The JASON WHALLEY column

WHEN I was asked to undertake the task of writing this piece, the one thing that concerned me was what to write about during internationals week.

Well there's no need to scratch around for any made up rumours this week is there?

Thank you for that Graeme! When he came to the club, we were in a mess with highly paid players of poor quality. Slowly but surely he weeded out the likes of Grayson, Dailly, Ward, Frandsen and Harkness (remember him!) and brought in young exciting players like Duff, Dunn and Jansen and made them stars of our glorious promotion season.

It would have made Jack Walker proud had he seen the jubilant scenes at Deepdale that fateful night when promotion was secured.

The celebrations seemed to epitomise the new togetherness that now enveloped the club after the dark days of Hodgson and Kidd.

On the crest of a wave, we swept to Cardiff to win the Worthington Cup on a day (or should I say weekend) I'll never forget. European football followed and it seemed we were about to cement our place as a top ten Premiership club for years to come.

It was only in the summer of 2003 that there was a hint of problems around the corner. David Dunn, the local boy done good, was sold amid reports of a rift with the manager and then, the most disturbing news of all, Damien Duff was to leave for Chelsea.

The crown jewels were to be sold but at least we'd have money to spend on significantly strengthening the team ... or so we thought.

The money that we thought was to build a squad capable of challenging for European football was spent (or should I say wasted) on mainly sub-standard players, and the rumours of rifts in the camp got ever more stronger.

The performances on the pitch deteriorated to such a point that relegation seemed a real possibility and it appeared the fans' support of the manager was disappearing as quickly as the players' apparent support for him.

Although Premiership survival was assured. the start of this season saw Souey under more pressure than at any other time of his reign. Sadly, time may have moved on but it's plain to see that the team hasn't.

Poor selection and poor tactics have led to resentment among the fans and now the inevitable has happened - but not in a way that any Rovers supporter envisaged.

Did he walk before he was pushed? Well, it can't be doubted that Newcastle is a massive job but I believe that a failure to win one of his next two games would have led to his removal anyway.

I won't forget the good times, but managers have a shelf life and Souey had reached the end of his. Thanks for the memories Souey. However, it's in the best interests of the club that the change has been forced upon us and I only hope that the board act decisively to install the new man.

I could speculate on who it may be but I'll leave that for a column on a slow news week!