I disagree somewhat with your assessment of SBR final moments at the club, i just think theres a hell of a lot of supposition in what you are saying (i.e the cracks appeared he was old and losing the dressing room, we were bound to fail) and a fair bit of discrimination of his age, i think if he was 20 years younges and was having the same problems but similar success then i cant help but think the crowd would of stuck by the manager more than they did, instead his age was used as a stick to beat him with, despite the fact his record stood at steering us to 4,3 and 5th all in his late 60's.
I agree that there may of been an air of stubborness from the man, it seemed clear that he felt he had unfinished business with the club and felt he hadnt taken them as far as he could, and in my opinion, he could of taken us further, he had an incredibly poor season by his standards yet still finihsed 5th, this was after a season where he wasnt backed so after the high of getting a 3rd position finihs the season before to dropping to 5th the following season with the dterimental loss of a CL place he was unceremoniuously shown the door after all he had done.
I dont know of another man who i would of trusted to turn it around, he was constantly undermined under his tenureship and had key players like Speed sold without his knowledge, something which effected the team somewhat in hindsight.
Maybe theres an argument to say that his stubborness would of meant that he would of held on longer than would of been healthy for the club, but i dont think for one second it was fair, or even clever to sack him after the poorseason he had, there was no footballing reason to sack SBR, losing out on CL for 2 years was a major blow but we had an impressive run in the UEFA cup the season before having failed to qualify for the group stages and had also qualified again for the UEFA cup again, where maybe we would of started as favourites for the entire competition.
It was a ridiculous sacking without the benefit of hindisght and a sacking in ridiculous circumstances. Something that i think this club paid for massively, some say that the apoointment of Souness was what damaged us the most, but i think those people need to ask themselves if there was a manager out there, better than SBR who would of taken the job after the manner of his sacking. Even the fact that he wasnt backed after his 3rd place finish, would of been a major sticking point in many managers eyes.
He should of been given at least one more year to prove that the club wasnt about implode, every top manager has a poor season, Fergie has, Wenger has, Benitez has as well, Moyes has, every single one, and yet they are given the benefit why wasnt SBR given the same benfit....because of his age, ridiculous.
Like it or not, he WAS too old - which other top EPL(or European) Club employs a manager over 70 years of age..??
Is it true that some of the players were taking advantage of him ? YES.
Even Shearer & Speed made their feelings known about the attitude of some of the younger players, and your point about the crowd etc being more prepared to stick by SBR if he had been 20 years younger is irrelevant, because he WASN'T - he was 70 years old and the majority of fans knew he would soon have to be replaced.
If SBR loved the club as much as he says he did, he would have tried to make this transition as beneficial to NUFC as possible..would YOU try to hang on at that age in a job which was clearly becoming too strenuous for you, because I wouldn't, esp if I had his money..
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He loves football and was working for his boyhood team, why would he want to leave and live on the momey he has made.
