CAN someone please tell me why Mark Hughes would want to become the next manager of Newcastle United?

Even Alan Shearer, a Geordie legend with black and white blood flowing through his veins, has indicated he doesn't want the job, at least not right now, because he knows it's a poisoned chalice.

Why then would someone like Hughes, who has ambitions of managing at the very top one day, suddenly jack in what he's got going at Blackburn, for what is probably the most uncomfortable hot-seat in English football?

He'd be barking mad to go to St James' Park in my opinion because he'd have so much to lose, and not a lot to gain.

Just look at some of the big-name managers who've fallen flat on their faces at Newcastle over the last 10 years: Kenny Dalglish, Ruud Gullit, Graeme Souness, and now big' Sam Allardyce - and every one of them effectively had their reputations tarnished by their ill-fated spells on Tyneside.

Can Sparky really afford to risk the same thing happening to him, knowing it could scupper his chances of landing his dream job, which is to one day succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United?

No, right now, Mark needs the Newcastle job like a hole in the head.

I know people will say it's a bigger club than Blackburn, and he would also get the money he craves to spend big in the transfer market.

However, what's true in life, is also true in the world of football management - namely, that money doesn't always buy you success or happiness.

Just ask Souness and Allardyce, both of whom were handed small fortunes to spend during their turbulent spells in the Newcastle hot-seat, yet the weight of expectation made it an impossible job, and they were eventually hounded out by the fans.

At the end of the day, you can give a manager all the money in the world but what he wants more than anything is time - a precious commodity no Newcastle manager has had, with the possible exception of Bobby Robson, since Kevin Keegan.

For me, the Toon Army are far too obsessed with wanting to see entertaining football, rather than football that wins you silverware.

Look at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho; they were never the most pleasing team on the eye, but they sure knew how to win trophies, and their fans loved it.

It's all about getting the right mix between entertainment and success and, generally speaking, when your team is winning things then surely, as a fan, you feel entertained.

When Rovers won the Premier League title in 1995, they probably weren't the most attractive side in the league that season, but did anyone in Blackburn really care about that?

No, because the club were the kings of England for the first time in 81 years, and that's all that mattered.

Now Newcastle fans are craving similar success, but their 39-year wait for a major trophy is unlikely to come to an end in the near future, especially if the club continues to go through managers at its present rate.

Hughes would certainly tick most of the boxes, having done a remarkable job of transforming Rovers' fortunes over the last three and a half years, but if he was offered the Toon job, I honestly believe he would be crazy to take it.