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Your support makes all the difference.Even if Graeme Souness had not been approached to take charge at St James' Park, he would in all probability no longer be running Blackburn Rovers. He was rumoured to be on the point of being sacked before Newcastle's chairman, Freddy Shepherd, came calling, and another lifeless performance like this by Blackburn would probably have settled his fate.
Should Mark Hughes have studied a video of an abject surrender, he might yet be persuaded to remain with Wales or wait until Kevin Keegan's regime at Manchester City reaches its predictably messy conclusion. Sir Bobby Robson's legacy looks rather better than the one his successor left behind at Ewood Park.
After this contest between two managerless clubs, Newcastle's caretaker, John Carver, dedicated this display to his former mentor. It would have been fitting had Blackburn's stand-in, Tony Parkes, done the same.
The timing of Souness's move has been adroit. There was not, in truth, too much wrong with Newcastle except the ruined relationship between manager and chairman, which left Robson a lame duck in the eyes of his players. On Saturday, Newcastle knew a new man was coming, they knew Souness was watching, with his son wearing a black-and-white shirt, and they knew his reputation.
Newcastle played to their abilities and, in the first half at least, they appeared the elegant, adventurous side they were for much of Robson's five years on Tyneside. It summed up what he had left behind. When Kenny Dalglish was dismissed as manager, a ludicrous two games into the season, Newcastle found themselves 4-1 down at half-time to Liverpool at St James' with the Merseyside fans rhythmically pounding out the name of their fallen hero. The interregnum between Ruud Gullit and Robson was a 5-1 massacre by Manchester United in which the Old Trafford crowd bellowed: "Let's all laugh at Shearer". This, by contrast, was the smoothest of transitions.
On Friday, Robson had paid a last visit to Newcastle's training ground to say goodbye to the players and have a final talk with Alan Shearer, whose gradual estrangement from his manager had accelerated Robson's downfall. "You can tell by the way we played that we are alright mentally and physically," said the Newcastle captain, whose trademark header against his former club had ended the match as a contest after 16 minutes.
Shearer accepted that Souness's task would be one of fine-tuning, although not away from St James' Park. "We have not won an away game since October, although we still finished fifth; so there is a little bit of tweaking to be done. But the nucleus is there for us to try to be successful." Robson's sacking was, said Shearer, typical of football's essential cruelty. "It was tough because he had done a fantastic job - it was his team out there, wasn't it?"
Since Carver left out Patrick Kluivert, who was brought to Tyneside by Shepherd rather than Robson, it certainly was. The players who had appeared indifferent to the crisis enveloping the club since August finally performed. Bowyer, profiting from Nicky Butt's injury, excelled; Kieron Dyer took up station on the right, something he refused to do for Robson; Laurent Robert appeared driven by a rare, fierce commitment.
There is still some off-field disciplining to be done. "Court Shame of United Star," read the front page of the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, relating how Shola Ameobi had been driving without insurance.
But this was Carver's lovely day. Here was a Geordie, who had been an apprentice at Newcastle, managing the club for one match in the full knowledge he would be made redundant the next day. His entire family was at St James' to watch him and he won in style. Carver had joined the club on the same day in 1991 that Shepherd became a member of the board and he has served Newcastle United rather better. "I want to be manager of Newcastle one day, but I will have to move away and prove myself somewhere else," he said. "But Jose Mourinho was once working for Sir Bobby as his No 2."
Goals: Flitcroft (9) og 1-0; Shearer (16) 2-0; O'Brien (83) 3-0.
Newcastle United: (4-4-2) Given; Carr, O'Brien, Elliott, Hughes; Dyer (Milner, 85), Jenas, Bowyer, Robert (N'Zogbia, 90); Bellamy (Ameobi, 73), Shearer. Substitutes not used: Harper (gk), Kluivert.
Blackburn Rovers: (4-4-2) Friedel; Neill, Short, Matteo, Gray; Emerton (Bothroyd, 74), Ferguson, Flitcroft, Pedersen (Douglas h-t); Stead, Dickov. Substitutes not used: Enckelman (gk), Tugay, Johansson.
Referee: D Gallacher (Oxfordshire).
Booked: Newcastle United: Bellamy, Ameobi. Blackburn Rovers: Neill.
Man of the match: Bowyer.
Attendance: 52,015.
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