[Bazf]

Well, we all knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Like an animal that's been hit by a car, Graeme Souness has been put out of his misery. It's been a long time coming.

The Newcastle fans first started calling for his head in October. It was brushed over by most of the 'Old Boys' network that make up the footballing media in this country.
Sir Bobby Robson was shipped out of Newcastle because no-one believed he could take them to the next level, but Newcastle's last four league placements make painful reading - under Robson 4th, 3rd and 5th, under Souness 14th - and they currently sit 15th in the Premiership. Graeme Souness has spent £50million to take Newcastle to the wrong end of the table.
Already we are hearing Souness' friends in the game pointing to his injury list, the same excuse Souness himself has used all season. But there are two major issues with that.

The first is the question of players he has let go. Graeme Souness was installed to solve Newcastle's dressing-room problems. He's a disciplinarian, you know. 'Disciplinarian' meaning he gets angry. This is the man who even managed to fall out with Dwight Yorke.
Laurent Robert and Craig Bellamy, players who dared to criticise Souness, were sold or released - in the case of Laurent Robert, for a £9.5million loss. How valuable both would have been this season. Whoops.
The other question raised by Newcastle's injury problems is why? Why do they have so many injuries? Surely it can't just be bad luck?
Mark Hughes was quoted in the build-up to Newcastle's defeat against Blackburn as saying the players he inherited were in a terrible condition. Liverpool fans may remember that, as he took them from the most successful club in English football to a decade as also-rans, Souness' one complaint was always injuries. After a while, you have to start wondering what he does to them in training.
But injuries aside, the players at Souness' disposal are still better than those at Wigan, at West Ham, at Charlton. Injuries haven't cost Graeme Souness half as much as tactics have.
Shola Ameobi has played both in central midfield and on the left-wing this season - unbelievably chosen on the left ahead of Souness' £9million signing Albert Luque. Both experiments were disastrous, as anyone with a passing acquaintance with football could have predicted they would be. But Souness' greatest problem was his failure to sort out the Newcastle defence.
Aaron Hughes and Andy O'Brien were sold for a relative pittance. Neither will ever set the world alight, but Hughes has been one of Aston Villa's most consistent performers, and even in the disaster that has been Portsmouth's season Andy O'Brien has looked a more capable defender than Jean-Alain Boumsong. That's the £8million Jean-Alain Boumsong, by the way. Not to mention Titus Bramble - a player so bad that Liverpool fans cheered his introduction as a substitute.
At the end of the day, results are what matter in football. Graeme Souness has lost 29 of 83 games in charge of Newcastle United. And even leaving aside that statistic, their performances have been abysmal. He had to go.

But where do Newcastle go from here? The bookies' favourite is Sam Allardyce - which I fully support, even if only to keep him away from the England job. But even a manger as experienced and vocal as Allardyce would have the continued presence of Alan Shearer looking over his shoulder - with Newcastle fans looking back at him wondering just how well he would do. Shearer's installation as Glenn Roeder's assistant in Newcastle's current arrangement shows just how aware of that the club are. But being a great player doesn't mean Shearer will be a good manager - just look at Souness. And what a gamble it would be for any successful manager to take on a club sitting just six points above the relegation zone.

The simple fact of the matter is that Graeme Souness is a poor manager. Other than at Rangers, where a monkey could win the league, his success has been heavily outweighed by disappointment. Let's not forget, this is the man who played the fabled Ali Daia for Southampton. This is the man who, legend has it, released Deco so he could bring in Gary Charles.

In no other business in the world would a man as incompetent as Souness continue to secure employment - but he will. His massive pay-off from Newcastle will be supplemented by another income from a Premiership club sooner or later.