“Of course people want the job. It’s one of the biggest in world football, so why wouldn’t they?” - The words of Newcastle United chairman Freddie Shepherd as he begins his search for a new manager.

While Mr. Shepherd’s words would seem to be encouraging that the arrival of a top class manager is a certainty, those of us who support this fine club have come to realise that the words ‘Newcastle’ and ‘certainty’ rarely collide in the same sentence.

Now that Graeme Souness’ reign of terror has officially come to an end, it is Mr. Shepherd that is entrusted solely with the responsibility of finding the right man.

It’s a massive appointment; one Freddy has to get right. And I suspect he knows it. In the past Shepherd has been able to deflect any anger from the fans in his direction away with big name signings and financial backing for the manager, but his record in one of the most important aspects of his job, namely finding and appointing a good manager, is being questioned more and more.

Two of his three appointments, Gullit and Souness, have failed spectacularly to the point that they didn’t manage three years in charge between them. Robson salvaged the mess left by Gullit, now Freddy needs someone to do the same after Souness.

Should he fail to do so, it could be Freddy who is next to walk. Which brings us back to the original quote, the one at the top of the article. If Mr. Shepherd truly believes that the job at NUFC is one of the biggest in world football, then it seems logical that we will need one of the best managers in the world to make a successful go of it.

But will we end up with one? Sadly, I’m not inclined to bet on it. Over his years as chairman, Shepherd has demonstrated a very poor ability to comprehend the importance of having the right manager. The manager is the single most important person at any football club. No club has ever sustained success in a top class league with a poor manager.

The manager dictates the attitude of the players, their style of play and consequently the attitude of the fans. Simply put, it is the manager that makes or breaks you. But if we look at the three appointments Shepherd has made previously, they all have a powerfully reactionary sense about them.

As in they were all brought in to fix the most immediate problem with the club, rather than brought in because they were seen as the person with a long-term plan for success. Gullit followed Dalglish, with the problem being that Dalglish had turned us into a dull, boring team who in no way resembled the free-flowing attacking outfit that the fans had worshipped under Keegan.

Gullit came with the promise of “sexy football” returning to St. James’ Park. And he failed. Gullit’s reign alienated the fans, the Geordie faithful just couldn’t identify with him. So in came Bobby Robson, a born and bred Geordie, to identify this most obvious problem.

Initially Bobby succeeded very well, leading us to the Champions League and successive Top 4 finishes. However, discipline problems would ultimately cause the departure of the great man, and so Graeme Souness, a known disciplinarian, was brought in to solve that problem.

The result was the inevitable clash between some of our more volatile, not to mention talented, players and the hard-hitting manager, with the players losing out. The worst aspect of Souness’ reign, though it’s hard to pick one, was the crippling injury list we had. So who is the favourite for the job as soon as Souness is sent packing?

Why Sam Allardyce of course, a man known for his fitness methods. Furthermore, it was during the peak of Robson’s reign that Shepherd uttered the famous belief that the Newcastle manager should “always” be a Geordie, clearly a ridiculous concept that derived from the fact that we currently had a manager who was doing well and was a Geordie, so this should always be the case. Unbelievable.

The manager of Newcastle should ALWAYS be the man best qualified to get the very best out of his team, regardless of whether he’s a Geordie, German, Italian, Moroccan or Mackem. If said man happens to be a Geordie, all the better. But I’d rather a successful manager than a Geordie manager. Do you think Arsenal fans mind having a French manager? Or Liverpool a Spaniard? I doubt Chelsea fans are upset at present either.

So if we’re really one of the biggest jobs in the world Mr. Shepherd, prove it. Go and identify the best available manager in the world and go after him like you did with Michael Owen. Pull out all the stops, spare no expense and get the man to lead us back up the table.

Of who is available, there is one man that stands out for me. Ottmar Hiztfeld, who has been backed by this site, is one of the great managers of his generation, winning Champions League’s with both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund and amassing a total of six Bundesliga titles in his time at both clubs, with a couple of German Cups an a World Club Cup for good measure.

He is currently unemployed and has spoken of an interest in perhaps learning a new culture and is not fixated on only managing established big clubs. How hard could Newcastle be to sell to a man like Hitzfeld? Passionate support, guaranteed full stadium, money to spend, the potential to be revered as a legend by an entire society should he achieve even a small portion of the success he has had in his past career.

We are a massive club in many ways, in all but one sense. We don’t win things. Truly big clubs win things, and consistently too. If we want to be a truly big club, we need a truly world class manager. Get it right Freddy, for all of our sakes.