What did Mourinho achieve as a player? What did Wenger achieve as a player, what about Houllier or Eriksson for that matter. Like it or lump it you and other fans have to realise football is changing, in fact it already has done. For all Souness' faults he was a great figurehead, brought players to the club that others wouldn't and some players respected him. However others didn't and look where it has got us. If we just appoint another 'personality' we will have failed to grasp a great opportunity here. We need to move forward and we need a manager that can take us forward not drag us backwards. We are a small town club with limited resources, we should not lose sight of that. It doesn't mean we should give up but like Bolton we have to be innovative and use every angle possible. Appointing another big name just for the sake of it will kill this club, not appointing someone like Dowie. As for Hodgson, his fitness coach had the players training twice a day which was a big change. Does Dowie do that? Like others have said if players won't play for the manager we bring in then get rid. Duff played here, Dunn played here in the last 3 years we don't need and we don't want primadonnas. We need to exploit our position as a small town club, we should follow Charlton or Bolton not and build from there. We have a real opportunity and if we appoint someone like Dowie, Strachan or Hughes we will have grasped it. If not we may as well not bother.

He's got more experience than Hughes, who I would also like, so i'm not sure how you can call him for that. He would be a risk but i'd say he's exactly what we need. He's worked wonders at Palace, appears keen to try any new method and is very well liked by his players. Can't say I particularly care how ugly he is to be honest.

The comment on SSN says Blackburn have confirmed a shortlist of 3.

My thoughts exactly. I think we should remember that there's two, arguably equally prestigious, positions up for grabs at the moment. Let's just hope we're not in competition for our first choices with them. There is no vacancy at Southampton. Wigley is 1st team coach and they may appoint a director of football but for now that's it. That's how Le Tissier told it and also my take on it as well.

I certainly can't be bothered reading 50 pages of this thread but will just say that of the ones that I've heard mentioned Strachan, Dowie, Hughes and maybe Newell fill me with hope. Reid, McCarthy fill me with dread. The main reason i'm excited is I'm hoping for a manager who is at least innovative, full of ideas and you can see what he's trying to do. If we go down the road of appointing another tired old failure from the old boy's network we will have failed big time.

Well I've missed all the fun as I've been off in sunny Portugal but luckily Scotty kept me up date with all the shocks as they unfolded. My initial feelings were mixed between being stunned but also quite excited. It's a change and probably one that was needed. The fact that we gave got money for him instead of having to pay him off is even better. Having had time to reflect and read a bit of this thread i'm still excited but a little apprehensive about who we get in. Incidentally I didn't meet any geordies who were even slightly happy about the appointment, most are still annoyed about Robson's sacking or more the way it was done. I would thank Souness for most of what he has done though I can't say I wish him luck because like Jan I can't stand Newcastle.

Fair enough that was a bit of a sharper response than I intended so apologies, I've been mad busy sorting a new job and holiday the last 2 days. I haven't found it but it was mainly Alan Mullery who had it as he was trying to back up his good friend Mr. Shepherd who has behaved perfectly with Bobby apparently. Interesting article I read in the Express, whilst waiting in the barbers , which was slating Shearer as well. Can't remember the journo but he said he wasn't all that fond of Bobby but his treatment here was appalling. Reckoned that Shearer hadn't forgiven Bobby for trying to sell him to Liverpool so had undermined him a lot this recently.

Agree with everything you say re Bothroyd. As for Jansen I think people are being harsh on Souness. If Jansen is a goner it doesn't benefit us to be told. It certainly does put a block on any future moves however. As for Gally he is injured, he was definitely hobbling on Saturday so whatever the truth about a falling out that is why he isn't playing.

Says what exactly? He lost his place to one if Italy's top strikers who is a bit past his best. That's like slagging Ameobi and saying he couldn't get in ahead of Shearer. I'm going to stick with Bob on this one and wait until I see him personally although the link to the WSC article is particularly interesting reading, especially this bit. "One problem was that Bothroyd did not seem to relish chasing lost causes. For some football fans, that is a basic requirement. Many want to see their players scurry like demented hares whenever, for example, there's a backpass, even when there is no hope of getting even a sniff of the ball. It's an unspoken pact: we know it doesn't do any good, but we want to see you do it anyway, just to show you care. If chasing lost causes makes a great striker, Lee Hughes would be playing for England. Hughes cost the Sky Blues £6.5million - more than six times the fee Coventry paid Arsenal for Bothroyd - and in 36 starts managed just 10 goals from open play. Bothroyd scored 11 from 27 starts in 2002-03 but never got the terrace support Hughes did. No one chanted his name. Even though Bothroyd was in almost every way a better footballer, he was far less popular." I can just see the knives being sharpened already.

I wonder if they will be singing some of their previous songs about him. Mainly centred on his son and his lack of eyesight.

I said Allardyce as a wind-up to the Bolton fan who sits near me at work. Is that alongside Shearer or instead of?

Exactly. Jansen could, and would IMO offer more to our first team than Boothroyd. Yes and he also could offer nothing. In all the games i've seen him play he has looked so far short of the required quality it's untrue. You say he should get 5 or 6 games but instead of who? Stead, Dickov, we can't afford to let give someone 5 or 6 games to see what he might do.

nobody will ever beat Manch Blue to insulting someone That's the nicest thing anyone's said about me on here, thanks a lot you f*****

Bleedin hell i've heard of people knocking a player too soon but he hasn't even played yet and you've written him off.

Why are you still going to be hanging around?

It was on Sky Sports when they were discussing it and they had an article which basically listed those players in the same exact order. It then went on to say that we should forget who Robson is as football is a business. I've got to nip out again now but if it's that important to you i'll have a scout around later.

I haven't read any paper, so I don't know what you're on about. The only reason people are condemning the move is because Bobby Robson is old, English and a media favourite. I'm sure Gerard Houllier and Glenn Roeder were charming fellas, and I'm sure they, 'lived and breathed football,' so did they deserve the sack? If there was a post-Robson like collective mourning for them, I missed it. Must just be a coincidence then that it was word for word a repeat of an article i'd seen. Anyway I digress the fact is you're still wrong. Most people are bemoaning the treatment of Bobby not the fact that he was sacked.

Instead of just reading an article in the papers and spouting it word for word, why can't you come up with an opnion of your own. The fact that Robson has gone is not what has upset many, including a lot of 'geordies'. The fact is that Shepherd knows little about football yet has given Robson another year, then gone behind him and sold their only decent defender. He was also behind the moves for Rooney a man they don't even need and also announced this season would definitely be Robson's last. The main problem there is dressing room unrest caused by the chairman. Yet once again some of the plonkers on here praise the chairman for making a brave decision. It's because of that chairman that the problems are there in the first place. Oh and that list which is word for word from the papers missed out Viana, yet how Bowyer and Elliott two free transfers can be bad buys is beyond me. Jenas has clearly come on under Robson as has Ameobi. I happen to think that Robson has taken them as far as he can and should have gone in the summer but the way it has been done is pathetic.

So you don't think the ref cost us points on Saturday or the Saturday before?

Intereting but not at all surprising that you would support two such odious characters. Both are clueless about football and are quite rightly viewed as parasytes by most. You applaud them for swift action but if they knew anything they would have sacked the managers in the summer rather then causing further problems by letting them start the season. Rather like yourself they are clearly just puddled and i'm just glad we don't have to suffer their ilk.

You can call it what you want but palming it across to your other striker during the minute the ref has added on at the insistence of RFW isn't what I'd called justice.

Yeah exactly what we said after the match. If Amo had gone before the substitution then Yorke would never have come on. I also would have played him in midfield however I would have worried about the amount of room on the wings then.

Completely different circumstances Herberger. Yorke was poor by his standards but it wasn't his fault we lost. When he got the ball he held it up well apart from once. He didn't chase enough or put enough challenges in but that's why he should never play up front on his own. The overreactions on here are embarrasing at times. He was poor in difficult circumstances. Yorke still has an important part to play here. I didn't post on here how wonderful he was in the first game because he was just ok. Today he was not ok but the situation was different. You will never see Yorke running around like Dickov but you will get other things from him. If it means that much to some to have a scapegoat fine maybe Emerton can have a week off for a change. Me I'll criticise a player by all means but to call him a disgrace and want him out of the club. Pathetic.

Spot on - my team exactly. Not a single person in midfield who can tackle. If United's midfield is:- Fletcher Scholes Djemba Giggs/Ronaldo we will require a bit more than just a tackler. Fergie will do enough. We need to show a lot of craft and have a real go or we have no chance. I understand your point but I feel we need to go for quality. I wouldn't worry though as I have little doubt that we will have plenty of tacklers in the middle.

Is there anyone, other than Dalgliesh obviously, that you would be happy with? Or are you just generally miserable? I think he's quite keen on Dalglish as well.