James

He realised that it wasn't working for him, so apologised to the fans and chairman and resigned. Exactly. Even though he clearly had some weird grudge with Shearer, I have a lot of respect for Ruud. Good guy. Didn't he reckon Shearer was past it and was becoming bigger than the club? Shearer was nowhere near finished when he was in charge - he failed to realise this, total clash of personalities. Shearer was playing badly. It took a good manager to teach Shearer how to play again. That is what we need - a good manager to teach some of our star names how to effectively play football.

If I'm at one of the Fulham games next season, I'll look forward to applauding him.

He realised that it wasn't working for him, so apologised to the fans and chairman and resigned.

Honest gent, yes. Shit manager, yes. I'm referring to the fact that Gullit would have resigned by now, blamed himself, and not asked for a single penny.

Ruud Gullit. Now there is an honest gentleman.

Players can look dreadful under certain managers, and yet under a different manager look perfectly capable. I'd say that it is really unfair to say that we should get rid of a player based on how the are currently performing under poor management.

Just Luque, Moore and Onyewu. We need Luque off the wage bill, he just isn't suitable for either a rigid formation or Premiership football. Moore doesn't want to stay, so he should go. He's a good backup, but we cant keep those who don't want to. We'd have to pay £3m for Onyewu, and judging on performances, that wouldn't be money well spent. I'd keep the rest, we shouldn't be depleting the squad, we should be strengthening it.

We need 5 things in my opinion: A playmaker in an advanced position, be that up front, on the wing, or central midfield A decent, consistent pair of full backs An experienced centre back Tactics Motivation

http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=39461.25

You blatently know that those at NUFC Brand Marketing will have a large picture of Michael Owen on the front of the DVD despite the fact that he'd played in just three games.

For me, its starting to get to the point where there are too many threads on Sam Allardyce. Please can we now stick to a couple threads, because everyone has something to say on this issue, and decent opinions (like the ones mentioned in this thread) will be read, and responded to even if posted in an uber thread.

i'm not trying to start an argument with you here pal but you're kind of missing the point i was asking a question about allardyce that you've ignored - in 10 years at a club he's not really brought any youngsters through has he? certainly not what you'd expect for that amount of time...is that what we want? i'm not saying all of the kids should automatically play but when they have played this season by and large they've held their own despite obviously having little in the way of coaching or help from senior professionals.... the fact is that whoever takes over the club will have a good group of bairns in and around the squad and i'm asking is allardyce the man to handle that? i'm not saying he is or isn't just asking for more than "With Allardyce, if a youngster is good enough, he'll get to play, but if he isn't good enough he's gone." what evidence do you have to back that up like? how do you know he never held up the development of a bairn to bring in one of his "foreign bargains" we hear so much about? maybe you know the ins and outs of his time at bolton, if so do tell... Hunt and Nolan? Two players who have come through and been significantly better than any player who has come through at newcastle in the past ten years. What players have left Bolton and gone onto greater things? - None, sure looks like Allardyce knows what he is doing. We must not also forget that we can afford to spend ten-fold more on our academy than Bolton have been able to. Please, don't be daft. I'm not saying that some of our current crop wont be better than Hunt in a few years time, but Hunt has made it, he is an important player in a club that has finished 5th this season. The following players have come through the ranks since 1997: Ameobi S Caldwell G Caldwell (although he has only featured at other clubs) Chopra Hughes N'Zogbia Ramage Taylor I'm only counting players that have regularly featured for two seasons of high level matches. Edgar, Huntington and Krul are too early to judge. Of the above, Taylor and Zoggy are potentially going to be better than Hunt, but Hunt is currently more established and performing more consistently. So I still stand by my claims that in ten years of Allardyce, he has done better with his young players than we have in that same period. where did you get the comparison with NUFC for the last 10 years??!! never been mentioned, we're a bag of shit and mostly always have been...there was no comparison there from me i'm saying that there are players coming through NOW regardless of who is charge...and you still stand by hunt and nolan over a 10 year period do you? in that same 10 year period, seeing as you're making comparisons, newcastle have had 5-6 managers, hardly a recipe for long-term stability is it? furthermore nicky hunt is better than taylor!!! i'd stand and argue that with you all day mate We overrate our own youngsters, and then five years later, we realise how rubbish they were when we see them playing for Villa reserves in a team managed by a good manager. We do have 3-4 players who look like they might make it,but it is up to the manager to assess them. We cant play them just for the sake of seeing if they can fulfil potential. You got the ten year comparison because you asked what Allardyce has produced, and that is an unfair question to ask given our own record. I think i have made it clear that assuming our academy is up to scratch, Allardyce would be better at this than Keegan, Dalglish, Gullit, Robson and Souness were, and we are not in a position in which we can magically employ this fictional manager who can win trophies and play the kids at the same time. I can only name two recent examples for Allardyce, as I have not been minutely following Bolton over the last ten years. I can be certain though that now player has slipped the net. Nicky Hunt and Steven Taylor are at two different stages of their development, and given that Taylor remains very tactically inexperienced, especially at set-pieces, Hunt currently edges Taylor, although I'd like to see both in a Newcastle back four next season. I'm sure that if Allardyce had had Taylor over the past two seasons, Taylor would be in the England squad. If anyone can get performances out of our young defenders, Allardyce can, so given that Edgar, and Huntington have both had their chances, if Allardyce has seen potential in them, he'd be a very good choice of manager in order to get the best out of them.

I'm with Skirge, we forget that Allardyce has pissed Shepherd off in the past, and both are very stubborn, I just cant see Shepherd appointing him. It is more interesting that Roeder is not getting assurances. However, I'd be devastated if the chairman really is making his decisions based on whether or not we beat WATFORD. Beating the bottom club in the Premiership is really a sign of good management.

i'm not trying to start an argument with you here pal but you're kind of missing the point i was asking a question about allardyce that you've ignored - in 10 years at a club he's not really brought any youngsters through has he? certainly not what you'd expect for that amount of time...is that what we want? i'm not saying all of the kids should automatically play but when they have played this season by and large they've held their own despite obviously having little in the way of coaching or help from senior professionals.... the fact is that whoever takes over the club will have a good group of bairns in and around the squad and i'm asking is allardyce the man to handle that? i'm not saying he is or isn't just asking for more than "With Allardyce, if a youngster is good enough, he'll get to play, but if he isn't good enough he's gone." what evidence do you have to back that up like? how do you know he never held up the development of a bairn to bring in one of his "foreign bargains" we hear so much about? maybe you know the ins and outs of his time at bolton, if so do tell... Hunt and Nolan? Two players who have come through and been significantly better than any player who has come through at newcastle in the past ten years. What players have left Bolton and gone onto greater things? - None, sure looks like Allardyce knows what he is doing. We must not also forget that we can afford to spend ten-fold more on our academy than Bolton have been able to. Please, don't be daft. I'm not saying that some of our current crop wont be better than Hunt in a few years time, but Hunt has made it, he is an important player in a club that has finished 5th this season. The following players have come through the ranks since 1997: Ameobi S Caldwell G Caldwell (although he has only featured at other clubs) Chopra Hughes N'Zogbia Ramage Taylor I'm only counting players that have regularly featured for two seasons of high level matches. Edgar, Huntington and Krul are too early to judge. Of the above, Taylor and Zoggy are potentially going to be better than Hunt, but Hunt is currently more established and performing more consistently. So I still stand by my claims that in ten years of Allardyce, he has done better with his young players than we have in that same period.

i'm not trying to start an argument with you here pal but you're kind of missing the point i was asking a question about allardyce that you've ignored - in 10 years at a club he's not really brought any youngsters through has he? certainly not what you'd expect for that amount of time...is that what we want? i'm not saying all of the kids should automatically play but when they have played this season by and large they've held their own despite obviously having little in the way of coaching or help from senior professionals.... the fact is that whoever takes over the club will have a good group of bairns in and around the squad and i'm asking is allardyce the man to handle that? i'm not saying he is or isn't just asking for more than "With Allardyce, if a youngster is good enough, he'll get to play, but if he isn't good enough he's gone." what evidence do you have to back that up like? how do you know he never held up the development of a bairn to bring in one of his "foreign bargains" we hear so much about? maybe you know the ins and outs of his time at bolton, if so do tell... Hunt and Nolan? Two players who have come through and been significantly better than any player who has come through at newcastle in the past ten years. What players have left Bolton and gone onto greater things? - None, sure looks like Allardyce knows what he is doing. We must not also forget that we can afford to spend ten-fold more on our academy than Bolton have been able to.

With Allardyce, if a youngster is good enough, he'll get to play, but if he isn't good enough he's gone. Thats the way it should be, we shouldn't be playing youngsters just because they come from our academy. This dream of 11 young Geordies from our academy winning trophies is a fantasy which has been a major reason for our current demise.

This is awful news, he cant keep clear of the disease for more than a year. He'll fight it, and I'm hoping for the best, but things are looking very grave indeed.

What did they have to say?

OH FOR FUCKS SAKE SOME OF YOU NEED TO SHUT THE FUCK UP, WE ARE CURRENTLY WORSE THAN WE HAVE EVER BEEN IN THE PREMIERSHIP, AND ALL SOME OF YOU CAN TALK ABOUT IS THE FUCKING LETTERRING ON THE BACK OF THE FUCKING SHIRT. NO DOUBT THAT YOU ARE AMONGST THE FUCKING IDIOTS WHO HAVE ALREADY LINED THAT FUCKING MONG OF A CHAIRMAN'S POCKETS BY BUYING SUCH A FUCKING POINTLESS PROFITEERING FUCKING CASH COW.

Cant read too much into that photo to be honest. Too much of a sun/shadow contrast, and Roeder's arms are bringing his face out of focus.

Fans should be burning their season tickets, although there are no home games left, it is a pretty clear message for the cameras.

Perhaps I misunderstand how the pools is done. I thought it was all computerised statistical analysis. I'm pretty sure I saw an interview from Tony Green about it. Just checked, you are right, it is a panel of ex-players. Very much a case of Nut 17 - 0 Taylor27 I think.

Perhaps I misunderstand how the pools is done. I thought it was all computerised statistical analysis.

If that was the case, the Pools wouldn't be a legal form of gambling.

It'll be something like 33% chance of a home win, 33% chance of an away win and 33% chance of a draw, based on the model they use