Now that Glenn Roeder is our full-time manager for at least the next 2 years (providing all goes well) it is perhaps time we looked at him and his credentials at closer quarters, to offer a critical judgment of our new manager. I don’t know about you but as caretaker, I always thought it to be unfair and inappropriate to assess him in a good, bad and ugly type fashion. Now though, he’s fair game where I’m concerned so here goes…

Relationship with fans - Thumbs Up

Whether a manager is likeable or not should never have any bearing on the validity of his candidacy in my opinion. You win friends by winning matches, and you lose them by, well, by losing matches. Despite what our Chairman thinks and despite the fact no-one quite wanted nor rated Graeme Souness in the first place, he was given plenty of support from the stands.

If anything, fans were too lenient given the crap he often came out with (most attack minded manager in the club’s history!?) and the results he served up, or rather the lack of results. He wasn’t wanted, he wasn’t liked, but he got our full backing right until the sorry and bitter end when most just couldn’t take any more of his crap.

For Glenn this just isn’t an issue however (although that can turn quickly if results deteriorate). He is well liked by fans in general not least because of his successful stint here as a player back in the 80s or even his successful period as a caretaker manager just elapsed, but more so because of the way he carries himself and the way he has communicated with fans since he become more than an Academy Director. There have been no lies, no promises or patronising comments, just plain old honest graft on the training pitch and telling it how it is, while ever mindful of not undermining his troops or stoking the flames of expectations on the stands.

Relationship with players - Thumbs Up

I think where this particular issue is concerned, results speak for themselves and while the public backing of players he has received doesn’t really say much given how everyone spoke up on behalf of Souness despite some less than happy campers, were Roeder is concerned, I believe the support is genuine.

He has after all transformed our season and with it players’ prospects. I’m sure our charge to a UEFA Cup place has helped sway Shay Given for example into committing to the club and for some of the lesser players like Chopra, Ameobi and even Moore, his confidence in them spoke volumes in the end as they all had a significant impact on our final results.

Under Souness, those on the fringes got a lot of chances due to injuries yet they never quite performed for him which is not so surprising given he blamed every poor result on not having his “proper” players available to select from.

Style of football - Thumbs Up

While not as potent as we have witnessed over the years, especially under King Kev and Sir Bobby, our football took on a whole new lease of life after Souness departed and given the paucity of talent not available to him, some of the football we played under Roeder was excellent. With a full strength team available to him - we can expect much of the same if not more. He was a cultured defender and his West Ham side played attractive football. I see no reason why things would change on that front. Even depleted and up against it, I can’t see Roeder not aiming to play the game the right way, especially at home. On the road he set the team up to defend one or two times, especially way to Birmingham when it would have been better to attack, but that was the exception to the rule.

Man management - Thumbs Up but doubts remain

Again, results speak for themselves and what we do know of Roeder is that he is a people’s man, highlighted by his relationship with Gazza as a player and today with his relationship with Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and others who all speak highly of him. I use these players as they don’t have a place in the team to preserve or any real benefit to gain from “biging up” Glenn.

However, doubts remain, in my mind at least anyway. I think his handling of Luque leaves a lot to be desired. While I understand he hasn’t exactly done much to warrant a place and all kinds of other issues could exist, like keeping him fresh for the upcoming season or keeping him fit in order to sell on, but if ever there was a time to bed the Spaniard in, to get him playing and fully fit, then the end of the season just gone was that time in my opinion.

Nit picking I know but its an area we should all be concerned with given the problems we have had over the years in this department. Even the great Sir Bobby had his man management problems while Souness, well, lets not even go there eh!?

Tactics - Massive Thumbs Down

This is a concern and for me, Roeder’s biggest weakness. Against the West Brom’s and the Villa’s I think he is more than a match tactically, indeed on another level, but against the likes of Rafa, Fergie, Mourinho and Wenger? It is they who are on another level and he falls way short and as a result so will Newcastle regardless.

I didn’t see any great tactical changes in the team he inherited from Souness and away from home against Birmingham, Charlton and the mackems (first half) for example, tactically he got it wrong. I see Roeder as more of a confidence, hard work on the training pitch, good team shape on it type of manager who will rely on the ability of his players, his faith in them and his match preparation to bail him out or to get results rather than the use of tactics to any large degree to do his batting for him.

Tactics aren’t the be all and end all of course and they are quite overrated at times as something as daft as a sending off can force all tactics go out of the window but at the top end of the game, it is what separates the best from the rest and sees average teams like Liverpool (2004-05) beat superior teams to lift such trophies as the European Cup for example.

Match Preparation - Thumbs Up

Under Roeder the team have clearly been well prepared in terms of coaching, fitness and shape, although tactically they haven’t been that well prepared. But overall, this is one area Roeder has impressed and his pre-match comments are like a breath of fresh air compared to those submitted by Souness and his staff. It is all positive.

This is an area we lag behind other clubs, under Roeder we should bridge that gap. In this day and age, it isn’t too much to expect your team to be well prepared other than a hard days shift in training which was the norm under Souness and Sir Bobby to a large extent. Times are a changing and Roeder at least seems to be up with them.

Coaching - Thumbs Up

I happen to consider Roeder to be a very good coach who has clearly improved the games’ of those under his control, most notably Ameobi and the back four who all took on a new look under Glenn. You can see he is a tracksuit man on the training pitch and again, he has waxed lyrical over the months about how excited he has been working with players day in day out, drawing up training programmes and working on different aspects of team-play like defending for example. I like a manager who can coach and who isn’t so far detached from what happens on the training pitch.

Youth Development - Big Thumbs Up

This is one area I feel we are in very safe hands. In Roeder we have a man who believes in youth and who has also shown he can develop the games’ of youngsters. Under Souness, N’Zogbia showed a lot of promise, under Roeder however he has come on in leaps and bounds even further. Handing Pattison a run towards the end of the season was also a good touch and his handling of Ramage who clearly needed a rest, was superb. For once, I think we have a manager who would rather we produced the top youngsters and who will work towards that, than buy in top youngsters and this is what United need if we are to prosper in the future - a conveyer belt of talent who have a feel and an affinity for the club. He will also take a far greater interest in the Academy than the previous manager did that’s for sure.

The transfer market - Unknown

Roeder said yesterday that the hardest aspect of management is buying and selling players and I’d have to agree with him. Trouble is, we don’t have much of a track record to base anything on so this is one area with huge question marks hanging over his head. While at West Ham he spent quite big on three players in particular: David James, Tomas Repka and Don Hutchinson, and although at the time the going rate for players of that type and calibre was quite high, those players all proved rather expensive flops.

That said, ask any Hammers fan at the time and they would have told you they needed a strong ‘keeper, an experienced defender and a box to box midfielder which suggests Roeder knows when weak positions need filled and what type of players to fill those positions with. Unlike some managers I don’t think he’d buy in players he didn’t really need or what I’d term useless eaters. I think he’ll buy players he needs or who he’ll have a use for.

But can he spot a talent and snap up that talent for a pittance? Can he put a realistic figure on a player’s head? Can he attract top players? Can he convince players to play for him? These are all doubts and a worry. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. One thing is certain, he’ll get money at United and this is how he’ll be judged on more than anything else if previous sackings are anything to go by, both Sir Bobby and Souness being criticised by the board for “wasting money” and this offered as reasons behind their sackings.

Diet & Fitness - Thumbs Up

Under Souness we were notorious for blowing a gasket after the break as we ran out of stamina and energy, but under Roeder things quickly began to change and as the season wore on, we actually looked sharper and quicker than some of the teams around us. It was also interesting to learn this week that pre-season is already being programmed now with Roeder working with the physios and medics in drawing up fitness and diet plans for the summer. This is a good sign.

With Souness you got the impression he told the medics and physios what to do, not worked with them. For example, against the advice of the medics, he played both Bramble and Taylor at a time when they weren’t ready and as a result they both had a set back. As a player, Roeder looked after himself and wasn’t one for boozing and eating crap food. He reminisced recently how he once told Gazza back in the days when they were team-mates that he could have it all if only he looked after himself right. I don’t think Roeder will tolerate a slack fitness and diet regime from any one individual or as a collective.

Handling Pressure - Unknown

As a player he was known for his cool, calm and collected persona and as a public speaker, he alludes that in himself. Indeed as a caretaker manager he took everything in his stride but there was no real pressure - he was actually doing us a favour and we were all sympathetic to the situation. Now however he doesn’t have that security blanket and it’s all systems go once again. Fans and indeed the board will be looking for certain targets to be met, for football and financial reasons and as we all know, we aren’t the most calm set of fans or indeed club the world has ever known. When the warning signs go up, we generally panic.

Think of Chief Brodie in Jaws when he thinks he’s seen a Shark fin in the surf break… that’s us lot after one or two defeats with Freddy Shepherd and Co the straying bullets that Brodie fired. How will Roeder handle the pressure? While his health scare at West Ham wasn’t related at all to the pressures he was under, I guarantee those pressures took their toll on his mental and subconscious health or well being. I just hope that moment never materializes at Newcastle for him and us as there isn’t a more cruel spot in football than St. James’ Park on a dark, gloomy day. Ask Sir Bobby in the final home game of the 2003-04 season…

Character Traits - Big Thumbs Up

You can tell a lot about a person by the traits they display. For Roeder there is no falseness about him, he is no sheep in wolves clothing or a charlatan. He is a genuine football person, a diligent and thoughtful man who is precise and considered. He is how he played football and perhaps, just maybe, as a club we need that dumbed down approach because lets face it, this can be a melodramatic club at the calmest of times where everything seems cranked up just for effect if anything. Yet despite his calmness and calculated demeanour, an intensity burns for me - I’d call it ambition and self motivation. Perhaps his brush with death has flicked a switch that once didn’t exist and I can see Roeder surprising one or two of us.

Concerns

My actual concerns aren’t so much with Roeder himself other than the ones listed above, my concerns are with the motives behind his appointment and the process in which we arrived at this juncture. The very fact Roeder is our new manager means we have failed for whatever reason to appoint a top-class manager which Roeder just isn’t and which the job demands. This is unacceptable and should have been easily avoidable but somehow we construe to knack things up again. I think we can all feel let down once more and all concerns are legitimate given Roeder’s track record, but if we are to point fingers, point them towards the board and lets give the new man all the respect, trust and support he has earned.

Conclusion

This appointment won’t shift season tickets but it won’t get fans not renewing either. It’s an unambitious, easy option that has other motives behind it I suspect, with the Shearer obsession being one of them. But what is done is done.

It is a new era and the beauty of football is that anything can happen, indeed that’s United’s trademark and who knows, maybe this is the start of something special. For what it’s worth I think he’s up there with the likes of Hughes, Jol and those type of managers and under Roeder, I think we’ll finish anywhere from 8th to 6th with the top 4 just that too big an obstacle to climb at the moment.

Any success we do achieve will be due to chance and not design like with other club’s which is kind of sad, but there you go…

Anyway, once again, congratulations Glenn and I’m sure you will have the full backing of fans so go for it.

Howay the lads!