In the past Shearer has managed to resist the pull to move to Newcastle, and I was always one of those fans that didn’t want him to come back. I was worried that the status that he had worked so hard to get for himself (that of a hero amongst the geordie faithful) would be forgotten if he came back to manage us and it didn’t work. But now I think the timing is right. Lets look at what’s changed.

Well for a start we’re looking at the very real possibility that we’ll get relegated. And this will probably still happen. Do I want it to? Absolutely not. But I still think it will. Even with Wor Al’s influence on the team I think we’re already past the point of no return. But I still think it’s a good move. If we go down then at least he tried, and the fans can’t exactly blame him for the relegation. But if we stay up, Shearer will be hailed as an even bigger hero around St. James’ Park, and his place in history will be even more secure than it is at the moment.

For today at least, it feels good to be a Newcastle fan again. All the recent results seem like they don’t matter quite as much today as we’ve got back our second Messiah, and we know he’ll try. He’ll inspire the team, he will not suffer fools, and he’ll demand that every player gives the same amount of passion and commitment that he always did whenever he pulled on the number 9 that is now synonymous with his name. Lets face it, Shearer is the number 9 that Newcastle fans talk about.

Of course if it is actually an April fool then I’m looking very silly right now…

Keegan originally left the club 11 years ago after taking Newcastle United from the 2nd division, to the brink of winning the premiership in just 5 short years. Since then, everyone who has tried to manage the club (even the great Robson) have lived in Keegan’s shadow. The majority of the photographs on the wall in the more private areas of the ground are from the Keegan era (the likes of Tino Asprilla scoring his amazing hat-trick against Barcelona, the signing of Shearer, Albert lobbing Schmeichel in the infamous “Howay 5-0″ match to name a few), and this shows when the halcyon days of the club were.

But now the “Geordie Messiah” has returned, and what a difference he has already made. His first game in charge is on Saturday against Bolton, but the Keegan effect was already in full show last night. For a team that lost 6-0 last weekend, and who had been playing some absolutely dire football over recent weeks, the change was incredible. As was the attitude of the fans. People who had been previously decrying the style of football that they were paying to see, and who weren’t happy with the management team, have now been dancing in the streets. If the BBC are to be believed, 20,000 tickets were sold in the 3 hours before the game last night after the announcement that Keegan had returned. Take this with a pinch of salt however as the crowd was just over 34,000 and not the 53,000 that the BBC claim. Also, we can score. Now fair enough we were playing Stoke, but look at the way we struggled to get a draw at the Britannia stadium 10 days before and compare that with the performance last night. Stunning.

So where does this leave us? Well with a feeling of warmth at the moment. For days I’ve been saying (to anyone who will listen in the banana patch in which I work), that there were only 2 men who could pull off the job. One was Shearer, the other Keegan. Most of the time this was met with chuckles and responses of “yeah, right”. But laugh no more (especially those of you rounf the banana patch who are Stoke fans!) as Keegan knows what the fans want. Now, it’s time to deliver…

For me I can only see the positives in getting Shepherd out of the club. For far too long he’s had control and I feel it’s time for a change. It’s funny that other Newcastle fans have pointed out how much money he puts into the club. What they seem to fail to realise is where that money comes from (funnily enough, the club), and who puts money into the club? The sponsors and the fans. At 18p per share above the current trading price I can’t see how they could refuse this offer. Rumours are also circulating that, if the deal goes through, Roeder will be given £20m as a war chest to buy in some new talent. If this is true then this deal needs to be done sooner rather than later so that Roeder has time to deal in the January transfer window.

Whilst we’re continuing to prove that you can get by without a great depth to your squad (we have 15 squad players out injured at the moment) we still need more players. We need to be in the Premiership next season as the revenue from Sky increases dramatically (talk of £50m to each Premiership club next season) and this could be the cash injection that we need.

So where does this leave us? Well I think I’m amongst the majority of fans who feel that it is time for Shepherd to go. If he really has the love for the club that he claims, he must be able to see that accepting this offer is the right thing to do. Also, the £68m profit for him should be enough of a temptation to see him sell. I just hope he does the (semi)decent thing and sells…

So what about those mackems?? Well it’s not been a good weekend for them really. Relegated on Friday (nothing more than they deserve) and then beaten (thrashed) by their nearest and dearest rivals on Monday. Will they be missed in the Premiership? Well the evidence would tend to suggest not. Having scored only 12 points from the 102 that have been on offer then I guess the only people who will miss them will be everyone else. Those 6 points will be far more difficult to get next season!!

So Newcastle up to 7th in the league. Not bad when you look at where we were 2 months ago!! European football might well be on the cards again for next season. Now we just need to find a good strike partner for Owen!!

Well, my guess is the motivational skills in the dressing room, and the desire of the players to impress their new manager, whoever that may be. It is undoubtedly a good move in the short term to have Roeder and Shearer looking after the team. Especially Shearer. Anyone who has ever seen him play will know the commitment that he puts into each and every game. He leads by example when playing for Newcastle, he plays hard, and he plays to win. Few can question that. You have to imagine that this is also carried over to his motivational skills in the changing room, and I think that making him Roeder’s right hand man was a stroke of genius. That aside I am so glad that he has said that he doesn’t want the job full-time. I can think of no worse fate than having Shearer step in as (an inexperienced) manager next season, perform badly, and have the fans turn on him. All the good things he has done for the club as a player would be forgotten, and he would be run out of Newcastle.

In turn Roeder can’t take the job as he doesn’t have the correct coachign licenses (he can only be caretaker manager for a maximum of 3 months without the correct badges). This is also good for the Academy as he’s doing a good job there.

So we have to look elsewhere. The current top 2 names are no surprise really. Martin O’Neill is tipped as the bookies favourite, but he left Celtic to spend time with his family (his wife was seriosuly ill) and I don’t see that changing. So that comes to the man I’d like to see in the job. Kevin Keegan. Few people have managed to get a team to perform the way that Keegan did during his time at Newcastle United. Many, many fans say that during that period, Newcastle were their second team, the team they liked to watch for entertaining football. There was a definite philosophy of “if you score 3 we’ll score 4″ which was great to watch, if not often nerve-wracking. Would he come back? There is only one man who can answer that! Will he be welcomed back by the fans? You bet your life he would. So in a week where Robbie Fowler made his “return of the messiah” to Anfield, could Keegan do the same and come home to St. James’? Only time will tell, but my fingers are crossed that he does.