James

I still believe that Shola is worth £3-4m to a well managed mid table Spanish La Liga club.

The longer the dreadlocks the better.

It's past 'alleged' when you're caught on CCTV doing it. Doing what? Defending himself? Defending a friend? It doesn't matter sadly. Assault is assault. Provoking is taken into account, but it doesn't excuse it. I don't want to get too involved in this because none of us know what actually happened. However, one is in a group innocently minding one's own business, breakfasting, when one is confronted with a loutish scouser questioning your girlfriend's, your mother's and, possibly, your grandmother's virtue. You hold this clown to account, whereupon he becomes violent. Seeking only to defend yourself you strike him and he falls to the ground. You do no more than to walk away but the bounder steps up once more and you strike him again. Not Guilty. Possibly? What's your problem? Possibly the fact that he allegedly beat the man while he was down with the help of two others, before the three of them allegedly ran down the road trying to stir things up with any innocent passer by.

It would be worth £5m loss to sack him and hold his registration for 4-5 years and ruin his career. I'm sure if we asked nicely a few other clubs would chip in to settle some of the bill for us. How can we sack him, i.e. cancel his contract, and hold his registration for 4-5 years exactly? Chelsea did that to Mutu, and were fully supported by the FA and FIFA. Juventus had to fork out a transfer fee.

With regards to Martins substitution yesterday, it was probably forced on us due to the urgent need to get Owen match fit with the ANC looming.

He is on trial at Derby County.

And that'll get him the sack anyway iyam. EVERYBODY'S 'APPY! Not really, another year wasted, several million no doubt wasted. And if we sack Allardyce now things will be different? Depends who we get and how completely lost internally the club is with him, which from where am standing looks pretty terminal. Give over man, it'll be another period of transition whilst he gets in his own staff and players. It'll be written off either way. Still, if the new man has a positive approach, or at least be able to find somec onfidence within the players, we may have some fun. After Souness was sacked, I wanted the replacement in ASAP so he could find his feet and plan for the summer. I wanted Roeder to be sacked ASAP from January onwardsfor the same reason. And if we are to dispense with Allardyce, I'd rather do it now than later for the same reason.

And that'll get him the sack anyway iyam. EVERYBODY'S 'APPY! Not really, another year wasted, several million no doubt wasted. And if we sack Allardyce now things will be different? Depends on whether or not we can have some fun game by game.

Even Derby look like game opposition against us.

To be scarily honest, I can actually see Steve McClaren managing us one day.

Don't let a certain poster whose name consists of a number and two letters see that.

One positive is that it allows Dave to be pedantic about pluralisation.

Logic says though that of the 9 below us a fair few each week will pick up pionts. Logic says though that of the 9 below us a fair few have a lower points per game avearge than us.

Bit of an exaggeration. It would never close that quickly as that would mean other poor teams winning a few on the bounce which never happens.

And what evidence would Allardyce have that he has any clue that he could produce such a plan? Bolton. I said Top level. Bolton were no better than us under Souness/Roeder. They have an infrastructure light years ahead of ours though. We've been backwards off the pitch since Keegan. Even that great trainer Laurent Robert said that our training was way behind the times. I don't get what you mean by "infrastructure" though. I think most teams now have something along the lines of the backroom staff which is all well and good but if it means a s*** team I don't care tbh. Any new manager would bring their own training regime so the suggestion to lay the groundwork with Sam doesn't really work. Facilities, scouting, academy and training exercises are stuff where we have been behind, and I reckon the next manager will be behind in those departments as well, as the priority should be to focus on the players. Ferguson and O'Neill have accepted they are behind in similar areas, so leave others in charge of the infrastructure etc, and concentrate on the mindset and tactics of the players. Lets separate coaching from management. Use the top level coaching Allardyce wants to implement, and leave the manager to concentrate on tactics and motivation.

And what evidence would Allardyce have that he has any clue that he could produce such a plan? Bolton. I said Top level. Bolton were no better than us under Souness/Roeder. They have an infrastructure light years ahead of ours though. We've been backwards off the pitch since Keegan. Even that great trainer Laurent Robert said that our training was way behind the times.

Message to Big Sam? http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44331000/jpg/_44331735_bramble203.jpg

And what evidence would Allardyce have that he has any clue that he could produce such a plan? Bolton.

If in the chairman's situation, I would be tempted to instruct Allardyce to formulate a very detailed dossier on what needs to be done in terms of infrastructure to bring the club to the top level in all areas off the pitch, and once this is finished, sack Allardyce, and carry out his instructions to the letter while letting the new manager concentrate mostly on the team.

End of Thread.

No confidence, no enthusiasm. Definitely reminds me of the Souness years. We need to get some happiness back into Newcastle whatever the cost. Some excellent managers are just unsuited to certain clubs. I think that applies to Allardyce and Newcastle, there is just no point in prolonging it, even if it brings back a caretaker situation.

There was several less bums on seats at full time though. And everyone stayed at those games? I heard that a lot more people walked out today, probably because of the cold.

There was several less bums on seats at full time though.