Cronky

Alan Green. Loud-mouthed, self-righteous twat with nothing interesting or original to say.

Unfortunately, Man City will be correctly saying exactly the same thing, but I don't suppose you are capable of saying well done for beating them to him - hopefully. Even though the georgraphical aspect could yet change his mind. Beating Man City to a manager's signature is an achievement, is it?

A club of our resources getting a manager of Allardyce's stature isn't cause for congratulations. It's what we should be expecting. I'd like to know why he failed to land him or a manager of similar ability on two previous occasions, and we ended up with Souness and Roeder. Let's face it. Freddie's got no other options now.

Martins and N'Zogbia are just immature. They're thinking of themselves, rather than the team.

Jewell really looked under strain over the last few months. He looked washed out after every game, and was piling on the pounds. For the sake of his health, I think he needed a break.

CHARLTON'S SEASON ENDS IN YET ANOTHER BALLS UP.

As far as I can see, in all divisions from the top of the professional game to the lowest reaches of non-league, the standard punishment for fielding an ineligible player has been the deduction of points. If you unfairly gain an advantage on the football field, then the punishment should reflect that, and that's a regular principle at all levels. I reckon the only reason West Ham escaped was because the Premiership knew that they would oppose a points deduction through the courts, but accept a fine. They wanted to avoid a legal tangle which might disrupt next season. It would serve them right if they ended up in a different kind of legal fight as a result. Every sympathy with Sheffield United.

Thomson house now trying to force Oba out, or another with an 'attitude problem'?? MJ After all that premature boasting about what he and Michael Owen were going to do, this was an accident waiting to happen. Oba hasn't been playing well enough to consider himself an automatic choice.

If Zoggy was to get his head down and work at his game, he might be a half-decent player. But he's got it in his head that he's some superstar in disguise. He isn't. This gap between where he thinks he's at and where he's really at is what's holding him back. Hope that makes sense.

Just going by the highlights on Sky - Maybe it's my imagination, but is Shola a bit quicker? He didn't have a good game, but there were little flashes of pace that I wasn't expecting. Pattison - infuriating. He just doesn't impose himself. He's a good athlete and built like a brick shithouse, but it's so difficult to assess his ability because he's so tentative. Maybe Big Sam and his team of psychologists can do the trick. Dyer looked a bit more motivated. I wonder if he'd like to stay now that GR has gone. Owen did not look like a bunny of the contented variety.

Agreed. £15 million is way more than Martins is worth. And Owen doesn't want to be here.

Saving us from relegation last season is Roeder's legacy. Looking at the bigger picture, I just feel the last 3 seasons have been a waste. Sir Bob should have been able to hand over a good squad to the next manager, but the succession was bungled. I can't help but think that Freddie's dream of Shearer taking over as a manager in the near future interfered with his thinking, and we ended up with two stop-gap, second-choice managers in weak positions rather than someone of the standing of Allardyce who could really take charge and shape things. Let's hope it's all over now.

All the signs are that he's off. I wonder if Shepherd already knows that, and his strange outburst this week was just an attempt to deflect the blame away from himself and on to Owen, in advance.

Very good player, but a big risk unless we get him fairly cheap. It's not just that he has a bad temper, in the same way as Rooney or whoever. He seems to have a vicious streak and when bother erupts, he goes out to hurt as much as possible. It all seems to go much further than a punch-up.

Bale is destined to be one of the world's great full backs. If there's any chance of getting him, I'd take it. His value will double in the next three years.

It sounds like Allardyce is insisting on a decent, four-year contract, and the right to choose his own backroom staff. Good news as far as I'm concerned. Let's have a manager who's in a secure position who's really in charge. It must stick in the craw for Shepherd, but he's got no choice but to agree. I think Allardyce will do a good job. He's a big, aggressive personality, which I think you need for our club, but he's also open to modern, sophisticated ideas. It's the combination we need.

Firstly, thanks for all the comments, guys. TM - motivating the players after Alkmaar would have been difficult, but not impossible. We were still in with a chance of a UEFA place. But the team lost it entirely. I suppose I simply don't agree that Roeder wasn't motivating the players up till that point. As a whole, we had problems, with injuries and the general fact that the squad really looked like something cobbled together by a string of managers rather than something assembled to a coherent plan. All in all, I thought Roeder was doing a reasonable job under difficult circumstances. Not great, but not bad either. There are various things that prompt me to think that a serious and sudden rift developed between Roeder and most of the squad after Alkmaar. First there was the press rumours of a split, which were new. Then there was the falling away of results. Then I suppose was the fact that, the way that Roeder behaved in the aftermath of the defeat, some kind of rift was likely if not inevitable. It was way over the top for one game, which after all was his cock-up anyway. It's interesting now that not one player, to my knowledge, has commented publicly on his resignation. Usually you'd expect some kind of tactful remark how it's a shame it didn't work out, but must get on with it, but so far there's nothing. And there were plenty before, like Sibierski, Emre and even Dyer, who praised him a bit. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if even the Board have said anything by way of thanks for his contribution. He did pull us out of the shit last season.

Non-starter surely. He doesn't speak English. He's under contract to Portugal and they're half way through the Euro campaign. Is he going to give it up to manage us?

'Michael's a decent lad. It's his agent.' Fucking hell, Freddie. It's an agent's job to do the player's dirty work for him.

Righto, winning the league cup with Nufc is bigger than winning the CL with Real. No wonder our fans are such a laughing stock coming out with shite like this, we're a plodding mid-table prem side in the far north that's won nowt for 50 years. The sooner people wake up and realise this instead of believing we are one of the top sides in Europe is the day the club settles down on an even keel and starts to move forward. Where did he say that? I think his point is that we are an unpolished gem, and anyone who won something for us would rightly take ridiculous acclaim. Well why not take over at Gateshead? That'd be an even bigger achievement. Excuse the sarcasm, but can anyone think of an example of a manager, who has the option of either staying at or joining a bigger club, deciding to join a smaller one because it's more of a challenge? It doesn't happen.

I agree with every word. What's more, it ill befits Freddie to be trying to claim the moral high ground. The player had said publicly that he wanted to join Liverpool, and that he would only consider signing for us on loan. We then put in a bid that was so far ahead of Liverpool's, as to make it impossible for Madrid to accept their offer. We took advantage of the fact that Owen was desperate to leave in order to get first team football in preparation for the World Cup. Freddie effectively drove him into a corner. It's now clear that in order to overcome Owen's reluctance, Freddie had to agree to some terms that were very unfavourable to the club. He can't complain now. Those that live by the sword, die by the sword.

Sadly, this is the heart of the problem. Our club is a one man band, and there isn't anyone to act as a restraining influence on him. This is just the latest example of his rank incompetence, and if he was an employee he'd have been sacked long ago. But who will do it? The Halls are the largest shareholders, but they don't or won't flex their muscle. They could oust him from the Chair if they wanted, but Sir John is retired and doesn't want to be involved in the running of the club. Douglas isn't capable of running the club. It's clear that they want to sell up, but Shepherd is blocking any takeover by refusing to budge.

Points deductions or relegations are the normal consequences of fielding ineligible players. That's true throughout the divisions. I think in West Ham's case, they knew that if they deducted points, West Ham would appeal and things would possibly get dragged through the courts. The start of next season may have been disrupted by no-one knowing who'd been relegated. I reckon they took the easy option of a large fine because they knew West Ham wouldn't appeal it.

And Christ knows what this does to team morale. Can you imagine the atmosphere at training today? Shepherd just doesn't think of anyone but himself. He's completely out of his depth. He's upsetting the player and the squad. He's putting off potential managers. He's making us look amateurish. All to try and save his own skin.

Hard to see the point in what Shepherd is saying. It's like he's trying to back the player into a corner, which won't help. Shepherd had very high hopes of Owen, and he banked a lot on him being a success. Perhaps the thought of losing him hurts on a very personal level, because he's speaking from his emotions rather than his common sense. Brain not in gear, not for the first time. It may also be the rantings of a desperate man. His stock has already fallen with having to sack Roeder and tacitly admit to another bad appointment. If Owen leaves cheaply on an escape clause, then Freddie's position becomes even worse, in the eyes of the fans as well as the Halls. And surely there can't be much doubt about this escape clause now. He's appealing to Owen's loyalty, whereas all he ought to need to say is that the player's not for sale. He's admitted that it's in the player's hands. Not your cleverest day's work, Freddie.