chicago_shearer

I agree with that - I'd make him the first choice target. Would cost far less than Baines or Bale.

It would be a way of getting around a straight sacking, but it would be difficult to do without publically undermining Roeder. It's one of those things that sounds a good idea (the embarassment and inevitable disappointment of finding yet another manager) but it probably wouldn't work because the question "Whose in charge?" would never go away.

Think he'll be on the bench this Saturday?

Ferguson's head might actually explode if that happened. Whatever happens, I think this will be his last season. Not many people have mentioned it yet, but I can't see him staying on if they win either the Champions League or the league.

It would either be a stunning success or a fantastic failure. This is a strange club. You could definitely say goodbye to sentimental wasters like Lee Clark, Ramage, etc, but I don't know whether his style would work in the Premiership.

When I clicked on this thread I was expecting TEAMTalk or some such nonsense. The fact that it's the Times is very worrying. Sven would be a massive gamble.

Not really. A good manager certainly has a motivating effect, especially with younger players, but that only goes so far. Put a good, experienced team out in a positive formation and you should expect it to perform. The tactical system and preparation is important, but an inability to pass, tackle, control a ball etc. is hardly down to the manager. They are the easiest figure to blame, but problems are frequently more complicated than the one man at the top. The manager becomes responsible when he fails to identify and replace players that routinely underperform.

Credit to Ferguson & the team, but the smug levels of their bandwagon hopping supporters will be off the charts after this.

How shit are our set pieces btw? Why doesn't Solano take them?

Solano MotM for his save off the line.

Parker is not playing well in a sub-par team. Fix the defence, and watch him improve. Fix the defence, watch everyone else improve. That isn't an attempt to justify shit performances (and there have been some) but you can point to numerous games at Charlton or when he got a chance at Chelsea (against us in the league cup for example) when he has been very good. And for Newcastle too - take a look at his performance against Arsenal last season. There is something there and we have the film to prove it. He's done more in his career to merit the benefit of the doubt than Bramble or Roeder.

I think Bocanegra is a fullback and I would take him on a free as cover.

As would i. And i fear who WILL be coming in. Shepherd actually managed to get a worse manager than Souness this time. f*** knows what'll happen next time. Steve Bruce anyone? I really can't see Allardyce having already been lined up. Sounds like ITK bollocks. But having said that, if Roeder loses next week he will probably go anyway. And we'll all suddenly remember how tedious, annoying and bitterly disappointing the search for a manager actually is.

I'm never more filled with anger than when Titus Bramble gets that gormless look on his face after one of his mistakes costs us 3 points. Ramage has a similiar expression. So both of them. Jenas & Bowyer also.

We'd win the league by a minimum of 100 points. Our defence would improve simply from fear of being roundhouse kicked in the dressing room after the match.

They will win it. I watched the Man City match last weekend at a pub that had Man Utd on one screen and our game on the TV right next to it. At half time Man Utd were down 0-1 and we were obviously at 0-0. But you just knew that they would still win and we probably wouldn't. Quality aside, you could tell from the way the players (and the manager) responded at the whistle. Ferguson looked like he was about to murder someone, whereas Roeder snuck down the tunnel looking like it was already over. Our players had the shoulders down, theirs looked angry to be behind. Always helps if you have Scholes & Ronaldo in your side of course, but the attitude just looks completely different when you watch it side by side.

Nope. But I don't see what all the recent fuss is about Emre. Was he really that good when he was playing regularly or have the last few inept games from Parker/Butt helped his reputation more than his actual performances?

How does refusing to sign autographs demonstrate ignorance? Arrogance, unfriendliness, a lack of humility perhaps...

Aye much better than Emre He is easily a better player though. By about a mile.

I don't think this bit is true. He was absolutely desperate for the England job and recently made a pretty poor attempt to distance himself from rumours linking him to the City job. Quote: "If Stuart Pearce was to leave and Manchester City were to make an official approach, who knows?". I'm absolutely 1000000000% sure he wants a bigger job. I've also heard its "common knowledge" around Bolton that he's taking the Newcastle job in the summer but I tend not to believe any of this ITK s****. I think Allardyce is a complete c**t but the way he runs a football club could be exactly what we need. Someone to bang heads together, get a plan in place and completely overhaul the entire coaching staff/physios/players...the whole organization. I hate the b******, but when he's sitting there with his stupid head set on you know he probably isn't making tactical decisions based on the supporters' chanting. I agree about the banging heads together thing, he'd sort the whole club out in his image, and make a good fist of it. But is Shepherd ever going to allow anyone to do that? That's the question. But without knowing how closely involved in football affairs Shepherd actually is, I would guess that his primary motivation is money. Newcastle the plc. And the business will be at its most successful when we are winning. It would be an adjustment for both of them, but Allardyce is never going to get a job in the top 4 and he may have burned his bridges with the FA. Assuming our finances aren't completely wrecked, Newcastle is still a club that has something to offer an ambitious manager. There must be a part of him that gets frustrated when clubs like Newcastle and Tottenham finish in the same places in the league but are able to go out and blow millions on players like Martins or Berbatov when he finishes in Europe with Bolton but has to settle for free transfers and bargain deals.

I don't think this bit is true. He was absolutely desperate for the England job and recently made a pretty poor attempt to distance himself from rumours linking him to the City job. Quote: "If Stuart Pearce was to leave and Manchester City were to make an official approach, who knows?". I'm absolutely 1000000000% sure he wants a bigger job. I've also heard its "common knowledge" around Bolton that he's taking the Newcastle job in the summer but I tend not to believe any of this ITK s****. I think Allardyce is a complete c**t but the way he runs a football club could be exactly what we need. Someone to bang heads together, get a plan in place and completely overhaul the entire coaching staff/physios/players...the whole organization. I hate the b******, but when he's sitting there with his stupid head set on you know he probably isn't making tactical decisions based on the supporters' chanting.

All true. But one of the biggest problems this club has is that you don't see a natural leader on the pitch. Someone to step up and lead by example. We only showed any urgency against Man City after we went behind - 80 minutes of dictating posession without creating any chances before we showed any attacking spark. They SHOULD have had all the incentive they needed to put in a performance yesterday after the Alkmaar debacle & capitulation to Charlton....but they seemed as boring, uninspired and one dimensional as always.

And they only have themselves to blame. I blame Roeder for picking a poor team and using his substitutions foolishly. I don't blame him for Scott Parker - an England international and league winner - being unable to pass forwards or Obafemi Martins - formerly of Inter Milan - being unable to control the ball. Unacceptable for the wages they earn.

Well said. No use in scapegoating the manager (although I'm more or less convinced that he too has lost the plot). Formations & team selections have little to do with successfully being able to pass the ball to a teammate, defend a corner or beat your man. Some people seem to think there is a top 4 or 5 team lurking beneath the absolute shite we've seen on display this season. There isn't. A clearout is needed. This club needs an enema.

No, he hasn't, but until recently, over 60% of the people who were reading nufc-online.com thought he was actually the right man to turn things around. He was never the right man, but he's just a scapegoat while the guy whose responsibility is the greatest, Freddy Shepherd, gets away with all kinds of b***s**t. I bought a lottery ticket when the jackpot hit $350 million over here with the intention of buying Shepherd's shares with the winnings and replacing him as chairman. Got one number out of six. Other than that, what can you do to get rid of him? Hope whichever London hedge fund is interested decides to put in another bid? Boycotting the club doesn't dislodge Shepherd...it just hurts the club in the long run. And you can't really ask people to forfeit their football on the weekend to spite him. Even if people didn't turn up, he would still hang on. What can you do but hope he eventually gets it right? He must want to make money after all, and a successful club equals more money/pies for him.