Souey has left club in lurch

WHEN Graeme Souness announced his decision to quit Blackburn Rovers for Newcastle United last week he talked passionately about the 'big job' awaiting him on Tyneside.

But the stark reality is the newly installed Magpies manager has left an even bigger job behind for the man who eventually succeeds him at Ewood Park.

For if this is Souness's legacy to his former club then whoever is ultimately handed the responsibility of clearing up the mess has his work cut out over the next nine months.

In fact, if Mark Hughes, Iain Dowie or Gordon Strachan - three of the leading candidates to takeover from Souness - had their spies here on Saturday then they were left in no doubt as to the enormity of the task that could be awaiting them.

Make no mistake about it, Souness has left his old club in the lurch.

The new season is still in its infancy and already the Premier League table makes for uncomfortable reading.

But it's not just Rovers' current league position that is causing concern, it's the shortage of genuine quality in the squad that Souness has left behind which leads you to think a long, hard struggle lies ahead.

If Newcastle followers want a real barometer of how their new manager might fare in the North East then perhaps they should look at the team he's leaving rather than the one he's about to inherit.

The bare truth is this current Rovers side is decidedly average in Premiership terms.

Apart from a collective lack of pace, there's not one special player in the ranks who can open up a defence in the way that Damien Duff used to do so.

And the absence of a genuine out-and-out goal-scorer means goals will always be hard to come by for a side that offers little in the way of an attacking threat in the final third.

That's not much of a legacy, then, from a man who shelled out more than £50 million on new players during four and a half seasons in the Ewood hot-seat.

In fairness to Souness, he had three fantastic years at Rovers in which he led the club to promotion and success in the Worthington Cup.

No one can take those achievements away from him and nor would they want to as they provided fans with some wonderful memories.

But in the subsequent 18 months, Souness was guilty of letting things slide, to the extent that his job was under serious threat by the time Newcastle made their approach for his services last weekend.

It's for that reason that few will shed any tears at his passing in Blackburn.

Every manager has a shelf life at a football club and it's now patently obvious Souness had reached his at Rovers.

It's just a pity that Newcastle's offer didn't come before the decision was taken to let Andy Cole join Fulham on a free.

At the time, the board were faced with a straight choice between Cole and Souness and, not surprisingly, they chose to back the manager.

But now the club have lost both in the space of two months and whoever ends up succeeding Souness will find Cole's goals increasingly difficult to replace as the winter draws in.

For all the huff and puff of Paul Dickov and Jon Stead, Rovers are missing a cutting edge up front.

If the opposition score first then it's difficult to see Rovers getting themselves back into games.

That was certainly the case here as Newcastle had this match sewn up by the 16th minute.

The Magpies took a fortuitous lead through Garry Flitcroft's own goal, then a towering header from Alan Shearer made it 2-0.

And the punishment might have been even more severe but for the referee Dermot Gallagher, who failed to award what looked like two clear penalties inside the opening quarter of an hour.

Craig Bellamy was the man causing all the problems.

A combination of blistering pace and a low centre of gravity made the Welshman a real handful for a ponderous-looking Rovers back-line.

There was also a greater fluidity to the Newcastle midfield as Lee Bowyer, Jermaine Jenas and Kieron Dyer all took it in turns to break forward and support Bellamy and Shearer in the final third.

In contrast, there was little cohesion about Rovers going forward and only the persistent running of Brett Emerton offered much in the way of a threat for the visitors.

To their credit, however, Tony Parkes' side never threw in the towel when lesser sides might have folded altogether.

The decision to replace the desperately disappointing Morten Gamst Pedersen with Jonathon Douglas at half-time played a part in that as the Irishman's presence helped to stiffen up the midfield considerably after the break.

But by then the damage had been done and Rovers rarely looked like pulling a goal back before it was left to Andy O'Brien to have the final say for Newcastle in the 82nd minute.

With Souness looking down on his new team from his seat in the stand, Newcastle came flying out of the blocks at breakneck speed and they should have had a penalty in the third minute when Matteo sent Bowyer sprawling in the box.

As it was, they only had to wait five more minutes for the opening goal to arrive, Flitcroft slicing Laurent Robert's corner past a startled Brad Friedel from four yards out.

Robert himself then went close to a second with a venomous free kick that flew inches wide of the far post before Bowyer saw another penalty appeal turned down when Flitcroft flattened him as he was about to shoot.

That reprieve was to prove only temporary, however, as Bellamy then crossed from the left for Shearer to head home in typical style at the far post - his first goal from open play since April.

In contrast, little was seen of Rovers as an attacking force barring a shot from Emerton that flew over.

The second half was a tame affair in comparison to the first.

Friedel made a sharp save to deny Bowyer, then Dickov went close to turning in a knock-down from Stead.

But the Magpies wrapped up the points with eight minutes left when O'Brien turned Matteo in the area and squeezed a shot past Friedel.

So as Souness prepares to start work at his new club, Rovers must continue the task of finding his successor.

Mark Hughes is the name on everyone's lips and his gladiatorial qualities could be just what is needed.