jim mk2

He doesn't know anything, only what he reads in the papers. Moving on, Sam Allardyce revealed today that he was approached by Newcastle but chose to stay at Bolton for "moral and loyalty" reasons rather than walk out, unlike the unprincipled slimeball Souness. By PA Sport staff Bolton manager Sam Allardyce revealed today that Newcastle approached him before appointing Graeme Souness as their manager. Although Freddy Shepherd did not officially offer him the role, Allardyce confirmed he was approached about the position - and was confident of landing the job before deciding to stay at the Reebok Stadium. Allardyce said: “I was hugely flattered. It’s great to be associated with such a massive club but the chairman didn’t want me to go and I didn’t want to walk out, so I made the decision to stay. “It was talked about and I pondered it but I never really got offered it. But if I’d pushed it hard or walked out, I might have got it." The Trotters boss joined the club in 1999 and guided them to their highest Premiership finish last season when they secured eighth position. Allardyce now wants to build on the progress since his arrival at the club. “What has happened here over the last five years is what has kept me,” he added. “Under any other circumstances, I should have gone to Newcastle, but perhaps it was the right club at the wrong time. There’s too much here to leave. I had a look at it and made the decision.” The 49-year-old does not know whether he will eventually regret turning down the chance to manage Newcastle, but believes he has every chance of success at Bolton. “I don’t know whether I’ve made the right decision. Only time will tell but I believe that this football club in general is moving in the right direction. It hasn’t achieved all it can achieve yet and I want to drive it on. “I have taken this club by the scruff of the neck and dragged it out of the First Division and financial ruin to the heights of the Premiership. “When you have worked hard for five years to get to this position, it takes a lot of giving up. When you get a 10-year contract and your chairman asks you to see it through, you have a decision to make. It’s not just about ambition but also morals and loyalty."

That's what worries me. If the story had no accreditation, I would have been inclined to dismiss it, but Michael Morgan is a respected experienced journalist who has been covering the Yorkshire football beat for the past 30 years. Morgan will know Reid well from his time at Sunderland and Leeds and will have been given the nod by old monkey features that he is in the frame for the job. Forget Reid's statement today (as Mandy Rice-Davies said, he would say that, wouldn't he?), he is definitely in the running.

As it's a PA article it'll be most of them, all slightly reworded. However, whilst Jim's always bob-on about the artciles, the articles themself are often bobbins. No doubt Coventry and Rovers will deny the story tomorrow and as there are no quotes it's definitely a "flyer" by the paper concerned. Yesterday they had McCarthy in the frame.

Back pages tomorrow. Reid in line for Blackburn By Michael Morgan Peter Reid has emerged as the surprise favourite to take over as Blackburn boss. The Rovers board have drawn up their short-list of contenders to replace Newcastle-bound Graeme Souness and Reid is top, ahead of Everton's David Moyes. Former Everton and England midfielder Reid, 47, has powerful longstanding allies at Ewood Park. Rovers tried to tempt him from Sunderland before they handed the job to Souness four years ago. and so and so on...... I can't write any more: I'm too depressed.

Different circumstances: Newcastle approached the managers they wanted, Rovers invited applications for the job. See my earlier post on Dowie; I don't see the point of us grooming Shearer for the next time the Newcastle job becomes available; Moyes would be OK though I don't see why he would want to leave Everton; Hughes would be preferable but is inexperienced and would need good back-up staff.

Tripe. I would not want any of those four within 100 miles of Ewood. They are all flawed either as people or as managers. They are out of work and want to get back on the Premiership gravy train. The club is irrelevant.

Good grief.

I wouldn't. A successful six-month spell gaining promotion for Palace on the back of a gruelling fitness regime a Premiership manager doth not make. He's also not the big name that the club needs to attract the better players. Dowie, Jewell and their ilk are non-starters as far as I'm concerned.

........ so he wants to join Rovers because he wants an obscenely large salary AND the easy life? He made his bed at Everton; let him lie in it.

Supposing Moyes is one of the three Premiership managers who have applied for the job, what does he think he can achieve at Rovers that he cannot at a much larger club like Everton?

If Hoddle is handed the job I will never go to Ewood Park again. And I mean it.

No mention of Strachan. I get the feeling that the job is Mark Hughes's, but he is in a quandary over whether to accept because of Wales's World Cup commitments.

He may have applied for the job but I doubt he's a "target" Jim. Sun's words, not mine. There are no quotes with the story so I wouldn't put any money on it.... ....unlike Brownie!

How about this one? According to tomorrow's Sun, Mick McCarthy is a target for Rovers to replace Souness. Iain Dowie is also mentioned.

To judge from his transfer record over the years, Souness usually buys those players he knows and trusts. Expect him to go for (in no particular order): Friedel, Ferguson, Tugay, Stead, Neill and one or two rising Academy stars. We may hold on to one or two but it is inevitable that we shall lose some to Newcastle.

One of tomorrow's papers "reveals" that Souness took the Newcastle job because he thought he was only two games away from the sack at Ewood. It also gives details of an incident involving Souness and Williams at Brockhall before the season started. Love him or loathe him, you cannot ignore Souness's ability to attract the headlines.

Yes, definitely. As I said in my earlier post, any all-time Rovers team would HAVE to include Keith Newton. If he is not in at right back then he must go in at left. He was a class act whereever he played.

It would appear that Souness was scouting for Rovers at the Doncaster v Walsall match on Saturday when he was contacted by Newcastle. Presumably any player he was interested in will be now heading for the North East. I would bet that the Rovers board are privately relieved that the "Souness problem" has been taken off their hands in that his recent record was worthy of the sack yet they could not afford to dismiss him. Thank you Newcastle for doing the job for them. Of the managers available, Strachan is the only really credible candidate. Hughes is too involved with the Wales 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign and I believe that even the Rovers board, while weak, would not be so daft as to appoint Houllier. Any inexperienced manager plucked from the lower divisions would mean instant relegation IMO. I've had a few good days in my long existence but the departure of Souness has brought a beam to my wrinkled old face. Any future without Souness in charge of the club is a better future as far as I'm concerned. I found this poem on t'internet that sums up my feelings perfectly today. If a happiness poem could bring forth a smile, Then my face would always dress in style. If my ears could hear my computer screen, From one to another, they, too, would grin. My keyboard types for my eyes not my tongue This happiness poem will never be sung. But what of my eyes? Don't they shine? Yes, but not from this poem of mine. The pen is mightier than the sword, But a pen can write only words. The feelings I sense and the senses I feel For keyboard and screen remain far too real. My ears and my nose remain at rest. My cheeks and hairline are doing their best. But if this happiness poem could make my mouth smile, My face would forever dress up in style Bye bye Souness. Good riddance.

Proving that Hird was a converted midfield player (which he was) and Price was good going forward but not the best defender. The last two are head and shoulders above the rest.

It has to be Crompton, but Newton was sheer class. I'm voting for Keith at left back.

One of our old players who Birmingham fans must be delighted with is Damien Johnson, who has become a permanent fixture in the team since Souness scandalously let him go.

Newcastle, having been turned down by both Steve McClaren and Steve Bruce today, have switched their sights to Sam Allardyce!

Because we need a player who is going to save us from relegation. If this is the solution to our problems, then I'm a cantankerous old so-and-so.

So the knight in shining armour came galloping over the hill to the rescue of the Rovers in the shape of a Coventry reject. Wonderful. Souness's much-acclaimed Italian scouts strike again.

Three hours 45 minutes to transfer deadline, or we're stuck the present load of stiffs until January.