Cronky

right, so you some in and start making decisions about the club in which Shep has a 30% interest and the Halls have over 50%? how long would that last? IIRC that is exactly why Fred's last 'resignation' failed Well the overall strategy would still lie in the hands of the Board, but at least you could keep him out of the fields of player, coach and manager recruitment, where Shepherd has been doing the real damage. Having said that, I'm sure that Freddie wouldn't agree to that more detached role. He's a fan, and he's very keen to get involved in the football side of things. Unfortunately, that's the very reason why he's not suited to the job.

Well, even if there's no-one prepared to take over the ownership of the club, (and that's questionable, given all we've heard about the Belgravia group), perhaps Freddie could appoint a Chief Executive and a Director of Football, and kick himself upstairs. It's not his ownership that's the problem in itself. It's the degree of hands-on involvement that he has, which extends into the football side. He may be a good businessman, but there's areas of running a football club where he's not competent. Unfortunately, he doesn't realise that.

Rumour has it that Parker is unhappy with the way the club is run. He might not be all that keen to deflect attention from the Chairman, now that he's come under fire.

You could attack virtually every sentence in that statement. What a load of crap. He says that we're all in it together, but it's all a blatant attempt to deflect criticism away from himself and on to the players and the manager. You can bet your life that that's how the players will perceive it as well. Like Fox, I go back longer than most. I have known more difficult times than this on the pitch, but I've never felt more angry and ashamed of my club than I have over the last 3 years. Shepherd is dragging the whole image of the club through the mud. Sorry, Freddy, but I'm not impressed that you had to fight your way to and from school in Byker. You just come across like an ignorant bully.

I'd agree that Rossi and Duff don't look like a combination, but I think that's because both are more suited to the more withdrawn striker Bellamy / Beardsley type role. With Owen, Shola, Martins and Sibierski all injured, we don't have a fit player who can play the more advanced role. Trouble is, I don't think Luque can either, at least not in the Premiership. Your line of argument seems to be 'at least he's not going to be as bad', but I can understand Roeder's decision here. With the other two, Roeder can trust them to put in a bit of effort, whereas Luque still looks like he's not sure he really wants to be here. In a crisis, the last thing that Roeder and the team want is someone who's not pulling their weight. It's a downer and an irritant for everyone.

You're doing what a lot of people do on this site, which is seize on particular words rather than respond to the overall meaning of the post. There's a lot of exasperation around that Roeder won't play Luque, but based on his performances that decision seems perfectly reasonable to me. This clamour for his being picked must be based on something, but that something seems to be hope born of desperation, rather than any level-headed assessment of his contributions so far. On the other hand, Dyer is a very energetic player who, on his day, can really make things happen and turn a performance round. We do need someone like that, because overall confidence is very low. For sure it's a team game, but often particular players can make all the difference.

He's still numero uno as far as I'm concerned. To build yet another great United team is an incredible feat. If he wins the title this season, it will top all this other achievements. Apart from Rooney and Ferdinand, I don't think any member of the Man U first team would get into Chelsea's.

If Shepherd hasn't realised by now that the way he operates is damaging to the club, he never will.

It's a bit worrying, this growing belief among many that Luque is the answer. He isn't. He doesn't have the heart. If anyone can save this season, it's the much-maligned bling boy, Kieron Dyer. We'd better just pray he can keep fit.

This current situation wasn't created overnight, and won't be solved overnight. The relationship between the Chairman and the Manager is a very important one in the running of a football club. Shepherd seems incapable of forming a good working relationship with his manager, and the situation is becoming worse. We have become a one man band. The Halls aren't interested in the day to day running of the club, and the local press are so far up the big man's arse, they've invisible. It's heartening that the mob are starting to stir, because there's no other opposition. In the long term, I'm hoping for new ownership, and take it from there. That's the only way the spirit of the club can be revived. Shepherd has destroyed it. On the more immediate position, we're missing Shola at the moment. He paid a big part in our revival at the end of last season, although lots of people are committed to a poor opinion of him, and won't give him proper credit. Nothing is sticking up front at the moment.

Complete crap. Local journalists are not 'an easy target' in this kind of situation. In fact, this is the first time I've heard of any local paper, anywhere in the country, coming under fire in this kind of way. Freddie Shepherd's mouthpiece? Freddie Shepherd's ringpiece more like.

I don't think there's a quick fix to our current problems. But in the long-term, we have to be rid of that ignorant, arrogant, meddling jerk who's running the club.

I can't see any manager who's good enough to have other options, choosing to join us with Shepherd still in charge. His reputation as an unsupportive meddler will put them off.

Big problem was that with that strikeforce we had to keep the ball on the ground, and we don't really have the confidence or the class to do that successfully at the moment. As against Charlton, we don't look remotely likely to get a goal from a cross or a corner. Those sort of chances were completely wasted. I don't want to lay into Roeder, because with the players available, there wasn't a lot else he could have done. The situation we're in is a combination of bad luck with injuries, and long-term mismanagement by Shepherd. Inevitably with all the chopping and changing, there's no overall team-building strategy and we look like a cobbled-together side.

The problem is that Chelsea didn't need SWP. They bought him to stop him going to one of their rivals, and haven't given him a proper chance. As a result, whenever he plays, he tries to do too much. Lennon's a very good player, but SWP has something a bit extra. If true, I think that's a very good deal for Spurs.

Doesn't surprise me at all. Zoggy seems to be going backwards at the moment, or at least not rising to the challenge to improve.

Wash your mouth out. Twice! I got criticised for saying this before, but Milner needs to get a bit more street-wise and gain a few more free kicks. I'm not talking about diving when you haven't been touched. I'm talking about not struggling to stay on your feet when you've been fouled, and in some situations, positioning your body so you get fouled. we call it DIVING And I call it helping the ref to make the right decision. :winking:

IMO, he doesn't look a very happy bunny at the moment and isn't making much progress. It's not easy for a young player to make an impact in a side that's struggling a bit, and he himself would probably feel he's better off at Arsenal, who tend to have most opponents on the back foot. In which case, it'll be difficult to keep him.

Here's something to cheer a lot of people up, from the Mirror - GUNNERS GOING FOR N'ZOGBIA ARSENAL are ready to swoop for Newcastle's French winger Charles N'Zogbia in the January transfer window. The £5million-rated left winger, 20, has had his first-team chances held back by Damien Duff's arrival at St James' Park. N'Zogbia has made 54 starts for the Geordies, who need to raise cash and lower the wage bill before buying a striker in the new year. (Cue a massive debate about whether he's signed his contract)

Wash your mouth out. Twice! I got criticised for saying this before, but Milner needs to get a bit more street-wise and gain a few more free kicks. I'm not talking about diving when you haven't been touched. I'm talking about not struggling to stay on your feet when you've been fouled, and in some situations, positioning your body so you get fouled.

No. Saturday will be a very different game, a lot more pressure and we'll need some fresh legs.

Unlike other presenters, he seems quite happy to be himself rather than adopt some bland Steve Rider-esque persona. I like him. In a totally non-sexual way, of course.

Difficult to judge, because there was a lot more time and space than you get in the Premiership. I'd like to have seen us play a bit more positively in the second half - we wasted a lot of possession and could have finished them off. Luque showed that he is, in fact, quite strong and ought to be able to adjust to the Premiership. Whether he has the necessary aggression - sorry, still not convinced on that performance. Milner did very well. Zoggy looked lost, as is usually the case when he plays down the middle. Pattison you feel is a player that really could benefit from more first-team experience. He's a bit excitable, and didn't always run around sensibly, but he looked promising. Still got this infuriating habit as a team of moving backwards to make sure that we don't lose possession. The result was that many promising looking situations in the opponents' half ended up with the ball being played back to the keeper.

'unbelievable' - I think he's created his own nickname. Lucky to get away with a nervous beginning, but grew in confidence. He looks a very good athlete, with all the basic physical attributes to get to the top. Let's not go overboard just yet though.

Interestingly, we did have a strategy under Sir Bob, which was similar to the policy pursued by Spurs at the moment - Namely, buying and developing young talent whilst maintaining a core of experienced players in the first team. It went with Sir Bob, and since then we've tried to buy expensive, ready-made players like Chelsea or Liverpool, only with nowhere near the resources to make it work.