SOUNESS ... LOOK AND LEARN ... FROM SHEARER!
Toon skipper Alan Shearer has at last convinced many he has what it takes to take over at Newcastle. It goes against the grain to throw a novice into management in the top flight these days, and that was always the worry when Fat Fred spoke of "the next manager will be a Geordie". But it has been Shearer ... NOT Souness ... that has turned the club around.
Don't forget it was Shearer that had talks with Michael Owen and convinced him to join the club, AFTER Souness had failed to cut the mustard with the Real Madrid player. It was Shearer who spoke to Nobby Solano.
Souness went missing after the Wigan disaster, failed to talk to the press, and Shearer took over and held a meeting with the players behind closed doors and told them to start playing like men ... not faggots. And, as if you didn't know already, it was Shearer who took the game to Arsenal on Saturday and knocked seven bells out of him.
The GOALden Boy also says he is sick of hearing injury problems being used as an excuse for the troubles at St James' Park. Shearer: "We have still got a few first-team players out, but we can't keep talking about that. People are fed up of us talking about the injuries that we've got. The injury argument is not going to work anymore."
We should be celebrating the win over the Gunners, as I'm sure we all are, but Alan Shearer has won me (and others) over with this perfect attitude this last week. Nothing Souness has done in the last 15 months has convinced me he is a good manager. Everything Shearer has done in the last week has convinced me he WILL be the man to lead us to glory!
FORGET WIGAN? BOLLOCKS ... WE SHOULD REMEMBER IT!
Graeme Souness insists that the victory over Arsenal has balanced the books and gone a long way to wiping out that Carling Cup nightmare at Wigan.
The Newcastle United boss wants that defeat at the JJB Stadium, which led to calls for his head from some United supporters, confined to the history books. Yep ... I bet he does. Personally I'd rather remember it, and also remember who took the players to one side and blast the shirkers. And it wasn't Souness.
Souness:"Nobody ever need mention that game at Wigan ever again. We know how awful that was, but the last two games have shown that was a one-off. This group of players haven't done that to me, or the supporters, before, and I don't think they'll do it again.
"We had some big players missing from the line-up, but right now I wouldn't swap that team that beat Arsenal on Saturday. The situation we've found ourselves in calls for men. In future I might be able to field better footballers, but I'll not be able to field better battlers. We were aggressive, and in their faces.
"I don't think I could field any better battlers - they were fighting their own shadows. We had the grumpy old man (Alan Shearer) up front, and Scott Parker pushed him pretty close in epitomising what we were about. And I have to mention Amady Faye again for his contribution, as well as Shay Given, who made a fantastic save from Thierry Henry."
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