Parky

? He's their head coach/manager (that's why they sacked Matthäus who didn't want to be just Trap's assistant). I agree with the rest of your post though. Forgotten more about football than 90% of the managers in the world know.

You don't think Faye was his choice? Or any of the other 8 he brought in? Yes they were his choice, but probably not his first, out of all the players he brought in though most definitely Faye, Beye and Enrique you could class as a success but then again I don't think Sam is the only Manager who has bought in players and they turned out to be shit, this is nothing unique. His first choice players were Distin and Ben Haim, he also went for Silvestre, Wes Brown and Heinze who but got turned down for one reason or another, that's according to his interview in the Mag anyway. You could say the same about any manager that they would do better if they had more money, the fact is though that Allardyce spent around £18 million on Joey Barton with his well known baggage, Enrique who he left out of the first team more often than not and Alan Smith who's shite. We don't know who his first choices were, it was all media talk - i.e. bullshit. He said Distin and Ben Haim were his first choices in an interview so it's hardly media bullshit. He actually said it was too late to get Distin and if he'd been at Newcastle earlier he would have got him. FOI. What point are you trying to make? He said Distin and Ben Haim were his first choice targets and couldn't get either for one reason or another. I think you guys (I'm not sure) are debating what players he tried to get in the summer no? I think that is irrelevant.

Perhaps he would have bought MF targets in the Jan window...No one can really know.

You don't think Faye was his choice? Or any of the other 8 he brought in? Yes they were his choice, but probably not his first, out of all the players he brought in though most definitely Faye, Beye and Enrique you could class as a success but then again I don't think Sam is the only Manager who has bought in players and they turned out to be shit, this is nothing unique. His first choice players were Distin and Ben Haim, he also went for Silvestre, Wes Brown and Heinze who but got turned down for one reason or another, that's according to his interview in the Mag anyway. You could say the same about any manager that they would do better if they had more money, the fact is though that Allardyce spent around £18 million on Joey Barton with his well known baggage, Enrique who he left out of the first team more often than not and Alan Smith who's shite. We don't know who his first choices were, it was all media talk - i.e. bullshit. He said Distin and Ben Haim were his first choices in an interview so it's hardly media bullshit. Yeah, we shoudl believe everythging that everyone says in an interview - thats exactly how football people do business. Either way, he signed 9 players for £25m, and so far, only one of them has proven to be worthwhile. So we shouldn't believe Ben Haim was his first choce then? Even though he went after him first and both Allardyce and Ben Haim spoke about him turning us down for Chelsea. 2 of them have been worthwhile btw, Baye and Faye are easily the two best defenders at the club. This is a silly thing to debate, it's not like Rodent or Souey bought in any players we rave about is it?

You don't think Faye was his choice? Or any of the other 8 he brought in? Yes they were his choice, but probably not his first, out of all the players he brought in though most definitely Faye, Beye and Enrique you could class as a success but then again I don't think Sam is the only Manager who has bought in players and they turned out to be shit, this is nothing unique. His first choice players were Distin and Ben Haim, he also went for Silvestre, Wes Brown and Heinze who but got turned down for one reason or another, that's according to his interview in the Mag anyway. You could say the same about any manager that they would do better if they had more money, the fact is though that Allardyce spent around £18 million on Joey Barton with his well known baggage, Enrique who he left out of the first team more often than not and Alan Smith who's shite. We don't know who his first choices were, it was all media talk - i.e. bullshit. He said Distin and Ben Haim were his first choices in an interview so it's hardly media bullshit. He actually said it was too late to get Distin and if he'd been at Newcastle earlier he would have got him. FOI.

My money has always been on this. Hence the poor timing and the following hiatus involving Keegan/Redknapp.

Exactly. I'm just glad Ashley timed the sacking of Big Sam so perfectly. Now Keegan will know exactly which players need replacing by the summer instead of finding out next season. Great work by our board. That's got to be the dumbest statement in this thread. No I think he got it just right for the reasons mentioned. You could always put an alternative view to enlighten me though. Try reading the thread.

A true master. blueyes.gif

Exactly. I'm just glad Ashley timed the sacking of Big Sam so perfectly. Now Keegan will know exactly which players need replacing by the summer instead of finding out next season. Great work by our board. That's got to be the dumbest statement in this thread.

If they were so unsure about SA as it seems the case now, this should have been the plan. I still have a feeling that they didn't plan to sack him in the Jan window till the 11th hour and that they were almost forced to due to some disagreement between them and SA.

I'd have given Allardyce the sack earlier or given him until about the Man U game coming up then sacked him and given a new manager an easier start. Any lift from a new manager has been lost because of who we have played recently and we're now relying on Keegan being a better manager than Allardyce, which I think he is anyway. Good plan.

I'm above Baggio now that's all that matters.

Sorry but I've got to disagree, the timing was wrong, if Keegan had of been in earlier he could have seen what he had to work with and what was needed to improve on what he inherited. Bringing him in during January meant that he didn't know the players so could not have known what was needed to improve the first team. He came during January when we had players who he couldn't even see in training because they were in Africa and he thought we needed a new defender when we had Faye and Beye, arguably our best two in that department away from the club. What we needed was creativity and somebody who could do some damage up front, Parky wasn't the only person to say we needed creativity in the summer, it was plain to see what we needed after bringing in the players that we did. We brought in grafters while getting rid of two potential match winners in Dyer and Solano, Dyer might have been a prick but he had something which we are lacking, speed, defenders hate having players run at them and he could do that when motivated. The only player we have with any speed now is Martins. There is no doubts the timing was poor.

There is some catching up to do reg the new football environment, but a properly motivated KK is a good manager of that there is no doubt really. He's played the game all over the world and has been loved in most places he's been. Excellent motivator and man-manager and has a good overview of football and how it should be played. Tactically has always been a bit suspect as he admits himself, but really footie isn't as complex as some who make a living writing about it make out.

Guys can we get back on topic I don't want another beautiful thread locked. Many thanks. P.

Yes there is Chez, because people would be crying about them going over Keegan's head as soon as he got here, they were already doing that when they got the wrong end of the stick about Dennis Wise coming here, the fact is Keegan had money to spend (unless he's lying) and chose not to spend it for whatever reason, for you to expect a board that you yourself say know less about football to go out and buy players that the manager might not even want come the Summer is one of the most short sighted things I've seen on here. What if they had gone out and spent big on players that didn't improve us? Then what? What happens come the Summer when they have to tell Keegan that a large portion of his transfer funds are gone because they thought they were doing the right thing in buying players that they thought he'd want even though they know little about football? I love the way you throw in a whole bunch of hypotheticals... You scoundrel.

I remember it well Chezzer.

Glad to know someone else was watching the same Geremi.

Yup. More importantly the level of spend.

I always said last summers transfers weren't good. I also pointed out Allardyces comments that he wasn't happy with the support he was getting. Unless you know better. Are you happy with the resultant season we are having. If you are, fine, if you aren't, I rest my case. Now, as I asked you earlier, who is to blame for our position of 7th and subsequent UEFA Cup run during the last 5 years of decline you are harping on about There's a good quote somewhere from last summer when Mort says words to the effect of he likes money coming in before it goes out. Mort is a great administrator btw but knows fuck all about football.

Who made the mistakes? It's up to the manager to rectify the signings that have not worked, the signings which Allardyce made so yes if we go down Allardyce should take a large proportion of the blame, but not all. Quite. Some blame must be levelled at the man who appointed him. If we go down. If we don't go down we'll all be able to look forward this summer. you can't blame the Halls and Shepherd for Ashley not backing his manager, last summer and last month. I've heard everything now As I've said, Allardyce bought Barton and Smith, others bought Elano and Petrov for a little more . That showed very poor judgment by a manager who had been appointed by the previous chairman. Ashley's mistake was not to go with his judgement right away, something he admits. Allardyce is simply the last in a series of mistakes of various magnitudes made by the previous chairman. Blaming Ashley for our current predicament and ignoring the previous five years? I've heard everything now. straight out of micks book of hypocrisy. If Allardyce had did well, Ashley would get the credit, now he's gone, Shepherd gets the blame. 2 years ago we were 7th in the league and qualified for europe. Who's to blame for that ? See the bold bit for the critical comment, as Allardyce also bought Anelka for Bolton for 8m .......... The vast majority of people on here, concluded that last summers transfer had been very successful, good for the team, and "good for the business" by the way. Only a few people disagreed, at the time. Are you using hindsight too ? I started huge, unwieldy - whinning pedantic threads when I first saw the danger emerge that we weren't going to add creativity to the midfield. I am win.

I don't really care as such balls are useless with our forwards. Viduka prefers balls to feet. Martins and Owen get outmuscled with balls coming from semi-deep wide right as has been witnessed time and time again this season. We need pace on the right with someone getting near the byline so def are facing their own goal...It is in this 'window of uncertaintly' the likes of Owen thrive. You should have just said that instead of being deliberately obtuse in the first place then. I was toying with him. I feel so used.

I don't really care as such balls are useless with our forwards. Viduka prefers balls to feet. Martins and Owen get outmuscled with balls coming from semi-deep wide right as has been witnessed time and time again this season. We need pace on the right with someone getting near the byline so def are facing their own goal...It is in this 'window of uncertaintly' the likes of Owen thrive. You should have just said that instead of being deliberately obtuse in the first place then. I was toying with him.

Oh my fawking gawd James is at it now. Faye should be the DM.