Shearer's spot on to instill discipline

However, Shearer coming in and setting up a series of do's and don'ts is nothing more than common sense.

So players now get fined for arriving late at training, team meetings etc. Good gracious, when I was a young man arriving on time was called courtesy!

Pros like rules and regulations. They like to know where they stand. They want leadership, not a holiday camp where players arrive with flip flops and towel ready for the treatment room.

There are plenty of good professionals at Newcastle, not so many good players I'm afraid. They have welcomed the arrival of a manager, temporary or otherwise, who has guts and a rule book.

Courage is something Shearer has never lacked. He had it in spades as a player and, as a manager, he has axed the likes of Fabricio Coloccini, Kevin Nolan, Ryan Taylor and, most daring of all, Michael Owen.

And he has sorted out Barton, whose actions on the field at Anfield were compounded by a dressing-room outburst which, had he got away with it, would have undermined the dressing-room at a critical stage in a desperate fight against relegation.

Shearer has found it tough, no question about that. The club was a joke behind the scenes and shabby on the field.

Time isn't on his side, his reputation is on the line, and results have been bad so he didn't need Barton adding to his workload.

Criticism comes with the job. But let it have some credence and not be stoked by a wild man hell- bent on self-destruction.