RARELY can fans of the NorthEast's three biggest football clubs have entered a New Year with such feelings of doom and despair.

Hangovers are nothing new when it comes to the start of January but, for the followers of Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Sunderland, this is one that looks like lasting to the start of 2007.

At present, it is unlikely that all three of the clubs' managers will survive that long.

On Monday, St James' Park witnessed the bizarre spectacle of a North-East derby in which both bosses were barracked by their respective fans.

Middlesbrough supporters jeered Steve McClaren when he replaced Gaizka Mendieta with Matthew Bates, while Newcastle fans were halfway through a chorus of "We want Souness out" when Lee Clark saved his manager's blushes with a stoppage-time strike.

At the other end of the country, Sunderland's travelling contingent were chanting "You don't know what you're doing" as Mick McCarthy withdrew Jonathan Stead despite his side trailing at Fulham.

Clearly, when it comes to football in the region, this is a winter of discontent. Yet while the abject underachievement of all three clubs is hardly up for debate, the fate of McCarthy, McClaren and Souness is rather harder to read.

All three are edging towards the exit door but, with none of them willing to jump, it is a question of who is willing to do the pushing. With football's financial climate having taken a turn for the worse, cost, rather than necessity, is likely to be the decisive factor.

It already looks that way at Newcastle. Freddy Shepherd has had his finger on the trigger for so long he had better check his bullet is not past its sell-by date.

Souness' future was discussed in the aftermath of November's catastrophic Carling Cup defeat at Wigan and the Scot would almost certainly have been jettisoned had Gareth Barry not skied a last-minute penalty last month.

His luck is unlikely to hold for a third time. It now seems a matter of when, not if, Shepherd wields the axe.

But while the mood in the St James' Park boardroom has undoubtedly moved against the Scot, he could yet be saved by a simple equation of pounds, shilling and pence.

There is no way the former European Cup winner will walk from his post, so firing him would invoke a compensation claim of around £2m.

That is money Newcastle can ill afford, especially given the pressing need for reinforcements this month in the absence of Michael Owen, Kieron Dyer, Emre and Scott Parker.

Prising Souness' replacement from his current employers would also incur significant costs, while any new boss would instantly demand funds to bolster a first-team squad that boasts just 15 fully-fit players.

That is not to say Souness will not be dismissed - my gut feeling is that he will be lucky to see out the month - but it underlines the minefield Shepherd is currently attempting to negotiate.

Most fans view Souness' appointment as an unmitigated disaster - Newcastle's chairman cannot afford to get his exit equally wrong.

Fourteen miles down the coast, and things are every bit as awkward. It is difficult to imagine any other manager in the league being able to survive a haul of one point from the last 36, yet McCarthy has been able to cling to his post.

That he retains the support of a majority of the club's fans unquestionably helps, but it would be wrong to assume Sunderland's board have not seriously considered his dismissal.

They have and, if things do not improve this month, he could yet be on his way. But money, again, clouds the issue. Sunderland are penniless and staring at a certain return to the Championship. Hardly the time to splash a seven-figure sum.

Every penny will be needed for an attempt to secure promotion at the first attempt and, while McCarthy's summer signings have not done the business in the top-flight, he has already proven he can succeed on a limited budget - the key credential demanded of any successor.

Similarly, Middlesbrough's financial outlook has changed. When Keith Lamb spoke of the club "cutting its cloth accordingly" last weekend, he was not simply referring to a likely lack of big-money signings.

He was also, albeit unknowingly, offering an irreversible vote of confidence to McClaren. The Boro boss signed a new four-year deal earlier season and, while things would have to get significantly worse for the board to look to remove him, financially that would not be an option.

In the not-too-distant past, this season's under-achievement would have resulted in at least one North-East manager losing his job.

That they all survived to January underlines the new financial parameters within which football clubs must operate.

Sooner or later, though, something will give. It is only to be hoped the fans do not expect a new manager to be given a blank cheque book with which to mount a revival.

THIS year's Cheltenham Festival increasingly looks cursed following the recent withdrawal of Harchibald, Inglis Drever and Kicking King.

Injury to three of the meeting's leading lights has undoubtedly diminished steeplechasing's blue riband event and led to questions about why three equine superstars have broken down within days of each other.

Various theories have been aired, but The Northern Echo can confidently put one to bed. Contrary to rumours, the injured trio have not been training on Newcastle's training ground.

Published: 05/01/06