Cronky

No-one's saying that Roeder's perfect, but there's a wider picture here. The most important thing that any Chairman has to do is to find the best possible manager available. He then has to financially back that manager's decisions about staff and players to the best he can, with the resources available. Those are the basics. Shepherd hasn't done that. He intervenes far too much in transfer activity, not trusting his manager's judgements. Look at Sir Bob's book for details. He also seems to be determined to give the job to Shearer at some stage, and to give him some kind of role in the club in the interim. That's a big deterrent to good managerial candidates. The greatest managers in the world would not be able to function in those circumstances. If they are responsible for results, they have to be given full control over the means to get those results. No organisation functions well when power and responsibility are divided off like that.

I disagree that we should have a manager who already has some affinity with the club. In fact, that's the kind of thinking that we need to get away from. I'd agree with BD. There needs to be a change at Boardroom level first, because I don't think anyone can succeed under our meddling Chairman. Then, at the time, look at the position on the football side, and decide whether a change is beneficial there as well. It's very unfair to heap the blame on Roeder for our current position.

I agree. The article talks about Shepherd's inability to appoint and keep a decent manager, but ignores the prime reason behind it. It seems to me that no reporter or fanzine will dare question Shearer's part in all of this. The only people that have piped up about this - Gullit and Kluivert - are safely away on the continent. The guy must be incredibly hard!

Yes, he'd be ideal if we were a small club in the top division, wanting to play good football, with no financial resources, for several seasons. But we're not. Although we're not as big as we think we are, we're massive compared to charlton, and the transition from small club to bigger club isn't always a happy one. Whereas he might excel in a no money tight budget low-expectations scenario, he might suck arse at the money-to-spend high-expectations bit. Every single top manager - whether it be Mourinho, Ferguson or whoever - has had to go through the transition that you're talking about there. There's no guarantees, but there's no better indication of a person's ability to handle a big club than their ability to handle a smaller club beforehand. And managers like Mourinho, Ferguson etc had managed to win something at their small clubs which gave them the step up. Has Curbishley managed to win something at his small club? In 10 ****ing years? Is he a winner? The fact is that no team outside the current big four has won either the League or the FA Cup in the past 10 years. The only trophy that's remotely available to clubs like Charlton is the League Cup. If you're dismissing Curbishley's credentials on those grounds, that's scarcely fair. I'm not saying Curbishley is the only or best possible candidate. But realistically we have to look at a manager who's taking a step up, not a step down or sideways.

I like Curbishley, but I can't see him linking up with the present regime. He had a very good relationship with the Chairman at Charlton, and was given a free hand to shape the club according to his own views. Fred likes to be involved in the football side too much. I could see Curbishley getting involved with new owners though, like O'Neill at the Villa. He's a man who would think to the long-term and want to give things an overhaul from top to bottom. I've heard it said that there's a lack of good British managerial talent at the moment, but I don't agree. Curbishley is one of several - including Moyes, Coleman, Jewell, Hughes - who could do a good job for us. O'Neill was my first choice, but that opportunity has well and truly gone. I feel sorry for Roeder, who in the circumstances has done a good job since taking over. But he hasn't the power base within the club to make the impact that is needed.

Yes, he'd be ideal if we were a small club in the top division, wanting to play good football, with no financial resources, for several seasons. But we're not. Although we're not as big as we think we are, we're massive compared to charlton, and the transition from small club to bigger club isn't always a happy one. Whereas he might excel in a no money tight budget low-expectations scenario, he might suck arse at the money-to-spend high-expectations bit. Every single top manager - whether it be Mourinho, Ferguson or whoever - has had to go through the transition that you're talking about there. There's no guarantees, but there's no better indication of a person's ability to handle a big club than their ability to handle a smaller club beforehand.

What's the problem with Curbishley? I would really like someone to explain this. It can't be his record. He's kept a small club in the top division, playing good football, with no financial resources, for several seasons. What's more at one point that club was bankrupt and not even playing on their own ground. Curbishley comes across as very calm and sensible. His comments about the game are very astute, and he clearly has confidence in his own ideas. His teams always look very positive, relaxed and motivated. I think the problem with Curbishley seems to be his quietly-spoken image. He's not a teacup-thrower, and he doesn't lose his cool. To assume that he lacks passion or the ability to motivate would be a mistake. It's all about instilling confidence in players and that's not about being a loudmouth.

Yeah, I think you're trying to find a pattern that isn't there. After Robson, he's just stumbled from one bad decision to another.

Dirty little fornicator who has done us a lot of damage in the past, but what a player. Giggs also seems to be playing the best football of his career at the moment.

These comments about Curbishley remind me of some of the daft remarks about O'Neill a few months back. What do you expect him to achieve with a club like Charlton? They're a club the same size as Hull, or Millwall, or QPR. Keeping them comfortably in the top division, with no sugardaddy to help them out, was a great achievement.

One thing's for sure - whenever Freddie talks about what the fans want, he's actually talking about what he wants. Appointing Roeder was just one of a string of poor decisions which are all related to one another. He tries to act like a Director of Football, and there are not many managers who are prepared to put up with that. Except those who are desperate for the job, for whatever reason.

I think one of the problems is that he wasn't that popular a choice. Now that things are getting a bit sticky, he's coming under instant pressure, in the same way as Souness.

A more likely explanation is that Shepherd didn't rate Huth as highly as Roeder, wasn't prepared to match Boro's bid until the last moment when things were desperate, and by then Huth was keen to opt for the club that had shown a sustained interest in him rather than one who tried to muscle in at the last moment.

Probably speculation, but if it's true, then it has all the hallmarks of our beloved Chairman yet again going behind his manager's back.

There's a worrying sign of the same pattern as emerged under Dalglish, Gullit and Souness repeating itself. Managing this club isn't an easy job. The expectations are high, but there's no recent record of success to breed any real confidence. When things start to go wrong, the pressure increases enormously and that gets to the players. Given that situation, the Chairman needs to make every effort to find the best possible manager available, and to back his manager's judgement without interference. I don't think that's been happening.

There are some good points in NE5's article, but I do think we’ve got to take a more realistic view of the Keegan era. We were more successful than previous Newcastle sides, because more money was available. In fact, we were spending more money than any other side in the League, possibly bar Man Utd. The spending spree couldn’t last forever, and that situation no longer exists. I get the impression that Shepherd thinks that the ‘Geordie Nation’ sentiment that surrounded the Keegan era is still the way forward. That’s underpinned this promotion from within that’s gone on recently with the management team, and his obvious hope that Shearer will take over as Manager one day. He also is apparently unwilling to sell out to anyone outside the region. All of which are mistakes. We should be looking to bring in new blood, and new ideas, like the other major clubs are doing. It's time for a change.

Great skill, not strong enough. Not very quick either.

When someone leaves without another job to go to, it's a sure sign of trouble. It's a recurring theme, but you wonder what part, if any, the manager is playing in these decisions. Kevin Bond was sacked without Roeder knowing about it or it seems being consulted, and he still doesn't seem to know the reasons why. With Tommy Craig, you wonder whether the messages that Shepherd was giving him about his job were the same as Roeder's understanding. The timing suggests that Craig thought he was accepting one job, only to find that he was expected to do another.

Just testing.

Bart van Marjiwik sounds good. Who is he?

His strategy seems to be to hit the ball early, which isn't always the best way, but it may be right for him. His close control is so bad that if he were to try to take an extra touch or take the ball round the last defender, he'd most likely lose it. Likewise, he doesn't make many runs out to the wing to free up space, because I don't think he can create much from that position. I think we just have to accept the package. He's going to miss some chances that others wouldn't, and he's not going to create much for his team mates, but he's such a good athlete that he will get on the end of chances that would be beyond other strikers. He also gets a lot of power in his shots, even from fairly static positions. Incidentally, I can't see him combining at all with Owen. Two specialist finishers wouldn't work IMO.

I'd say let's forget about the fee (which was a bit on the high side for his ability) and just appreciate his strengths. His touch on the ball is really crap, but he's strong, he can shoot quickly with barely any backlift and he's quick. Providing we don't expect too much, he'll be okay for us.

Pole position, close to 2-3 top signing etc.. Its only going to lead to expectation from the fans and massive disapointment when it didnt happen! I'd agree. While I don't blame Roeder for the lack of top players coming in, a major feature of the last two months has been his pointless blathering. Mind you, it does make you wonder how much he really knew about what was going on.

Well that's assuming that Roeder did know. According to Sir Bob, Freddie is very secretive on transfer and financial issues. But even assuming that he was fully in the know, I think the bigger picture is that the budget turned out to be £10 million plus whatever could be raised on sales. Now that's not great for a club with our turnover, and considering we spent nothing in January. As I said, there was this massive gap in the striking department, with Shearer retiring and Owen's injury. I think we were right to prioritise that area. I daresay every one of us would have wanted to divvy up the budget in a different way, and have our own ideas which would be different from Roeder's. But Roeder entered a situation where a lot of money had been spent unwisely in the recent past, and there hadn't been any sensible planning previously in the striking department. That inevitably restricted his room for manouevre.

If he knew what his transfer budget was, spending £10m on Martins and £5m on a position we already had covered was moronic. That's Roeder's fault and he takes full responsibility for it. End of story. I was pleased with both the Duff and the Martins signings because all along I thought SURELY we wouldn't spend all that money if it left us with none. That would be rank stupidity. I didn't reckon with the Glenn and Freddy show. I don’t think you’re being fair here. There was a massive gap in the striking department, through no fault of Roeder’s, and that needed to be filled. Duff’s acquisition wasn’t needed in the same way (although he can fill in as a striker), but £5 million is such a bargain for a player of that quality that I don’t see how it could have been turned down. In any case, unless you’re able to sign a player on a free, that sort of money is only going to get you one more player in the other departments who’s better than the ones we’ve already got. I do think we bungled though in not going for Sol Campbell.