Souness looks forward to new term

Fans slammed Souness in a Newcastle Evening Chronicle question-and-answer session, one stating "the majority of supporters do not want you as boss".

Souness also answered difficult questions on his managerial style, but revealed the club could make their first summer signing soon.

Newcastle ended the Premiership in 14th after a controversial season.

Souness took over as Magpies boss from Sir Bobby Robson in September 2004 but has spent much of his tenure coping with problem players such as Craig Bellamy, Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer.

I have managed hundreds of players in my 19 years. So I have fallen out with five of them? I rest my case Graeme Souness

Newcastle's quest for silverware ended when they crashed out of the Uefa Cup in the quarter-finals to Sporting Lisbon and lost to Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final.

Another question in the Evening Chronicle asked Souness: "What makes you think you can bring success to this club, because many fans would say there is little in your managerial career to indicate you will be a success in that area here?"

The Scot replied: "When I look back at the managerial jobs I have had, they have been with Rangers, Liverpool, Galatasaray, Southampton, Torino, if you can count six games, Southampton and Blackburn Rovers.

"That's seven jobs and I won things at five of them and believe I have been a success."

Souness was also asked: "Why do you constantly fall out with your players, and why don't you instead try and bury the hatchet instead of putting the club in jeopardy?"

He said: "Who is constantly falling out with players? I totally deny that. The only player I have fallen out with here is Craig Bellamy.

I expect there will be a flurry of [transfer] activity in the near future Graeme Souness

"I pick players on how they train and how they play in matches. I cannot fall out with people because our personalities are not matched. I have to be far bigger than that. That's not what management is about.

"What it is about is doing the best for the football club which employs you and that means picking the players you think are doing the business at the time.

"Whose are these players I am supposed to have fallen out with? Andy Cole? I rest my case. David Dunn? I rest my case. Craig Bellamy? I rest my case. Andy Todd? I rest my case. Dwight Yorke? We only fell out once at one training session.

"Don't forget, I have managed hundreds of players in my 19 years as a manager. So I have fallen out with five of them? I rest my case."

Souness, talking separately to Newcastle's Journal newspaper, insisted the club were close to making their first summer signing.

Either Souness is going to build a team and then when Shearer takes over he will build another or Shearer is already having a say over who is coming and going From A Have your say on 606

"I can understand the fans being anxious to know when the transfer activity will begin," he said.

"But it isn't just up to us. It's about other clubs and their players as well.

"Work is already under way. We've already started to move for the players we want and it is a work in constant progress. I will not reveal who my intended targets are at this stage, but we're trying our hardest to get them.

"I expect there will be a flurry of activity in the near future. I think there will be a burst in the next few weeks, perhaps even in the next fortnight and then it will go quiet again while everybody goes on holiday.

"Then there will be another burst in late July and early August. I've said, in an ideal world, we'd be able to make all our signings before we start in the Intertoto Cup."