Souness named as Newcastle manager

Premiership news: In the wake of sacking Bobby Robson eight days ago, Newcastle United said they wanted someone young, British and stern to be their new manager. In that light it is no great surprise that Graeme Souness was named as Newcastle's chosen replacement yesterday.

At 51, Souness is youthful compared to 71-year-old Robson. Edinburgh-born means he is British, while there is not a person in football who would not describe Souness as stern. But that does not mean yesterday's news was not a surprise, and an alarming one to many fans.

Souness's name has long been mentioned around St James' Park as a likely successor to Robson, but not so much over the past week, not least because Newcastle's next game is against the club Souness has just left, Blackburn Rovers.

That fixture coincidence is why Souness will not take charge at St James' until next Monday. His first game in control will be the UEFA Cup home leg against Bnei Sakhnin of Israel on Thursday week.

Souness will bring with him his Blackburn backroom team - Alan Murray, Phil Boersma and Dean Saunders - and he will reportedly sign a five-year contract. A rumoured £20 million is at his disposal in January and next summer.

Blackburn have been paid a "satisfactory level of compensation" according to their chief executive John Williams, not unexpectedly as it is believed they were considering whether Souness had reached the end of his time at the Lancashire club.

Souness, for his part, was meant to be pondering his future. Last season he mused that Blackburn, where he was contracted to 2006, would be his last job in football. It was thought to be thinking of emigrating to Australia.

"I'm 50 in May," Souness said then, "but I might wake up one morning very soon and say I've had enough." But instead, in a rapid course of developments over the weekend, Souness agreed to fly to the north-east.

"I'm sad to be leaving here," he said as he left Blackburn's training ground yesterday. "I'm joining one of the biggest clubs around and I'm really excited about it. I think I'm ready for a big challenge. I'm sure some will be unhappy with it, but I can't help feeling excited about the prospects of Newcastle United."

Souness's new boss, the Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd, described him as "highly experienced - we look forward to him building on the progress we have made in recent years."

Shepherd needs that to happen because the initial reaction from the Newcastle public was predominantly negative and Shepherd is being accused of mismanaging the club. The Celtic manager Martin O'Neill was the supporters' choice after Alan Shearer's withdrawal from consideration. In the circumstances, a poor start and Souness will be under immediate pressure.

"Graeme is very reluctant to leave a job he considers one of the best in the business, but he views Newcastle as a massive opportunity and one he cannot resist," said John Williams.

Newcastle's reluctant acceptance over the weekend that they could not get Bruce out of Birmingham City for a satisfactory sum led them to Souness.

Meanwhile, Blackburn are not looking far beyond Mark Hughes or Gordon Strachan to replace Souness. With Souness ironically under possible threat of dismissal had Rovers lost at Newcastle on Saturday, both men had already featured in the thoughts of directors at Ewood Park.

Nevertheless, Blackburn's board will not close their minds to the 20 serious applications they received yesterday, each of whose merits will be discussed on Thursday, with a view to an appointment being finalised within the next fortnight.

Strachan loomed similarly large on Rovers' original shortlist which also included former Rangers manager Walter Smith, Gerard Houllier, Paul Jewell, Alan Shearer, Glenn Hoddle and Joe Royle.