Well, it’s clear that we Toon have truly had a range of quality and success in our managerial appointments from Kevin Keegan to Graeme Souness. At this moment, the lads are guided by Glenn Roeder, whom I’ve personally got a few opinions about.

In general, a football manager wants to be smart, proud, inspiring and shrewd all at the same time, and it takes a very particular type of person to fill that role. We’ve had the pleasure of watching some brilliant gaffers at St. James Park; yet we've had the distaste of having to sit through a few poor showings as well. To date, I believe that GR has shown us a taste of improvement, samples of smart, and glimpses of hope. But taste, samples, and glimpses don’t bring home silverware.

Let’s go through this step by step. Here are the key ingredients to a successful football manager; intelligence, inspiration, experience, creativity and coldness. Let’s break down GR and see how he ranks:

Intelligence: Smart enough to know when to say 'when'. At the end of last season, after filling in for Souness, Glenn played each player where they belonged, in the simplest of styles, to bring the purity back to our game. Newcastle play a fast-paced, skill-driven game, and by simply recognising the lads’ strengths, we were able to cruise to an unexpected Intertoto spot.

Inspiration: Excuse me? Pardon, gaffer, what was that? Can’t quite hear you, mate. If I could be a fly on the wall for one of this man’s half-time talks, I’d be a lucky fly. Let’s put it in perspective; in at least four games this season, we’ve given up goals in the last five minutes of the first half. Basically, in every match, it takes us until the 25th minute to get our first decent chance. If there’s ever been a team that needs a talking to, it’s the Toon. But can you even imagine this lad raising his voice above library level? After being embarrassed at home by two bottom teams, the man looked as if he wanted to cry in the post-match interview.

Experience: Well, we’ve got two categories here, playing experience and managerial experience. As a player: the experience is obviously there. My man played at St. James Park for five years, He was a classy ball player so you can’t put up much of an argument against. As a manager: well, twice, he’s led his team to seventh place (as he did last season) and the very next season, led his team to relegation (as some have feared he’ll do this season). Now, I must say that to accomplish this feat three times will be an absolute sign from God, and furthermore, to drag a club of Newcastle’s stature into the drop would be a downright deadly sin. But, as they say, there’s always a chance (see Leeds United) and I don’t want to jinx anything so early in the season.

Creativity: Sometimes he’s not creative enough (playing Titus 'Shambles'Bramble for five extra weeks past his expiry date) and sometimes too creative (Damien Duff up front two weeks in a row, six midfielders?) As I previously stated, he did brilliantly as caretaker manager by purposefully not being creative. Now he’s got the team under his wing, he takes it too far every now and again. But with respect - with the injury problems that we’ve been plagued with all season - the man had  to be creative. And has pulled off some unlikely victories with some unlikely players.

Coldness: I like Roeder. I think he’s a swell guy. He reminds me of one of my favourite uncles. But seriously, does it not look like he goes home after a match and cries his eyes out? I know that’s not the case but I’d like to see some more fire in those eyes, or an inhuman shrewdness. GR wants to be hugged. He wants players to like him. He wants other managers to like him (did anyone see the awkward loving embrace he laid on Jose Mourinho after the Carling Cup match?). Again, it could be just that I don’t have a backstage pass to all the fist-flying and name calling, but I’d like to see a bit more weight being thrown around so the players know who is in charge. I’ll bring it up again, Titus Shambles basically cost us four consecutive games by his follies, yet Roeder continued to slot him in until he was physically unable to lose any more games for us. That’s what it took - an injury. This showed a bit too much softness for my liking.

For me, Roeder was the perfect successor for Souness. He brought a much-needed calmness during a time of worry. He brought logic and skill back into the club, and with the help of the great Sir Alan Shearer, brought our glorious club back into Europe. While I’m only 30 percent unsure that he was the man for the job full-time, I’m 100 percent unsure that he’s the man to lead us into the future. I believe Glenn is a fantastic caretaker manager but  as for the main man in charge, he does not have enough passion for success. There is not enough gravitas to go into the record books, not enough evil genius behind those thin-rimmed glasses to take the least-skilled boy on the pitch and turn him into a local legend. But what Glenn will do for the club is keep us in Europe (barely), keep us firmly in the top ten, and bring in solid young players to build a future team next to the expensive rock stars that will bring silverware back to the glorious Newcastle United within four years.

Do you think Glenn Roeder can bring silverware to Newcastle United? Leave your comments here with Sportingo.