Silverware for the Silver Fox

The perfect personal fillip for the Silver Fox going into Sunday's crunch fixture at Everton: he's been named as the Premier League's manager of the year. Well deserved, you have to say, given what he's achieved with a bunch of players who pre-season weren't fancied as anything special - even if they've since proven themselves to be otherwise. His tactics and man-management skills have been largely spot on, and it's in no small part thanks to him that we head to Merseyside knowing that, whatever happens at Goodison Park, we're guaranteed of at least fifth spot.

Not that the manager's resting on his laurels. Interviewed together with John Carver on Radio Newcastle this evening, he stated his dissatisfaction with the quality of our set pieces and claimed to be considering appointing a specialist coach. No more flat corners cleared by the first man? Amen to that!

The Silver Fox also spoke about transfer plans, including a goalscoring central defender as well as a pal of Dreamboat's rumoured to be Mathieu Debuchy. The Lille player is a right-back, implying that we might be seriously contemplating a future without the man the stats suggest is the division's best...