[Archived] Souness Goes To Newcastle

[Exiled in Toronto]

Another thing, interesting to note that Ciaran Donnelly has not been included for the reserves tonight. Which could possibly mean that Tony Parkes will make the first big decision of his latest reign by promoting Ciaran to first team duties. Good on you, Tony, if this is the case.

Are you sure he is not just injured. It'll be good that Gally gets a clean slate now, I was more than a bit concerned after Souness' "big head" comment and the fact he has not figured much since. Jeez I am actually starting to get all excited again now.

Me too USA. Too much of a coincidence that he disappears from view after what I thought at the time were extremely unhelpful comments to be making public.

Can't wait to see Tony's selection on Saturday! As he said last time (or might have been any of his caretaker-ships) "There'd be no point putting me in if I was going to pick the same team as the last guy"

[roversWASmylife]

Overall, I think now we’re much better off without Souness. His personality brings, conflict and that will remain wherever he will manage.

In my opinion I think he took the club as far as he could when we finished 6th place. That summer we lost key players, especially in Duff and Dunn.

Last year was a struggle down to poor performances, bad injuries as well but Souness has to take responsibility in his selections.

What is interesting about the whole situation is that Newcastle asked to speak to Souness.

Rovers didn`t reject it, they allowed Newcastle to speak to Souness and he went.

Now in my opinion I probably think that if we had lost to Pompey at home on the 18th of this month he would probably have been sacked anyway.

I have full confidence in Tony.

[Simon Says]

I go away for a week and all this happens.

Personally I am very dissapointed in the man. The club backed him in all his fallouts with various players and also backed him in the transfer market. Then at the first opportunity he quits.

What happened to "this is one of the best jobs in football", or "this will be my last job in management as I am happy here as it is a proper football club?"

Strangely though, after initial dissapointment/anger, I can't help but feel that this will be for the best for both parties.

We move on.

Good luck Graeme, think you will need it!

[Jammy]

Article in the Daily Mirror about a secret Meeting between Souness and Shearer discussing the Newcastle Dressing Room, thought Souness wasn't allowed to have anything to do with Newcastle till next Monday??

[arrodblue]

Article in the Daily Mirror about a secret Meeting between Souness and Shearer discussing the Newcastle Dressing Room, thought Souness wasn't allowed to have anything to do with Newcastle till next Monday??

You don't think that he's just going to stay completely away the whole week and have no involvement at all ! This is Souness we are talking about !

He desperately needs to start his career there with a win to quieten some of the unrest over his appointment. I think he'll be doing whatever he can to help improve the odds of that happening.

I have no doubt that Newcastle, if they didn't know already, will know all the ins and outs on how to beat Rovers by Saturday.

Or am I more cynical than I thought I was.

[T4E]

Dont know if this has been posted before.......

<< Rovers Fans Shed No Tears For Souness >>

[Jammy]

You don't think that he's just going to stay completely away the whole week and have no involvement at all ! This is Souness we are talking about !

He desperately needs to start his career there with a win to quieten some of the unrest over his appointment. I think he'll be doing whatever he can to help improve the odds of that happening.

I have no doubt that Newcastle, if they didn't know already, will know all the ins and outs on how to beat Rovers by Saturday.

Or am I more cynical than I thought I was.

No I didn't think he would stay away, but he his on "Garden Leave" which my understanding is that he is still paid by Rovers unitl the weekend.

Therefore I would hope Rovers have something to say about this!

and I fully agree with the rest of your comments!

[samtheozzy]

Dont know if this has been posted before.......

<< Rovers Fans Shed No Tears For Souness >>

T4E I can't access that article....can you post the full text here?

[Tris]

Are you sure he is not just injured.  It'll be good that Gally gets a clean slate now, I was more than a bit concerned after Souness' "big head" comment and the fact he has not figured much since.  Jeez I am actually starting to get all excited again now.

Me too USA. Too much of a coincidence that he disappears from view after what I thought at the time were extremely unhelpful comments to be making public.

For crying out loud this is ridiculous.

There was never any fall out with Paul Gallagher, it was people on here putting 2 and 2 together and making well over 6.

And having seen the way Paul Gallagher is capable of behaving at first hand, I would suggest that some kind "paternal" guidance is exactly what is needed.

[T4E]

Here you go Sam (Mods, if this is a problem feel free to edit and accept my apologies ) -

Blackburn supporters shed no tears at loss of manager

By Oliver Kay

ONCE the initial shock of Graeme Souness’s sudden departure had subsided, the overriding emotion at Blackburn Rovers yesterday was one of something approaching relief. This, after all, was the manager who had presided over the club’s slump over the previous 12 months and was “probably only two games from the sack anyway” — at least in the view of one of several unperturbed posters on a message board on the club’s official website.

The Blackburn board did not attempt to stand in Souness’s way once they learnt of his desire to leave. Indeed, his departure — and a considerable compensation payout from Newcastle — may be viewed as a blessing in an unconvincing disguise.

Souness might have left Blackburn in something of a predicament — one place off the bottom of the Barclays Premiership with just two points from their first four matches — but the job remains a desirable one. John Williams, the chief executive, talked of the club’s “financial stability” and “excellent squad” and will be confident of attracting a high-calibre replacement such as Mark Hughes, the Wales manager, or Gordon Strachan. For the moment, Tony Parkes, the long-serving coach, has been named caretaker manager for the sixth time.

Hughes would perhaps be the more popular appointment for the club’s supporters. He spent the final months of his playing career at Blackburn and has since enhanced his reputation as a coach by taking Wales to the brink of qualification for last summer’s European Championship finals.

It appears unlikely that the former Manchester United forward could be tempted to leave his post before Wales take on England in a World Cup qualifying match at Old Trafford on October 9. Should their qualification hopes suffer during the next month, his desire to enter club management may increase.

“I think we probably will lose him (Hughes) sooner or later because clubs are bound to want him,” Craig Bellamy, the Wales forward, said. “But if we do lose him, hopefully it will be on a high — after the World Cup in 2006.”

Edited September 8, 2004 by Tugay4England

[RevidgeBlue]

For crying out loud this is ridiculous.

There was never any fall out with Paul Gallagher, it was people on here putting 2 and 2 together and making well over 6.

And having seen the way Paul Gallagher is capable of behaving at first hand, I would suggest that some kind "paternal" guidance is exactly what is needed.

I'd heard from a reliable source that before Souness's departure he had also managed to fall out with Gallagher.

Gally's crime? The heinous crime of stating that he wanted to start more games this season.

All allegedly of course.

[Scotty]

For crying out loud this is ridiculous.

There was never any fall out with Paul Gallagher, it was people on here putting 2 and 2 together and making well over 6.

And having seen the way Paul Gallagher is capable of behaving at first hand, I would suggest that some kind "paternal" guidance is exactly what is needed.

I'd heard from a reliable source that before Souness's departure he had also managed to fall out with Gallagher.

Gally's crime? The heinous crime of stating that he wanted to start more games this season.

All allegedly of course.

But Tris knows Revidge. Shame on you for doubting him.

[Jordan]

Luckily this has come at the start of the season rather than the middle. Only four games gone 34 still to play. Bring in a fresh face and basically start the season again, and hopefully we still have a chance of winning the league (or getting into europe)

[John]

According to the Mirror article yesterday Souness enjoyed his new rule book which he introduced this season. I have copied and pasted some interesting things from this article. Please read all of it!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/sporttop/tm_...-name_page.html

So the Rovers squad were far from sorry to see him go when he told them yesterday he was leaving after four-and-a-half years at Ewood Park.One unnamed player said: "The worst thing was the little rule book. It was a joke. It said if ever the players had a problem someone would be there for us to talk to. But that was a ridiculous statement considering Souness wasn't on speaking terms with so many players."They even brought in a rule that we had to get special permission to go and have a round of golf. There were so many petty rules and Murray even started to fine players for parking their cars too close to the training ground building."

[CAPT KAYOS]

For crying out loud this is ridiculous.

There was never any fall out with Paul Gallagher, it was people on here putting 2 and 2 together and making well over 6.

And having seen the way Paul Gallagher is capable of behaving at first hand, I would suggest that some kind "paternal" guidance is exactly what is needed.

I'd heard from a reliable source that before Souness's departure he had also managed to fall out with Gallagher.

Gally's crime? The heinous crime of stating that he wanted to start more games this season.

All allegedly of course.

Tris I also heard from a reliable source as well

Possibly you could be wrong on this - but then again its as Rev says 'allegedly'.

[Tris]

Tris I also heard from a reliable source as well

Possibly you could be wrong on this - but then again its as Rev says 'allegedly'.

Gallagher has issues which he needs to address if he's going to fulfill his potential and it's clear Souness pointed this out - wrongly or rightly there was even a very muted warning in public.

Maybe that's a falling out, it isn't in my book. "Reliable sources" may well have wanted to make sure it was portrayed as yet another "falling out" for obvious reasons.

What was annoying - less so now Souness has gone - is that anything like this was portrayed as Souness' fault. It's a long list of culprits - Dunn, Cole, Yorke, Todd, Flitcroft, etc etc, and every single one of them was guilty of failing the club.

How some people on here can want to see Todd back in the shirt is beyond me. He refused to wear it FFS! I don't care who the manager is or what the circumstances were, he let the club and the fans down and should never wear the shirt again.

Anyway, what's in the past is there to stay now, whoever comes in will make their own judgements and everyone will start with a clean slate. Back to Gally, I'm sure he'll get his chance like everyone else, and hopefully as he gets a bit older there will be a bit more common sense off the pitch as well.

[thenodrog]

For crying out loud this is ridiculous.

There was never any fall out with Paul Gallagher, it was people on here putting 2 and 2 together and making well over 6.

And having seen the way Paul Gallagher is capable of behaving at first hand, I would suggest that some kind "paternal" guidance is exactly what is needed.

I'd heard from a reliable source that before Souness's departure he had also managed to fall out with Gallagher.

Gally's crime? The heinous crime of stating that he wanted to start more games this season.

All allegedly of course.

Its not what you say Rev its how you say it.

'I hope that you'll give me more games in th first team Boss' is very different from....

'If I dont play more games I'm gonna f*** off'

We'll never know which way is it was will we? BTW GS left Spurs for Boro cos he could'nt get into the 1st team.

[brfcjon]

Like most I was in shock when I first read the news. But since then it is becoming clearer and clearer that it probably was for the best. Someone posted a link to the mirrior with the story of the little black book etc. and I found this on skysports

http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.a...+backs+Pedersen

it is henning berg saying that MGP shoukd be glad souness left becouse of B`GS weaknesses.

I just hope we can get a real tactitian in. We have the players. Now we need the organisation....

cheers all

[philipl]

I am nowhere near Ewood at the moment but I think the following are pretty incontrovertible facts about Paul Gallagher this season:

- the one Rovers forward on fire during the close season scoring goals for fun was Paul

- Paul seems to have been some distance from getting a chance to play for the first eleven so far this season

- his injury has been treated very quietly. Does anyone know what it is, when it was incurred, what the likely prognosis is?

- Souness talked about every forward except Paul over the past three weeks.

Not surprising there are whispers and theories...

At least now he gets a chance to impress TP and then to impress the new manager.

Incidentally, for anyone else posting a link to The Times, everyone outside the UK cannot access it because The Times demands payment. So please do copy and paste.

Edited September 8, 2004 by philipl

[den]

Incidentally, for anyone else posting a link to The Times, everyone outside the UK cannot access it because The Times demands payment. So please do copy and paste.

Sorry philipl, we are definately not allowed to cut and paste entire articles. We have had many complaints in the past from offended parties.

The agreed way is to allow the cut and pasting of a small section of the article and then either put a credit to the article source, or preferably put in a link.

As for the times, looks like you'll have to pay. Sorry.

[SouthAussieRover]

As for the times, looks like you'll have to pay. Sorry.

I ain't paying that Murdoch ****** a cent.

Please don't tell me he has a stake in this site

[Ninjathunder]

Incidentally, for anyone else posting a link to The Times, everyone outside the UK cannot access it because The Times demands payment. So please do copy and paste.

...or alternatively, when the Times website asks 'Do you live in the UK?', click on the button that says 'yes'.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Tris I also heard from a reliable source as well

Possibly you could be wrong on this - but then again its as Rev says 'allegedly'.

Gallagher has issues which he needs to address if he's going to fulfill his potential and it's clear Souness pointed this out - wrongly or rightly there was even a very muted warning in public.

Maybe that's a falling out, it isn't in my book. "Reliable sources" may well have wanted to make sure it was portrayed as yet another "falling out" for obvious reasons.

What was annoying - less so now Souness has gone - is that anything like this was portrayed as Souness' fault. It's a long list of culprits - Dunn, Cole, Yorke, Todd, Flitcroft, etc etc, and every single one of them was guilty of failing the club.

How some people on here can want to see Todd back in the shirt is beyond me. He refused to wear it FFS! I don't care who the manager is or what the circumstances were, he let the club and the fans down and should never wear the shirt again.

Anyway, what's in the past is there to stay now, whoever comes in will make their own judgements and everyone will start with a clean slate. Back to Gally, I'm sure he'll get his chance like everyone else, and hopefully as he gets a bit older there will be a bit more common sense off the pitch as well.

Agree with everything you say Tris - but coming back to this maybe the incident with Todd was also 'misrepresented for obvious reasons' however, if all is true Todd should not be allowed to wear the shirt again.

Coming back to Gally, as Philipl says the injury was kept very hush hush and I think this is what gets 'comments and instances' arising as everybody can see Gally has talent and given the chances he has had, has certainly showed he has got the makings of it which is what people want to see.

I stated before the season start that personally I felt this would be a big season for him if Souness gave him the chance - now it looks like it might be up to the new boss whoever that maybe.

[Exiled_Rover]

He stripped Garry Flitcroft of the captaincy and dropped him for organising a players' day out at the end of last season without his permission - and the midfielder only found out about his punishment when he read about it in a newspaper.

Aha, it all makes sense now

[RoverDrake]

I see Souey stuck by his word saying "I will not be selling Dwight this season that's for sure" then he is shipped off to Brum. I must say I am pleased Yorkie Bar Kid is gone though, I wonder if Souey subconsciously knew he was going to Newcastle and decided to get Yorke off the wage bill for us just before he quit......or maybe not eh?

I think Garry Flitcroft should be one of the ones swept out when the new man arrives. He is getting on now, we already have a far better holding midfielder in Ferguson, plus Flitcroft & Tugay partnership doesn't work anymore since there is no proper energy in the centre of midfield.

I just wonder about Jay Bothroyd, he was looking to impress Souey and said about how he respected such a 'strong manager' I hope the new manager doesn't overlook him.