Evening Telegraph reporter NICK SMITH assesses how Graeme Souness will find his new home in Newcastle. . .

WHEN Graeme Souness walked into his new office today he could have had no complaints about not being given a clear job description.

In fact, it will be spelt out in black and white wherever he looks at St James' Park - this club is desperate for a trophy.

But his first task could be a spot of DIY. Namely, gutting out the media room and completely re-decorating the walls.

Everywhere you look there's framed press cuttings proudly displaying black and white images of black and white success. Sadly for Geordies, they come from a time of black and white TVs.

There are more up-to-date exceptions, but these only hammer home the obscurity this club has lurked in for the past 35 years.

Plenty of pictures depict the winning of that last piece of silverware, the 1969 Inter Cities Fairs Cup. But there's also mounted re-prints celebrating relatively unremarkable achievements like promotion to the Premiership in 1993. There's a glossy front page that recalls them buying Alan Shearer (just to rub Blackburn's noses in it even more!) and it seems the only memorable events of the 1970s and 1980s were the debuts of Malcolm MacDonald and Kevin Keegan.

Legends they may be, but if this is the best recent history Newcastle can come up with, then nobody will hesitate in ripping down these nostalgic images to replace them with pictures with those important things called cups on them.

So 15 years after his playing career ended, there's no more compelling evidence that Souness is still never one to pull out of a challenge.

Hence, did anyone really expect him to stay at home when such a tasty fixture awaited him on Saturday?

As he sheepishly watched his new regime crush his previous one, even he might have been overwhelmed when he surveyed the surroundings.

The most intimidating feature is the massive stand hovering over half of the ground, and when the sound of 50,000 Geordies cascades down its tiers, Souness will feel the impact whether things go well or not.

Even when there is a lull in the action and the Magpies are winning 2-0, the eerie silence that sometimes circles around the arena is as daunting as any celebration noise.

When things pick up, the Gallowgate roar seems to tune itself up in a corner of the ground before fading in like the intro to a musical symphony.

Then everyone joins in and it hits a dramatic crescendo that makes the classical music that is played when the teams run out on to the pitch sound as twee as a fresh-faced boy band in comparison.

Moments like that convince you that it's no insult to Blackburn that their manager left them for this place - it's a unique sporting experience and, no matter what anyone tells you, you don't have to be a Geordie to appreciate it.

But should Souness finds himself out of favour with the locals, they can also compose a soundtrack of whistling and jeering that can make you feel like you've got tinnitus.

However, on Saturday most of it was confined to Michael Gray every time he took a throw-in.

You would expect that treatment for a former Sunderland captain, but in general it seems that Souness can rest assured that the Geordies are by nature a generous bunch.

If unknown sub Charles N'Zogbia can extract one of the loudest roars of the afternoon for a 10-second appearance, it suggests they're willing to give anyone a chance.