expectations not demoralise them. Someone who can fulfil that potential of ours that pours out of every corner of the club. And sooner rather than later, before the damage is lasting. It would be sheer folly to hand the Scot yet more money in January as touched on, absolute folly. He knows how to spend it but he doesn't know what to do once it's gone, as we are finding out now. January 2004 we were told we needed proper defenders, which was true. August 2005 we were told we needed proper midfielders and attackers, again, very true. And January 2006? Keep the money Freddy and use it to pay off the Scot and his sorty of 'coaches' because you have backed a loser. And you fucking well know it. With Souness you get the impression he needs everything to be 100% spot on in order to be a success here, well he chose the wrong club and we most certainly chose the wrong manager. Time to part. Time for a proper manager. © Howaythetoon
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