Home is where the heart is: Shearer joins Keegan, Dalglish, Souness, Ardiles, Hoddle, Redknapp and... (original) (raw)

Home is where the heart is: Shearer joins Keegan, Dalglish, Souness, Ardiles, Hoddle, Redknapp and Bremner in the legends' hotseat club - but who was the best of them all?

It's a no-lose situation for Alan Shearer. Long hailed as the saviour of Newcastle United, the Toon legend has eight games to stave off relegation.

Goalscoring legend: But will Alan Shearer cut it as a manager at Newcastle?

If he does, his cult status remains untarnished and he'll be elevated from Messiah status to fully-fledged God. He may even stay and be given a £60trillion player budget for next season and sign Kaka, Dida, La-La and Craig Bellamy.

But if he fails, he can always claim the damage had already been done, that eight games was never enough time and go back to the safety of the Match of the Day studios and prepare for a year of not seeing the Magpies on TV.

However, it's still a risk for the greatest goalscorer in the entire history of Newcastle United FC with 206 goals in 404 appearances.

He's always said management doesn't interest him and has been accused of running scared - but perhaps history has taught him that being a legend as a player then managing the same club could be a recipe for disaster.

The footballing kerb is littered with big names having failed in the hotseat after emotional returns. But who are they? And is it certain to end in failure? Sportsmail provides the answers.

ALWAYS WELCOMED BACK WITH OPEN ARMS...

GEORGE GRAHAM

Stroller Graham was part of the Arsenal side that won the Double in 1971 and scored 60 goals in 227 League games. He left Highbury in 1972 but returned 14 years later to manage the side having cut his managerial teeth at Millwall. Yes, the Gunners under Graham might have been more grey than red, yes they were more 1-0 than ever before but yes, they won THAT match 2-0 and as a result THAT title in 1989. And Arsene Wenger beware ... Graham won two League titles, two League Cups and an FA Cup in his nine-year tenure and never went more than two years without a trophy. The current Arsenal manager has won nothing since the FA Cup four years ago.

BOB

PAISLEY

A one-club man, Bob Paisley played over 200 games for Liverpool and retired in 1954. Twenty years later he was handed the unenviable task of succeeding the legendary Bill Shankly having served his apprenticeship in the famous Anfield Boot Room. In the next nine years he became the most successful manager in the club's history, winning the European Cup three times, the UEFA Cup, five League titles and three League Cups. Incredibly never managed an FA Cup and reached just one final, lost 2-1 to Manchester United, that denied them the same Treble United themselves claimed in 1999. Paisley retired in 1983 after 44 years with the club.

KENNY DALGLISH

King Kenny successfully managed to replace Kevin Keegan on the pitch at Liverpool and was then asked to rebuild the club's shattered reputation after the dreadful events at Heysel in the 1985 European Cup Final. Taking over from Joe Fagan, Dalglish was denied a crack at Europe because of the ban on English clubs but in six years at the helm, chalked up three titles and three runners-up slots, two FA Cups - but not the League Cup. Stunned the club when he quit in 1991 - then won the title with Blackburn in 1995.

KEVIN

KEEGAN

In February 1992, nearly eight years after his final game in a Newcastle shirt, Kevin Keegan was appointed Toon manager and saved them from relegation to Division Three. The following season, Keegan led the Magpies to the Division One title and thus began the emotional roller-coaster that was his Premier League battle with Sir Alex Ferguson. Considered a great success at St James' Park despite just one runners-up slot in the top flight in three seasons and blowing a 12-point lead in 1995 before finishing sixth.

SAM ALLARDYCE

Having started his playing career with Bolton Wanderers, Big Sam spent 19 years away from the club before taking over as manager there in 1999. Hoisted the Trotters from the lower reaches of the second tier before taking them to the Premier League , a League Cup Final and even the UEFA Cup before quitting in 2007 - for Newcastle. Not always attractive to watch, but Bolton were very effective and some people considered Allardyce unlucky not to get the England job when Sven-Goran Eriksson quit in 2006.

HARRY REDKNAPP

Lovable 'Arry spent eight years in the claret and blue of West Ham and played alongside the likes of Bobby Moore and Trevor Brooking. Some 22 years after his last game for the club, he took over as manager of his hometown club 1994. Was not a big success honours-wise in seven years at Upton Park but did get the Hammers playing a more traditional style of football and did bring through the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and Michael Carrick - however, he did sign Marco Boogers to counterbalance those.

QUITE LIKED YOU AS A PLAYER BUT AS A MANAGER...

BILLY BREMNER

Along with Johnny Giles, Bremner was the orchestrator of the great Leeds side built by Don Revie. Fiery Scot Bremner played over 600 games for the Elland Road club and is one of many playing legends there who failed to find the spark when actually in charge of the team. Nine years after he last pulled on a Leeds shirt, Bremner was made boss in 1985. Lost the promotion play-off in 1987and reached an FA Cup semi-final the same year before making way for Howard Wilkinson in 1988. Bremner is by no means the only Leeds terrace hero not to succeed in the job, with Allan Clarke, Eddie Gray (twice) and Gary McAllister also being shown the exit door with no trophies to their names.

OSVALDO

ARDILES

The best example of a footballing genius not making a good manager. Ardiles may have enjoyed minor success with Swindon Town and West Brom but when he returned to Tottenham to succeed Doug Livermore in 1993, it all started to unravel. The White Hart Lane fans adored Ossie the player and his love of 'Tottingham' and they lapped it up when he came back after five years away from them. And when he signed the likes of Germany striker Jurgen Klinsmann, they sat back and waited for the trophies to roll in. Sadly for the 1978 Argentina World Cup winner, the Spurs he created could score but not defend and he was sacked in October 1994 before he could take them down.

GRAEME SOUNESS

The part-time star of the Boys From The Blackstuff helped Liverpool become Kings or Europe and rule the roost domestically. Kop fans even forgave him his porn-star moustache and were delighted when he left quit as Rangers boss in 1991 to replace Kenny Dalglish. Won the FA Cup in his first season. But it never happened in the League, and there followed home FA Cup defeats to third tier Bristol City and Bolton Wanderers. Souness admitted he should have quit just after the FA Cup win when an interview with him appeared in The Sun on the third anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, Liverpool fans to this day still boycotting the newspaper following its reporting of the tragedy that left 96 Liverpool supporters dead.

BILLY

BONDS

Six-foot-two, eyes of blue, Billy Bonds is after you... West Ham fans loved the totally-committed Bonds who piled up 793 appearances for them in 21 years as a player there. Was overlooked for the manager's job months after he stopped playing but in 1990 he replaced Lou Macari in the Upton Park hotseat. In four years, Bonds led the Hammers to two promotions and one relegation before resigning in August 1994. West Ham fans still hold Bonzo is great regard, however, even though the football played under his reign was hardly becoming of the famed Academy - and despite the fact he committed the ultimate sin by taking over as Millwall manager in 1997. His place in the Boleyn Ground hall of fame was assured by the fact he almost took the Lions into Division Four.

GLENN

HODDLE

Few players got Tottenham fans more excited than Glenn Hoddle, arguably the most under-used yet most gifted international footballer of the 1980s. Over 400 appearances for Spurs and a catalogue of amazing goals, Hoddle left White Hart Lane in 1988 but returned as manager in 2001. It turned out to be a big mistake despite reaching the League Cup final and briefly topping the Premier League table the following season. Hoddle was shown the door in September 2003 after picking up just four points from the opening six games and a true Tottenham legend's image was tarnished forever.

TREVOR FRANCIS

Plymouth boy Francis wrote his name in Birmingham folklore with a four-goal haul at the age of just 16 in 1970. Scored well over 100 League goals before becoming the first British £1m player in 1979 and enjoying a playing career that took him to Italy, Scotland and back to England. Returned to Brum in 1996 and although they reached play-offs, Francis never guided the club to the promised land of the Premier League. Did reach the League Cup Final in 2001 where they lost to Liverpool and later that year Francis left. Fans eventually got fed-up with the under-achievement and lost faith in him.