Tom_NUFC

Is he in Barry and Bobby's next to the ground? aye. he was in the Back Page earlier (not filming though) and said he was going to interview them.

we could do a lot worse. Anyone reckon John Collins would be any good? He was doing alright at Hibs, but tbh I've not followed Scottish football closely.

Aye OK, but for me good football is important. But I do think he'd be a success, so I'd be OK with it.

I was in town this morning, and another I've heard is McLaren temporarily, and then Mourinho in the summer. I'd be dead set against McLaren, even temporarily. I'm not sure about Mourinho, he gets results, and although his football is better than Allardyce's it's still not the prettiest. I'd probably acceopt it though. Anyway, it's just another rumour at the minute. I fear that I might have made an idiot of myself though. I went up to SJP to pay for the cup replay against Stoke. All the cameras were lined up along Strawberry Place, opposite the Gallowgate and the bottom entrance to SJP at the SW corner. I avoided them, and walked down to have a look in at The Back Page, which is a NUFC/Football/Sports bookshop just down the road from St James',and is owned by a couple of blokes who run the NUFC fanzine The Mag. I went in there partly because there were a few things in there I wanted to buy, and partly for a bit of craic about what was happening. Sky talk to them quite a bit, and unlike the Charvers who stand outside SJP, they actually know what they're talking about. Anyway there were a few people in and we had our say. I said what I thought, and one of the blokes goes "that's interesting, can we use you as a vox pop?" He was from Sky and was in interviewing Mick, the co-owner for Soccer Saturday. I was a bit reluctant, but eventually agreed. At least it's in the shop rather than up at the ground with the charvers trying to get on SSN.

Less injuries?

If they're saying it's not a foreigner, then my guess is that they know who the new man will be. If they don't know who it is yet, I can't see that they would rule out a foreigner manager. Unless it's to throw the media of the scent.

I'll always get behind my team, but I'm not going to pretend that things are OK when they're not. We have a bad manager playing bad football. It's not working and there are no signs of it working, and even if it was successful it's still a grim style of playing. I want to see good football. I don't know how old you are Benwell Lad, from what you've said I suspect you're older than me. I'm in my late 20s, so perhaps I've not seen all the shite that you might have seen, but I've seen my fair share. I was there in the days of Jim Smith where we were playing poor football and were going nowhere in mid table (that sounds familiar doesn't it?) if you remember a lot of people back then were very unhappy with the style of football being played, and rightly so. It's the same now. I was there when we were hurtling towards relegation from the old 2nd Div, so I do have plenty of experience of REALLY bad times at NUFC. But that doesn't mean I have to be happy or satisfied with Allardyce. If you are, that's your opinion. I suppose some of us right now see th glass as being half full, and others see it half empty.

fucking terrific

They definitely have the right to refuse, and it's not their fault Luton are in the shit, but I'd like to think that clubs who can afford to donate their share in order to help out a club that is desperate for the money, would do so if asked. I'm not going to slag Liverpool off though because they're perfectly entitled to refuse.

I don't think it would work. He doesn't have the verve, or the infectious enthusiasm that he had when he was here. That counted for a lot. Because he was enthusiastic and motivated it rubbed off on the players, the fans and everyone connected with the club. I don't think the spark is there for him to do it again. He was a young, fresh (and perhaps naive) manager with us. Now he's seen the pressures of management, he's different, and he's walked away from management because of it.

5 years is waaaaaay too long. Keegan was here 5 years, look where we were when he came, look where we were when he left. Look at Robson's 5 years And Allardyce reckons he needs 5 years to turn us around? Bollocks! All he needs to do is play a proper formation with the right players in the right positions, so that the players actually have a clue what they're doing. And preferably playing football on the floor.

I'v read his column in the Mag for years - always a good read. His two books are class. I think he has it dead one. And most NUFC fans I know didn't really want him. But I think there was a feeling of having been given the job we had to give him a chance. I admit to having been won over a little bit with some of the transfer activity and he impressed me at the Talk-In back in July. But performances confirm my worst fears.

ballack skies it for chelsea

we're going to get murdered today. How come everyone is hiding over here and not in the chatroom?

I certainly don't want him now. People who are saying that they want Shearer now are judging him as a player, not as a manager. I've got no doubt that he has passion for the club and cares about NUFC, of course he does, but so do I. Would I want me managing NUFC? (well, I'd play 4-4-2 with Milner and the Zog on the wings), no - at least not outside of 'Football Manager' on my PC anyway. Shearer may well turn out to be a great manager, but the thing is that right now, we don't know, and it is a huge risk. I think that we've had enough grief and things going wrong at NUFC to take on an unknown as manager right now. I'd prefer that Shearer went off somewhere else, lower down and got a bit of experience. NUFC is a hell of a club to manage. I don't think we're unmanagable as someone said once, but it's not the sort of job where you want a complete managerial novice. Right now, Shearer is a big risk, and I would hate for him to get the job and for it to go wrong - Most of all I'd hate it for the club, but I'd hate it for him as well. Great players don't neccesarily make great managers. Let him have a crack lower down and at some point in the future if he's shown he can cut it, then by all means give him the chance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7162323.stm

Poor tactics and players out of position = Allardyce

That was atrocious. I was embarrassed by it. Barton was awful and Smith wasn't much good either. N'Zogbia was desperate to get forward and was frustrated at left back. Martins was wasted stuck out wide. Allardyce - this is shite man!

Aye, pathetic weren't they?

I've just checked and can't find it being shown. I've checked Sky, Setanta, Eurosport, BBC, ITV, Five and none of them have it. I wanted to watch it as well >

Aye, 22:30 No, it's 10:30 AM

I'm a bit strapped at the minute, but I'm happy to help organise.

Just echoing what's already been said. Thoroughly deserved. I found it hard watching him struggling up to the stage and then being helped off by Ferguson, especially when you consider how he was always up and about when he managed us just a few years ago. I was pleased to see that he's still sharp in his mind though. Very well deserved.

I wasn't convinced by today's performance. We weren't awful, but we were pretty dodgy at times and we took our time getting going in the first half.

Not meaning to jump on the lad but anyone with a brain in their head knows you don't try to play the ball like that from that positon. As a winger you will find yourself in that position from time to time so its no excuse saying "well not his fault, he isn't a left back". Agree. It was a silly error regardless of what position you play. Aye, fair enough, but an LB wouldn't make that mistake though.