GIVEN that the past three managers have left the club shortly after the season has started, Newcastle United have seldom been accused of advanced thinking when it comes to stability in that department, but Freddy Shepherd embarked on a different policy yesterday. For the first time, the Newcastle chairman embraced the prospect of Alan Shearer succeeding Graeme Souness, to whom he offered his unequivocal support.

With the club limping towards Sunday’s final league match, against Chelsea, marooned in the bottom half of the Barclays Premiership and facing another summer of turmoil, Shepherd has moved to quell any suggestion that Souness’s position might be vulnerable. The Scot has not enjoyed a tranquil first ten months on Tyneside, but he will be granted his opportunity to mould the team.

When Shearer announced last month that he was to extend his playing career by a further year and would assume a coaching role at St James’ Park, Souness insisted that he would “one day love to hand over the reins to Alan as manager of this football club”. At the time, Shepherd would not be drawn on the subject beyond commenting “that’s fine by me”, but his position has hardened in the intervening weeks.

“I haven’t said it before, I’m saying it now,” Shepherd said. “It’s what Graeme wants and as far as I am aware it’s what our fans want. I am no different from our supporters because I am a supporter as well and it’s what I want.

“In an ideal world, which unfortunately football isn’t, I would always want a Geordie to be manager of this club. I have always seen Alan as playing some part at this club when he finishes playing.”

Shearer, 34, has not committed himself to what can only be a notional plan — he refused the opportunity to succeed Sir Bobby Robson last year — but there is merit in the idea of the former England captain being groomed for such a demanding role, albeit at his home-town club. As things stand, the transition will be gradual, with Shepherd reiterating that Souness will be given time to prove himself.

“Why shouldn’t we give the manager money?” Shepherd said. “There is a lot of things you can accuse us of, but nobody can accuse us of not backing our manager when it comes to buying players. Graeme Souness has a good track record in the transfer market at the likes of Rangers and Blackburn Rovers and he will get our full backing. It’s no secret that we are expecting a busy close season and I actually spent over three hours with the manager in this office yesterday. And we were not discussing the weather.”

Sidney Govou, the France forward who is to be released by Lyons this summer, has been added to the list of targets.

Since dismissing Robson, Newcastle have been beset by disciplinary problems, including Craig Bellamy’s televised spat with Souness and Lee Bowyer’s public altercation with Kieron Dyer, injuries and dramatically fluctuating form, leading some fans to apportion blame on the latest manager, but there is no appetite for further flux within the boardroom.

“When Sir Bobby went it was an open secret that we had a shortlist of managers,” Shepherd said. “Graeme Souness was on that shortlist, but out of respect for them and their clubs I cannot say who else was on that list. None showed as much desire to come to St James’ than Souness.”

Improvements must follow, however. “I have got to say that everybody at this football club has not done a good enough job this season, including me. That’s a fact,” Shepherd said in response to supporters’ questions posed by the Evening Chronicle in the city. He reserved his ire for the first-team squad. “I think the players have a lot to answer for,” he said.