Prior to the 1962 release of Dr. No, there had been a couple of forays into the James Bond film franchise attempted by numerous production companies with little joy. The films produced were considered to be second division-fare, and are subsequently remembered only by the odd superfan.

Things were to change with the takeover of the franchise by MGM/EON Productions and the subsequent appointment of Sean Connery as lead actor throwing the franchise into the upper echelons of the film industry, and although the franchise rarely picked up Oscars or any other trophies, many of the films were considered one of the top-five films of the year.

The early years were the best for the franchise, with Connery providing resilience, flair, style charisma and killer instinct to the role of James Bond, and the first few films were well liked by all, and were nominated for many awards, but only collected one minor Oscar for Goldfinger.

With increasing success, EON Productions got richer (with the majority of income coming from Bond fans), and subsequently backed it’s James Bond films with more money, but decided that the money was best spent on superficial things such as flashy stunts, gadgets and special effects, and ignored much more important film-making aspects such as decent scriptwriters and supporting actors.

After time, Sean Connery got tired and disillusioned of the way the franchise was heading under it’s current chairmanship, and departed to work on other projects. Those in charge at EON Productions decided that the franchise could continue without Connery. In response to criticism from fans, money was not only invested in improving production values, but this time there was investment in decent scriptwriters, and excellent supporting actors such as Diana Rigg.

With all of this in place, EON Productions decided that any old dogs body could manage the job as James Bond, so the stuntman, George Lazenby, was given the role. Lazenby looks a bit like what the hardcore, quick to judge fans expected Bond to be like.

However, the Australian had no acting qualifications, and subsequently he was out of his depth in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the film only just about being rescued from disaster by the large amount of money EON Productions had put into it. There was no surprise that Lazenby only survived the one film, and prior to that, he was given no other major film roles.

The less said about Connery’s return in Diamonds are Forever the better, although it is worth pointing out that the second comings of past heroes end in tears more often than they end in glory. The franchise was now well and truly in the doldrums, and few anticipated a return to the glory days.

The appointment of Roger Moore was a polarisation of sorts to the few years before. Although not particularly young (he had rejected the role twice), he offered an enthusiasm and charisma to the role that was lacked by his predecessors, he had the look that had been established for Bond and also had the advantage of the fact that he was English meant that he was actually from the region.

He also, unlike his predecessors, started out with very good credentials. It took a couple of years for Roger Moore to find the perfect balance, but his third film, The Spy Who Loved Me was Bond’s best outing since Goldfinger. Unfortunately, age got hold of Moore and his ability to carry out his role became diminished.

Critics labelled him as being too soft, a characteristic that was making the franchise worse and worse. Yet EON Productions stuck with him at a time which would have been ideal to breathe some fresh air into the franchise, and it wasn’t until after the horror show that was A View To A Kill that it was over and out for old Roger.

EON Productions was left an important decision on how to replace Moore. Make a bad decision, and it was deemed unlikely that Bond would ever make a successful return to the silver screen. Someone then had the apparently inspirational idea of finding an actor who possessed attributes that were the exact opposite of Moore’s flaws. The result was the hardman himself, the man’s man Timothy Dalton.

Dalton’s lack of charisma and his very limited acting range (smiling is not a part of the modern game apparently, and neither are wingers) meant that Dalton never won over the fans, and was gone after two stints at the job.

By this point, it would seem that the world was changing, yet those in charge of the franchise did not seem to notice, and Pierce Brosnan was placed at the helm. Brosnan can be considered as Bond-lite, he copied bits and pieces of his predecessors, and had the look, but he was a James Bond stuck in the past, failing to move into the 21st century, and however much money EON Productions threw at the franchise, to include such 21st century features such as invisible cars and exploding satellites (yet again at the expense of the script etc.), it failed to keep up with the times, and subsequently alienated the fan base.

In the coming days, the world will see Casino Royale, with new boy Daniel Craig at the helm. EON Productions has finally realised that they have to reinvent the whole thing, even though it may be against the wishes of a hardcore superfan minority - his blonde hair means that he is akin to Newcastle appointing a foreign manager - stereotypes will no longer be followed and the franchise is now taking a different approach - one that although unseen by fans, has been a hit with the critics during last weekend’s press screenings.

Many parallels can be drawn with James Bond and Newcastle since Keegan. Several poor appointments have been made because the producers have looked at the faults of the predecessors rather than the benefits of the potential candidates, and also because they have underestimated the importance of having a talented individual at the helm.

Millions have been invested on improving the fortunes of both businesses, but have been aimed at superficial things like special effects and Michael Owen, when it would have been better spent on the script writers and the coaching staff. Both have rejected out of hand the idea of any culture change, hence the appointment of Brosnan, and the dismissal of the Hitzfeld campaign as a ‘betting scam.’

However, it now looks like Bond is ready for a culture change, and it should yield good results and refresh the franchise. Can Shepherd do the same thing?

It is unlikely, but if he wants to make any gain in popularity, he must learn from his mistakes, dismiss Lazenby, sorry, Roeder, and bring about changes from top to bottom, aided by our own Daniel Craig, either a big foreign name, or someone like Sam Allardyce.

It is going to have to happen sooner or later if we want to be challenging for European places again, and for Shepherd’s sake at least, it would be better done sooner, rather than the takeover consortium doing it later.