GLENN ROEDER IS BEING NOTICED. For the first time since he was asked to replace Graeme Souness on a temporary basis, Newcastle United supporters chose Saturday to laud their former captain. Six matches played, five won, none lost, ten goals scored and two conceded is a record worthy of recognition. Roeder acknowledged the chants with a sheepish wave. Dugout theatre is not his style.

At present, he is not a candidate for the permanent position — Martin O’Neill has been approached by Freddy Shepherd and while the Ulsterman has personal and professional matters to resolve, he remains the chairman’s first choice — but Roeder has soothed Tyneside’s hysteria. Results have picked up, players are expressing themselves and a proud man is restoring his reputation.

In April 2003, Roeder had a brain tumour diagnosed. The year before, he had led West Ham United to seventh in the table, but they would later be relegated on the final day of the season. After his recuperation, Roeder returned to work but lasted only three games in the first division. He had presided over one defeat, but was pilloried by fans at Upton Park.

After this comfortable and sometimes stylish victory over Bolton Wanderers — and, in Sam Allardyce, a manager with admirers at St James’ Park — Roeder was asked whether his ambitions had altered since the February day he became caretaker manager. Having left the youth club’s academy, he said he would fill the breach for “one day, one week, one month or whatever, but then I want my old job back”.

His answer spoke of buried pain. “I’ve got an opportunity which I didn’t think would ever come to me,” he said. “The opportunity is to say that at West Ham, in football terms and in my opinion, I hit the post. I took over a team which was one game away from relegation to the third-highest finish in their history. The following year, with 42 points and injuries, we went down; I feel I came that close to staying in management a lot longer.

“I know it’s hypothetical, but if you put the points together from my two years there, I finished above Steve McClaren, Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley, who are the three great coaching hopes of English football. That’s fact. The great crime is that we were relegated, but 95 points was more than those three got at Middlesbrough, Bolton and Charlton Athletic. I’ve never had the chance to say that before.”

Roeder, a former centre half, has spent time with Newcastle’s defence, asked wingers to play wide, rejected negativity and found redemption. “Glenn’s approach has very much been about going back to basics,” Alan Shearer, who scored his side’s second goal with a looping header, said. “He’s been putting people in the team and giving them belief and confidence. He’s done a fantastic job.”

For Shepherd, too. “The run has bought the chairman some time,” Roeder said. “He doesn’t have to rush into making a quick appointment because the ship has definitely been steadied. He can take his time and go through the credible applications and think about them rather than make an appointment and regret it six months later. My position hasn’t changed, but I’ll do the job as long as he wants me to.”

Bolton, who have won two of their past ten league games, looked jaded. They and Newcastle struck the woodwork before Nolberto Solano spun in a 25-yard free kick, but a contest did not beckon until they were chasing a three-goal deficit — Shola Ameobi’s stabbed shot was swiftly followed by a tap-in for Kevin Davies. “We don’t think our season is going to peter out,” Davies said. Courtesy of Roeder, Newcastle can claim the same.