Well, you couldn't say it wasn't coming but nothing that happens at Newcastle will surprise any of us anymore.
Chris Mort (that's French for 'dead' isn't it?) made all the right noises about longevity and long-term plans and to be fair eight months is a good run on Tyneside these days.
Big Sam couldn't lose entertainingly. That was his major failing. But surely someone sometime has got to stand up and stick with a certain someone till he's had a chance to really prove himself.
Since Freddie Shepherd took his ball home you'd have thought there was the prospect of a bit more stability but the next victim, sorry, candidate will make it eight bosses in 11 years at St James'.
Since King Kev they've ditched the good (Robson), the bad (Souness), the ugly (Allardyce), the greedy (Dalglish), the needy (Gullit) and the weedy (Roeder). Who the hell's next?
It's hard to really care. You feel like starting off with that snide remark our wonderful MPs always begin with when their rivals are in some sort of bother: "Much as I don't want to intrude into private grief..."
But to be honest, I haven't met a Geordie in the last couple of days who isn't as gobsmacked as the rest of us by the whole blinking farce.
And, as a Boro fan who does his best to ignore the fact that a quarter of the Riverside season tickets are owned by empty seats, the faithful, bursting-at-the-seams Gallowgate end deserves a bit more than this.
Granted, you Geordies do get ahead of yourselves rather too often. Frankly 11th is not far below where you should be, given the squad. But loyalty ought to have brought some reward in the last 30 years.
Even the Boro bagged a Mickey Mouse tinpot trophy that Spurs or Everton would pocket right now if they could.
A Phoenix-like return from KK? The fans'd just love it LOVE IT!Derek 'Robbo' Robson
Still it feeds the tabloid hacks, if no one else - and here's my guess as to who the likeliest candidates might be.
Harry Redknapp: Has already proved that he has what it takes to manage a club like Newcastle. He's won nowt and his team can't score at home. Bournemouth to North Shields, though... Too cold for the man, unless he takes full advantage of Mr Ashley's private jet.
Alan Shearer: Prefers the home comforts of the Match of the Day studio - and who can blame him?
Jose Mourinho: Unless the Special One has started smoking the Special Cigarettes, never in a million years.Mark Hughes: Again he's won nowt but his teams can play when they forget about clogging and he'd have the overpaid nitwits working for each other.
Terry Venables: England No. 1, then England No. 2, then Newcastle gaffer. It's not looking good as a career path, Tel. Maybe wait a couple of years for St James's and give yourself a more prestigious job in the meantime - Port Vale could do with someone new.
Amy Winehouse: Unstable, unpredictable, liable to fall apart any moment, doesn't know owt about football, should suit Newcastle United down to the ground.Steve McClaren: Free, relatively local, and
whatever happens he'll keep smiling.Fabio Capello: No chance. He's just delighted to find out that when people told him he had the toughest job in football they were lying.
J K Rowling: Writes fantasy books about boys with magical powers, maybe she could inject some creativity into the midfield pairing of Butt and Smith.
Kevin Keegan: A Phoenix-like return from KK? The fans'd just love it LOVE IT! if that happened. And at least he'd walk before you sacked him.
Paul Gascoigne: All right, his first attempt at management didn't work out so well but this is a challenge that could just suit him down to the ground - and don't forget this is a club that only recently entrusted the job to Glenn Roeder.
Ant 'n' Dec: Local lads made good. I can't see them getting their hands dirty.
It's more likely to turn into some deathly reality show called summat like 'I'm a Non-Entity - Get Me Out Of Here' (first contestant to be voted out - Rozendal).
Robson Greene: That Wire in the Blood series is pretty nasty stuff but nothing compared with the carnage of the 4-1 trouncing against Pompey. Might have the stomach for it.
Tony Blair: Famously used to watch Jackie Milburn on the terraces before he was born. A true Toon Army soldier, he could raise a bit of finance by (a) getting his banking buddies involved, or (b) spending a bit of his own dosh.
The Toon Army themselves: Ebbsfleet Mark II. Since Ashley spends most of his time in amongst the fans in his barely credible one-of-the-lads charade, why doesn't he just let them have a proper say? Could it be any worse?
If all else fails, I'll have a bash. Obviously they're near-neighbours and deadly rivals so I'll do me best to bring the club to its knees as soon as possible. Though whether I'll do a better job at that than Ashley or Shepherd is very hard to imagine.
Seriously though, my money's on Mark Hughes being the next mug. I give him a fortnight.
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If he is the next manager i think i'll treat the appointment with total apathy.
Maybe it's because he's a cockney.
