Whilst Shearer has many of the atributes that should/could make him a great manager. I do think that he should learn the trade of manager at a lower league club. Manager such as Robson, Ramsey, Ferguson all had nightmare begining as manager before making good. Shearer would need to be exceptional to buck this trend, and to do it at a club like Newcastle is asking too much. Not only does have to sort out on the pitch problem, but he will have to sort out the off pitch antics of the player and the there's the club and city it's self which is relentless in chewing up manager (Robson and Daglish couldn't sort it out). And he would have to do it with players who know him in the dressing room and therefore know his weaknesses. As a Manager you need that certain air of mystery. Shearer needs to go to a differant club and come back in five years (and I'll be there cheering him)

Shay dismay: We know how you feel From the Guardian, Wednesday: Shay Given has become the latest Newcastle United player to question the club's immediate prospects after a "really disappointing season" at St James' Park. "I'm worried about the club's direction," Given said yesterday. "It is going to be very hard now for the chairman and the manager to attract the necessary quality to a club that is in the Intertoto Cup." Given is the most senior player at the club after Alan Shearer and has two years left on his contract. Although his long-term commitment has never been in doubt his disenchantment with Newcastle's season cannot be overstated. Given, 29 last month, has been at Newcastle since Kenny Dalglish signed him from Blackburn in 1997. Eight seasons and four managers later Given has yet to win anything at the club, which has just achieved its lowest Premiership finish, 14th. The goalkeeper described the night in Lisbon when Newcastle were knocked out of the Uefa Cup quarter-final as "the biggest kick in the teeth in my eight years at the club". Newcastle lost that match 4-1 having been 2-0 ahead on aggregate. Four days later Newcastle lost 4-1 to Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final as their season disintegrated amid injuries and spats between the manager Graeme Souness and players such as Laurent Robert. "I truly believed that we could win the Uefa Cup, more so than the FA Cup," he said. "I couldn't speak properly to anyone for days after that. Now it looks like Sporting, a team we were capable of beating, are going to win it. "To me the Uefa Cup was Newcastle's big chance of making the breakthrough and finally winning a trophy. Personally I feel at this point as if I should be winning medals. I am not being egotistical but I've won nearly 70 caps and having just turned 29 I feel like I am in the prime of my career. I know the time will fly so I want to win something. "I also know how this will sound but I don't think I am saying anything different from our supporters. I could hear what they were shouting on Sunday. They have been amazing again and nothing would please me more than winning a trophy in their colours." On Monday Given's young colleague Jermaine Jenas called this season unacceptable and questioned the hunger of some of his team-mates. Robert voiced his discontent with Souness yester- day and indicated that he wants to leave the club. "I was on the bench for the last six or seven matches of the season," the French winger told L'Equipe. "I'd played all season then, out of nowhere, that was it. Out. Souness didn't say a word to me, but then he's a special kind of coach. He's had problems in the past with quite a few players. "Quite a few clubs are interested in me. There's nothing concrete in the pipeline, but I'm not worried. I want to leave Newcastle. To play. It's not possible for me to play for Souness any more." Robert has been a serial complainer, but that Given and Jenas, two of Newcastle's most respected players, should be sufficiently dismayed by the past nine months, which have seen Sir Bobby Robson sacked and Craig Bellamy exiled in Glasgow, to speak out is indicative of the atmosphere at St James'.

Graeme Souness: Q&A - Part 2 May 18 2005 Alan Oliver puts more of your questions to Newcastle manager Graeme Souness: * Before we stump up £500 for our season tickets, can we be confident you will spend wisely this summer? - Paul, Blaydon. Yes, every penny we get will be spent wisely. The biggest test and job of a manager today is how he spends your money. * I would like to ask Graeme Souness what calibre of player does he think he will be able to attract to St James' Park next season bearing in mind the squad he left at Blackburn Rovers, his public falling-out with players he has managed and maybe no European football which all top players crave? - B Vickers, Darlington. * Will you be signing run-of-the-mill dependable players or can we expect top-notch world-class players to arrive at St James' Park? - Ron Ramsay. My aim is to get some very good players here. We have a group of players we feel we can let go and we aim to replace them with players who can be a big influence at this football club. What I'm am big on is that I want to hit the ground running at the start of next season and to do that with some of the players we've got here and players with experience of the Premier League. Ideally, the new signings will be British or players who have experienced the Premier League. * I am not going to renew my season ticket next season for the first time in 12 years because I am of the opinion that you, aided by Dean Saunders and the rest of your backroom staff, will ruin the side and possibly get us relegated. What do you plan to do to make me and thousands of other fans eat our words? - Alex Wright, Gosforth. I hope we can sign the quality players we have targeted in the summer and make you renew your season tickets again. * Given the fact that we spend most of our time in the press for the wrong reasons how difficult is it the right player to Newcastle? How can we attract the right player, someone with the heart of Shearer who will put the club first and not their bank account? - Martin Prosser, ex-Ashington now Montreal, Canada. I am sure we can attract the kind of quality players we are after. We have had no problems when we have been speaking to agents about the possibility of their players joining us. They know how big a club this is and what an even bigger club it can be. * You've stated that you want to bring in older players since you won't win anything with 11 James Milners. Hasn't the club been let down badly this season by older players like Kluivert, Babayaro, Bowyer and Nicky Butt? - Was Shakoor. I am not going into who I feel could have done better for us this season but my aim is to bring in players who have a bit of football knowledge. People who have been around the block a few times. Players who are 24 or 25 years old. * Do you not think that comments such as "we won't win anything with 11 James Milners can only harm a young player's confidence? - Matthew Anderson, Newcastle. The minute I said that at the press conference I thought it might appear differently to what I meant. So I asked the press not to use it, but as is the way with certain parts of the media, it was a headline that they could not turn down. * How do you explain the utter disaster that has been the 2004-5 season? - Chris Masson, Walkergate. If we had won against Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final people would have been saying that while we may have been disappointing in the Premiership, we had had a great cup run. And if we had got through against Sporting Lisbon, which we should have done, and then won the UEFA Cup semi-final people would have said it would have been a good season because we had got through to a cup final. But in Lisbon we lost three key players through injury. That's where we lost it. I would ask the fan who asks this question to look at our results when everybody was fit. We were three games away from being in two cup finals. But that has been forgotten and that's the way football is. We lost key players at a vital time and as a result we were fragile. * In our opinion we appear to be a more effective and fluent team when Alan Shearer does not play. We would like to know your thoughts. - Steven Cook, Battle Hill, and Gary Smith, West Denton I disagree with that. Alan Shearer has given phenomenal service to this football club and I don't think anyone who has the interests of Newcastle United at heart can criticise anything he has done. He's been a one-man show at times. Indeed, if you take Alan Shearer's goals out of Newcastle United every year he has been here they are a mid-table team. * Freddy Shepherd says your choice as manager to follow you is Alan Shearer. Don't you feel that NUFC deserve better than an apprentice and before taking on a club the size of Newcastle United Shearer needs to prove himself elsewhere? - Sue Donathy, East Boldon It's not for me to decide. From the first day we can here I offered Alan Shearer the chance to be around me and involved in management as much as he wanted. * If any player disagrees with you do you freeze them out or are you open to constructive criticism? - Arthur Bainbridge, Hartlepool These days players have a far greater opinions than ever before. I think this is to do with the amount of football on television and former players and pundits offering their opinion. So I think today all players have an opinion and I have no problem with that. *I think the league and FA Cup should be our priority, so do you not think it would be better if you gave the Intertoto Cup a miss and concentrate all your efforts on getting Newcastle United back up the table? - Andrew Veitch, Falkirk Without a shadow of doubt. My priority next season is the Premiership. It is no coincidence that this club finished third when we didn't qualify for Europe after Troyes beat us in the Intertoto Cup. Is it a coincidence that the year Ipswich had a run in the UEFA Cup and played in the San Siro they were relegated? If you haven't got a squad of players to deal with all the cup-ties your league form will suffer and that's what has happened to us. It's not rocket science. People look for things that don't exist. The bottom line this season is that we didn't have enough quality players to go for it on all fronts and we got sucked into a situation in the UEFA Cup where we got through round after round and I ended up playing my strongest team on a Thursday night and then asked the same players to go out on a Sunday. It's just something you cannot do. * Are you confident that you can remould some of the undoubted talent at your disposal in Dyer, Bowyer and Jenas or are fresh faces with different attitudes the only answer? - Robin Wright, Hamilton. It was no secret that when we first came here that we would have to have a different attitude to football. Some of the players I inherited have, and that's all part of my brief and part of my job - first to get proper players in to go with the proper players we have, and the ones we think aren't good enough, we'll move on. * Why do you insist on playing lopsided or narrow midfield formations ie only one winger or none at all where the opposition finds it so easy to nullify us? Also why are we slow in our build-up play ie 10 passes to move five yards? Steve (exiled in Manchester but still a season ticket holder) First of all let me say there's no such thing as 4-5-1. The system we have been trying to play in recent weeks is the same system Chelsea have employed all season. It's the same system or a slight variation of it that Manchester United attempt to play. Everton play it and so too do Bolton Wanderers. Like Manchester United, Arsenal use a slight variation of it. It's been a success for them and in recent weeks it could have been a success for us but I don't think we have got the results we have deserved. We should have got something at Norwich and at Old Trafford. Manchester United weren't in the game until that Wayne Rooney special. We should have won against Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace and we still cannot believe we didn't get anything from Everton. So it's not the system which is letting us down. * Do you believe you have the temperament (and soft-touch) to handle the modern-day footballer? Can you really blame Laurent Robert for him venting his frustrations to the media if his manager doesn't speak to him? - Vikram Aggarwal, Gosforth * Are you going to heal the rift with Laurent Robert? Or is that another player we will have to lose? - David Lowe, Byker Laurent Robert is not happy because he's not in the team every week and I haven't got a problem with this. But when you talk about inheriting a great squad of players surely the proof of the pudding - and forgetting my opinion on this - is just who is going to come in and buy them. Everybody knows who is available here. So let's see who comes in to buy them? Let's see if these players warrant the regard they are thought of by some supporters at our club and if football regards them in the same high status as they regard themselves. If you are a top player all the top teams will be after you if you become available. Well, let's see who comes in for those we have available. You just have to look at Craig Bellamy when he was made available at the end of January. Birmingham City wanted to buy him and nobody else. Does that not tell our supporters something? We are not dealing with someone like Barcelona or Real Madrid or Manchester United who wanted Bellamy. We are talking about Birmingham City. As I speak we have no offers for any of our players. We have just had one inquiry for one player who could be leaving us. Young players have proved a point * I would like to ask Graeme Souness what his plans are for the younger players such as Milner, Taylor, N'Zogbia and Ramage? - Chris, South Gosforth Well, I think they have all proved they can play in the Premiership. I don't think that 18 or 19 or even 20-year-olds can come in and do a job over a full season. But they have proved they can come in and handle playing both in the Premiership and indeed Europe. * We seem to have a number of square pegs trying to fit into round holes. What is your preferred formation of playing? - A Wood. Four defenders. A midfield that works hard. And strikers who work hard and score goals. * Aren't you afraid that when bringing in too many new players (six I heard) you will need another season to create a unity in the team? - G Lammers, Netherlands No, I don't think so. You don't have to look any further than Chelsea. They've got a load of new players this season and they ended up as champions with some style. In any case it would be unrealistic to think we can bring six players in. * Do you think your team's performances this season merit crowds of 52,000? - Norman Riley, Gateshead I cannot really answer that. I cannot speak for 52,000 people and neither can anyone else. * Do you understand the mentality and inner thoughts of true Geordies. Presuming the answer is no, my question is do you intend to? - Colin Hetherington, Atlanta What I do know about the Geordies is that they are true football supporters and I understand what football supporters are all about. * I would like to know how you qualify the ludicrous statement you came out with a while back about being the most attacked-minded manager this club has had. I ask this after watching two goalless draws, both at home, when we played with one man up front. - Andy Rivers The way we play depends on how you choose to see it. We played with three strikers against Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace but we didn't win either game because we did not convert our chances. It's nothing to do with systems. But what it has to do with is individuals on the night not taking their chances. * How can a player released on a free transfer and unproven in the Premiership be worth £7m or £8m six months later? - Malcolm Fisher, Thornley How can I answer that? I am not responsible for Jean Alain Boumsong being a free transfer

Toon raiders double bid as Pat departs May 18 2005 By Alan Oliver, The Evening Chronicle Aston Villa are ready to make a double swoop for Newcastle United pair Craig Bellamy and Aaron Hughes - but a Nobby Solano return to St James' Park is not included in the deal. The Chronicle revealed in our later editions yesterday that Villa boss David O'Leary was trying to hijack Bellamy's move to Celtic by matching their £6m bid for the Welsh striker. And we can reveal today that United have officially released Patrick Kluivert, who is already back in Holland and has had an operation on his knee. So the Dutch international, who arrived in a fanfare of trumpets at St James' Park last July, has left Tyneside with a whimper. Now I understand that United have accepted Villa's bid for Bellamy and that the striker will head for The Midlands next week for talks. This will be a bitter blow to the legions of Celtic fans, but if he loses out on Bellamy I expect Park boss Martin O'Neill to move instead for Spurs striker Robbie Keane, who wants to leave White Hart Lane. When I spoke to Bellamy last week he obviously had an inkling of Villa's interest. And I believe that if Bellamy had the choice between Villa and Celtic, he would opt to come back to the Premiership with O'Leary's side. I am told that Villa will have no problem in matching the £38,000 a week wages Bellamy picks up from United, and unless there is any sudden interest from big boys Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester United or from Italy they are confident they will get their man. But it remains to be seen whether they will prise Hughes from St James' Park. There was talk of O'Leary being interested in Andy O'Brien, one of his successors in the Republic of Ireland No 5 shirt but I hear that the Villa boss would prefer Hughes. But what O'Leary will not do is to sell Solano back to United as he wants him to line up with his former Newcastle colleague Bellamy. Meanwhile, reports today that they were going to sign Robbie Keane and Luis Boa Morte in the next few days were knocked back by United today. An insider said: "Robbie Keane has never been mentioned in transfer talks between manager and the chairman. "While we were interested in Boa Morte in January, he has since signed a new five-year-contract for Fulham."

Boum Gong but Bellers gets nowt He's got one... ...he's not One Newcastle player looks to have ended the season with a medal after all - but it wasn't Craig Bellamy, following the pulsating end to the SPL season that saw Celtic snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Leading 1-0 with three minutes of normal time remaining, the helicopter carrying the championship trophy was en route to Fir Park. However, two late goals from Terry Butcher's Motherwell handed the title to Rangers, who won 1-0 away at Hearts. But as Craig Bellamy's hopes of a winners medal drained away down the 'Well, victory for the blue half of Glasgow looks to have handed a gong to Jean Alain Boumsong - who made 18 appearances and scored twice for Rangers before his Magpies move. Bellamy has another chance to claim a medal next Saturday by winning the Scottish Cup Final against Dundee United, managed by ex-mackem Gordon Chisholm whose own goal in 1985 gave the League Cup to Norwich. The Tangerines avoided relegation on the final day of the season but saw their Tayside rivals Dundee drop through the trap door after they could only draw with Livingston. That result means Livi (with ex toon reserve Colin McMenamin in the side) preserve their SPL status, while former Mag Garry Brady watched from the sidelines as his Dundee team were relegated. Also living to fight another day were Dunfermline - despite losing 4-0 at Kilmarnock. The Pars included former toon players Lee Makel and Aaron Labonte in their side. To complete the lineup of United old boys in action north of the border at the weekend, midfielders Brian Kerr and Alan Thompson faced each other in the Motherwell v Celtic game. PS - Speculation is rife in Scotland that Celtic boss Martin O'Neill is set to stand down next week - but to take a break from football for family reasons, rather than return to England and a new management job.

Number juan: Well, we DO need a goalscorer.... We've no idea (yet) whether there's a grain of truth in a story that surfaced at the weekend, but if nothing else it's original..... SkySports report alleged interest from Newcastle in Sporting Lisbon goalkeeper Ricardo - with a part-exchange deal involving Hugo Viana being rumoured. There is a certain logic in this - if one subscribes to the theory that Shay Given has played his last game for us and will be sold to raise funds (inevitably Cup final day dawned with both finalists linked again with him). He would then be replaced by the 29 year -old Portuguese international 'keeper, who famously scored the penalty kick which beat England in Euro 2004 (hence our low quality headline). We would gain a goalkeeper, get rid of Viana and recoup some cash for him, as well as gaining an additional transfer fee from the sale of Shay. Assuming this is no more than fantasy, there is a further complication in that Ricardo's move from Boavista involved the insertion of a 20% sell-on clause. Of course Ricardo would be company for our other new Portuguese arrival, his international team mate Luis Boa Morte, who is looking at houses in the Dunston area as we speak..... All jolly entertaining stuff, but Given's departure will certainly be mourned in these quarters, whenever it comes. As for our opinion of Ricardo, having seen him play four times last season against United, we weren't overly impressed and commented as follows in the waffle from the March 2005 1-0 home win over Sporting: The visitors were hurling themselves to the ground at every opportunity and even when there was contact it was amazing to see their histrionics. One offender was 'keeper Ricardo who made Taylor's Oscar-winning performance on Saturday look very amateur with his incredible over-reaction to contact with Ameobi. The challenge was fair and should have resulted in a corner for us but the keeper writhed on the floor, so much so that when the referee went over to check on his injury, Ricardo almost assaulted him with one of his death throes. The wound turned out to be nothing more than a shaving nick by his ear and after it took four minutes to stop the bleeding, play resumed with Ricardo bravely picking himself up off the canvas. Ponce. PS - Ricardo made his international debut for Portugal in June 2001 against Ireland in a friendly at Lansdowne Road, with Shay Given between the posts for the home side.

Transfer latest: Hughes "signs" Villa get their man Aston Villa's official website announced on Friday afternoon that they had "completed the signing" of Newcastle defender Aaron Hughes. The 25 year-old Northern Ireland captain has agreed a three year deal for a fee reported as £1.5m - and as he's currently under contract will officially sign on July 1st. Hughes issued the following statement via his agent: "I'm feeling quite excited actually! This is obviously the first time I have switched clubs so it's all a bit new for me. I have managed to have a quick look round the stadium and the training ground and I have been really impressed by what I've seen.* "I think Villa are a very similar club to Newcastle in many respects - both big city clubs, both with great history and tradition and both have struggled to win trophies in the last few years. The challenges here are very similar to the ones I faced at Newcastle - we need to break into the top six and qualify for Europe at the minimum. "Obviously I am leaving behind a lot of friends in the north east. Newcastle are a tremendous club and have made me the player I am today. I was privileged to work under some great managers there and play with some unbelievable players. I would like to say a huge thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way and wish the club all the best for the future. "But I am now really looking forward to coming back for pre-season here and meeting up with all the Villa lads." (* while we'll accept that he's never been to the windswept wastes of Bodymoor Heath, surely Hughes was familiar enough with Villa Park - having played there no less than seven times for Newcastle - it's Birmingham, not bloody Bolivia...) Almost unnoticed as ever, Hughes' final Premiership appearance came at SJP in the infamous 0-3 Villa game when we finished up with eight men. And the last of his 278 first team games for us came a few days later as we beat Sporting Lisbon 1-0 on Tyneside. Having made his first team debut in the Nou Camp back in November 1997, Hughes signed for United in 1995 while still at school, having been spotted in the North Ireland Milk Cup tournament playing for the Boys Brigade against a young Magpies side. Before joining Newcastle, Hughes played for Portadown boys (where he spent some time with the Manchester United school of excellence in Belfast) before moving on to Lisburn's youth side. He also appeared for local side Coagh United. From our perspective this looks like a re-run of the 1998 sale of Steve Watson by Gullit to Villa - the disposal of a quieter member of the squad who won't moan in public about being shunted out as we try to gather funds for new recruits. Never a world beater, Hughes seldom let us down on the pitch and didn't make the news off it - would that many of his Newcastle colleagues could claim the same.... Like the cut-price departure of Solano before him, it's not the loss of the player that people necessarily mourn - it's if we end up wilfully weakening our own squad at the expense of others when the replacements or alternatives prove to be inferior. Not being a natural left-sided defender may ultimately have proved decisive, with the older but left-footed Elliott staying in toon, while the emergence of Taylor (and to a lesser extent Ramage) to provide cover across the back four weakened his case to stay. The lack of a song for him may also have been a contributory factor in his demise - Souness beware! Suffice it to say though there are many others we'd like to have seen up the road before Hughes.

Intertoto dates Vital statistics for next season as follows: Mon 6th June: UEFA confirm full list of participating clubs (although the league season in Slovakia and a number of other countries extends after this date, so there still could be some either/or entries.) Sat/ Sun 18th / 19th June & Sat/ Sun 25 / 26th June: First Round. We're interested in tie 10, which is Hungary's second entrant against the Slovakian side. Sat / Sun 2nd / 3rd July & Sat / Sun 9th / 10th July: Second Round. We play the winners of tie K, between the aforementioned first round qualifiers and Turkey's entrant - second leg of which is in Turkey. Sat / Sun 16 / 17th July & Sat 23rd July: Third Round. We are away first then at home to either a Hungarian, Slovakian or Turkish side. Then, if successful: Wed 27th July & Wed 3rd August: Semi-Final Draw for this is made between Second and Third Rounds (10th and 16th July). Then, if successful: Tue 9th August & Tue 23rd August: Final Draw for this is made between Second and Third Rounds (10th and 16th July). Then, if successful: Thu 15th Sep & Thu 29th Sept: UEFA Cup First Round Draw for this is made on Friday August 26th. 61 teams enter the Intertoto Cup at various stages, with big question marks at present regarding the possible clubs we could face on July 16th. At least one team from the following nations is participating this year: Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Rep, England, Estonia, Faroes, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Wales. Teams known to have qualified so far: Newcastle United, Bangor City (Wales), Bohemians (Ireland), Distillery (Northern Ireland) AA Gent (Belgium), Dinaburg (Latvia), Valletta (Malta). Amongst those not competing are: Scotland, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Norway, Kazakhstan, San Marino and Liechtenstein, Player eligibility deadlines: 2005 figures not available yet, but last year players had to be registered by June 10th 2004 to play in the Third Round and July 26th 2004 in the Semi Final and Final. We may be wrong, but that would seem to us to preclude the appearance of new players* in the Third Round games - as the transfer window won't have opened. * excluding non-contract players etc.

Souness faces FA disrepute charge Everton 2-0 Newcastle Newcastle boss Graeme Souness has been charged with bringing the game into disrepute by the Football Association. The FA has taken action after Souness's comments in the wake of his side's 2-0 defeat to Everton in Newcastle's penultimate game of the season. The Magpies boss was heavily crictical of the performance of referee Barry Knight in a game which saw Newcastle striker Shola Ameobi dismissed. Souness has until 6 June to respond to the charge. Knight was also the referee when the Tyneside club's midfielders Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer had their infamous on-pitch brawl against Aston Villa on 2 April. He red-carded the duo but Souness was critical of a penalty award Knight had given in that game which he believes helped lead to Dyer and Bowyer scuffling. Souness stated after the Everton game that Knight had apologised to right-back Stephen Carr for giving the spot-kick against Villa. The Newcastle manager was also critical of the free-kick Knight gave to Everton which led to the Merseysiders' first goal.