CYNICS might find it odd that a club seeking a calming influence opted for a manager whose career has involved sparking a near-riot in Istanbul, alienating much of Merseyside and getting sent off on his debut for Rangers after committing a tackle that was a few inches short of a frontal lobotomy. Having shot Bambi, Freddy Shepherd has got Rambo with studs, but not everything in black and white makes sense and the early signs are promising.
Any triumph over a Southampton side so devoid of ideas should be tempered with realism, but Graeme Souness has made a good start to his reign as Newcastle United manager. From the fisticuffs in Europe to a passionate performance on the south coast, he has at least got Newcastle fighting again. If the dressing-room really is full of more quivering bottom lips than a kindergarten class then it did not show yesterday. “We were gritty and determined and, as long as we have that, we have a chance,” Souness said.
The big decisions lie ahead, but Souness will not shirk the challenge. After all, this is a man whose past lives have involved firebombs, death threats and seeing his players’ foreheads daubed with the blood of a freshly-slaughtered sheep. At Newcastle, he has already dropped Alan Shearer, a taboo selection that has been professional suicide for his predecessors, and got people playing merrily out of position.
Yesterday it was the turn of Craig Bellamy. With Shearer restored to the frontline alongside Patrick Kliuvert, Bellamy was asked to play on the right side of midfield and was as industrious as ever. “We have to get the attitude Arsenal and Manchester United have had for a number of years — that it’s the cause that’s important,” Souness said. “Some people will be asked to play out of their ideal positions. Craig is fully committed to this football club and I didn’t get one objection from him.”
Whether Kieron Dyer, an agitator of much of the bloodletting, feels the same remains to be seen. “I assume he does,” Souness said with a grin that suggests Dyer will be onto a loser if he takes on this manager.
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This was a significant win for Newcastle. It was their first at Southampton for 32 years and their first away success in the Premiership since last October. Many of the problems have centred on a vertically-challenged defence that too often wavers perilously close to blind panic. When Southampton ditched their artistic pretensions for a more prosaic approach, they troubled Newcastle with straightforward high balls and the physiques of James Beattie and Peter Crouch, aka “the two big lumps” as Souness would have them.
That was not the only dismissive term Souness conjured up as he gave his opinion on Southampton, a club where he spent ten months as manager before citing a lack of ambition as the reason for his resignation. “They launch it from everywhere and it’s a throwback to the sort of football we had some years ago,” he said. Ouch.
Steve Wigley, the Southampton head coach, was unmoved. “He’s had a lot of opinions about Southampton in the past and I take it with a pinch of salt.”
Touché. Wigley has more pressing matters to concern him. He has seen his brief reign undermined by stories about Sir Clive Woodward, Glenn Hoddle and the news that his role is under threat because he does not have the Uefa Pro Licence. Wigley said it will take him a year to get one and there is no prospect of fast- tracking. Most alarming of all, however, is the fact Southampton are now teetering on the brink of mediocrity.
Newcastle deserved their win and it looked like being a routine one when Shearer seized on a ball at the back post after Kliuvert had fluffed an over-elaborate backheel. Shearer pounced and David Prutton could only help his low shot into the net.
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This is Newcastle, however, and away wins are never easy. Souness lauded his defence, but they had a soft centre that Beattie might have exposed if he was in the midst of a purple patch. In the end it was a simple long throw from Rory Delap that led to the equaliser seven minutes after the restart. When the ball was nodded to the edge of the area, Prutton’s deflected shot looped over the rearguard and Anders Svensson showed deft control to kill the ball and slide a shot beyond Shay Given.
The respite was shortlived, Stephen Carr walking onto a short free-kick and driving a superb, swerving drive beyond Antti Niemi. It was a lilting moment of quality in a grimy contest. Newcastle could have been more decisive winners — Shearer’s nodded miss from six yards was uncharacteristic, while Robbie Elliott just failed to latch onto another nodded effort from the captain — but the shaky finale left Souness in no doubt about where his priorities lie. “We have gifted players who will score goals, but the priority is to get the players defending properly,” he said. Souness’s arrival at St James’ Park may have divided opinion, but if he can solve that enduring conundrum then he really will unite Tyneside.