"NEWCASTLE fired their manager Graeme Souness yesterday and I don't think that it came as a surprise to the former Scottish international or anyone else for that matter. Newcastle have been really suffering this year in the Premiership and are near the relegation zone. On Wednesday night they lost to Manchester City which was the last straw.

But while many put all of the blame on Souness, I think there were a number of other things going on that he couldn't do anything about. The biggest one was the amount of injuries to the team ? especially up front. But when you are the manager of one of the biggest supported teams in England you sometimes have to pay the price for not being successful. One thing I know about Souness is that he will bounce back. I know him fairly well and he is a strong-minded individual and has coached in places like Scotland, Portugal and Turkey before.

Glenn Roeder who used to manage my old club West Ham was named as caretaker manager with striker Alan Shearer as his assistant. I wouldn't bet against Shearer being named as permanent manager for next season but we will have to wait and see.

***

ARSENAL

Another team in the Premiership going through a hard time is Arsenal who have been bounced out of the League and FA Cups and are really struggling ? at least for them ? in the league.

And it didn't get any better this past week when they lost to Bolton in the FA Cup and then lost to to West Ham 3-2 at home in the league.

Arsenal's big defender Sol Campbell had an absolute horrible game against the Hammers and substituted at half time when he left the stadium and went home totally dejected. I hear that he will not play this weekend against Birmingham. But I know he will bounce back ? he is too good a player not to do so.

Campbell blamed himself for two of West Ham's goals and in a way that is refreshing. Many other players would heap the blame on someone else but Campbell took full responsibility. All he needs to do is get his head back together and get out on the field.

***

HAT TRICK

Blackburn get some revenge for going out to Manchester United in the League Cup semi-finals when they beat them 4-3 on Wednesday night with young English winger David Bentley scoring a hat-trick which I believe is something that has not happened to United since the Premiership was formed. He had been on loan to Blackburn from Arsenal and had only signed a permanet contract the night before. Maybe he should have waited a another day and he could have had more money!

Chelsea have had two draws in a row ? one with Everton in the FA Cup last weekend and the other with Aston Villa on Wednesday but both Manchester United and Liverpool failed to take advantage with United losing and Liverpool drawing with Birmingham.

***

BIG GUNS OUT

While the FA Cup is always high on the list of top clubs in England, the cup competitions in Europe are not valued so highly. So I wasn't too surprised to see the likes of Juventus and AC Milan go out of the Italian Cup and Barcelona bow out of the Spanish King's Cup. Barcelona went out to Zaragoza in the quarter-finals 5-4 on aggregate but the worst part of the loss was World Player of the Year Ronaldinho being sent off for what the ref called stamping on the player. I watched the game and definitely do not agree with that red card ? it was a yellow at most.