Shepherd Waiting On Crowd Reaction To Allardyce

Shepherd has been down this road before, and he was shocked at the reaction of the Toon Army when he brought in Graeme Souness out of the blue. So "out of the blue" it caught the bookies totally off guard, and they even had Gazza, Jimmy Nail and Ant & Deck ahead of Souness in the betting!

Gerard Houllier and Sven-Goran Eriksson have been put forward as possible candidates and the Newcastle chairman is looking for the man to raise the hopes of the Geordie public the way Kevin Keegan did in 1992.

It is understood Lyon boss Houllier is very interested in the post and early results from a poll conducted by the city's evening newspaper, the Evening Chronicle, indicated that those fans who have responded are more excited by the prospect of his arrival than that of Allardyce.

Eriksson was always unlikely to be a candidate, and when his agent Athole Still indicated yesterday that the Swede would talk to Newcastle if they contacted him, he was doing no more than tout his client. We all know Sven is out of work ... but his agent was just reminding everyone.

However, Allardyce appears to still be in the box seat despite a lukewarm response to his proposed appointment from some supporters.

That is a concern to Shepherd, who will not need reminding of the atmosphere which greeted Graeme Souness' arrival on Tyneside.

Houllier's track record is VERY is impressive. He won three major trophies with Liverpool in 2001 and then added the Charity Shield and the European Super Cup, and has just landed his second French title in as many years.

Shepherd's popularity, which has never been high, is at an all-time low. And knows he faces a massive fan backlash if he gets it wrong again.

In the meantime, Roeder's number two Nigel Pearson will lead the club into Sunday's final-day clash with Watford at Vicarage Road.