Behold The Messiah

"You are the Messiah oh lord, I should know, I've followed a few". Wise words from The Life of Brian but I wonder how many Newcastle fans will be brandishing the Special K packets when King Kev is told to clear his desk at St James Park after yet another false dawn in the history of what must be the biggest "sleeping giant" in English football.

To label Kevin Keegan as The Messiah is sheer folly, I wonder what is now expected of Newcastle for the remainder of this season, top six finish perhaps? Harry Redknapp was wise to turn it down, was he wise to entertain the offer? perhaps a simple "sorry, it's nice of you to ask but I have a comfortable job down here and it's a lot warmer climate, oh and the majority of the fans still love me even though I went off and managed (albeit badly) their biggest rivals". This is where former Newcastle managers could take note. If Ruud Gullit or Big Sam were to go and take Sunderland back to the championship they'd be offered a ten million pound three year deal to go back to Newcastle? No? ok probably not, but then Harry Redknapp, hero or villain, depending on your views has managed to despatch Southampton into the wilderness and return triumphant to Pompey having saved them from almost certain relegation in "The Great Escape" season and establishing them as a top ten premier league club. Now that is a Messiah, not a false prophet who by his own admission stated that his life had taken a different route and will not be going back to football management, good luck Kev you'll need it when the fickle fingers of fans point at you.

Portsmouth themselves are guilty of the "Sleeping Giant" moniker, when I first watched them play I was only 11 years of age and knew nothing of back to back first division championships in the fifties nor the fact they held the FA Cup for six years, ok so the second world war had a part to play in that. They were appallingly bad that in that 1975/76 season and were relegated to the old division three , then slipping further into the fourth division but that brought some incredible away trips. 2,000 Pompey fans at Rochdale for example, matchday programs sold out at mid-day. The sleeping giant tag was bestowed by many a hack on Portsmouth for many a season right up until 1987 when World Cup Winner Alan Ball guided them back to the top flight. The tag continued to be worn for another decade and more spent in the second tier. But the history is there and so are the fanatical supporters, the noise at Fratton Park is awesome, Redknapp would have been a fool to throw away what he has at Pompey to be the next failure at St James Park.

Whatever happens next at Gallowgate, I for one am pleased that Harry is not the Magpies manager, it must be the most difficult job in domestic English football, success must be earned, a great pedigree and a massive fan base is something all clubs aspire to but success just doesn't come to you because you were once a big club who won something, you need a special person to make it happen.