In another life, Ossie Ardiles could well have been a great manager for Newcastle United: he reinvented the playing style after Jim Smith's dour, reductive approach, signed a hugely useful striker in Gavin Peacock and brought through some talented youth players who Kevin Keegan would later use as key members of his team. Sadly, Ossie was absolutely hampered by a lack of funds, and by Sir John Hall's belligerent refusal to do any business until he owned the club outright, and his investment in the talented crop of youngsters was more of out necessity than choice. Without investment, and with Ardiles' hands tied at a board level, the club looked lost and spiralled towards disaster before he was sacked and replaced with the Messiah.
