Raconteur

Humiliation in Sicily is almost expected at the moment - losing to Sheffield United at home will be the breaking point...

No. He's had his chance. He deserves to rot in the reserves and at best struggle to make the bench. :shock: Please tell me you're either : (a) Joking (b) Certified Insane Even worse - a Luque supporter :roll:

Yes, appointing Shearer one day is a plan - a plan of dubious merit, but a plan nonetheless... I'm not sure what point you are trying to make here? May I ask - what do you feel Shepherd should be doing in the current situation? Should he stand behind Roeder unreservedly until three players run into each other on the pitch again and then start looking for a replacement? Or should he be making quiet, discreet phone calls to the agents of managers? And with regards to tapping up managers, well, not all managers are currently employed and thus can't be tapped up, and secondly if he did have an employed manager in mind then it is child's play to circumvent those rules through the use of intermediaries... I guess what exactly do I have in mind by planning for managers is discreet phone calls along the lines of "Mr. Agent, might your client Manager X be interested in an interview for the Newcastle manager's job should it become available in the short term?" I would like to think that at this very minute, in a locked drawer in his desk, he has a list of prospective managers he would approach if/when the board makes the decision to sack Roeder. I would also hope that list has more than the name of Alan Shearer on it!

For Mick http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php/topic,27727.0.html or someone could bump it??? Every single respondent said Roeder will still be manager in January! :shock: blink.gif

I can't say I agree with you there HTL - Shepherd did make something of a rod for his back by publically saying that Robson wouldn't have his contract renewed at the end of the 2004/05 season. This made Robson's position untenable - would you agree? If Shepherd knew after the 2003/04 season that the next season would be Robson's last, should he not have made preparations for his replacement as soon as he made that decision? The popular opinion is that during the summer of 2004 Robson should have been "moved upstairs" and someone else installed - now whether or not you agree with that, would you agree that it is easier (and more preferable) to appoint a manager in the off season rather than mid season? It seems that Shepherd planned to dispense with Robson's services and yet didn't have a plan to replace him - now, it is possible he thought he would cross that bridge when he came to it (at the 2004/05 season) but when he decided to sack Robson a handful of games into the season he suddenly had to appoint someone immediately - which resulted in something of a circus and the (allegedly fifth choice) Scottish maggot being plucked from the sinking ship that was Blackburn I guess my point is that as soon as Shepherd decided he was going to get rid of Robson, he should have immediately begun formulating contingency plans - a "fire now" plan (summer 04), a "fire during the season" plan, and a "release at the end of contract" plan... It's all very well to say my thoughts are with the benefit of hindsight, but really, it's common sense. If you plan to get rid of a manager, then you also need to plan for his replacement... There's a lesson for this for Freddy now too - if he boots Roeder, then I hope to God he's already got someone lined up, because we don't want to be scraping the bottom of the barrell and come up with another Souness, do we?!?

Troisi is apparently in good form - but the fact Luque was on the bench yesterday instead of the young Aussie indicates that even the Spanish wastrel is a better (realistic) option

mackems.gif

blueyes.gif It's all about results well you'll have to wait for results then wont you? its tough shit. We're going through a bad patch, just like @ the end of last season we went through an amaaaaayzin patch. If we're still not winning by January, then i'll be concerned. Have you had a look at the December fixture list? Which games do you suggest are winnable?

If Sheff Utd win next week, you'd better believe it...!! If Sheff United win next week, Roeder's position would become untenable, having failed to beat two of the relegation favourites at home in succesion. Definitely - even if it's a draw then Roeder has to go. We simply can't keep dropping points against lower teams if we want to stay up...

No, but their common nationality was another element that "added credence" to the rumour...

Who the hell said that Arsenal were even interested? All I've heard is people saying that he would suit Arsenal's style of play, not that they're interested. It's a case of 2 + 2 = 5 really... Wenger is a Frenchman identifies talented youths and grooms them into world beaters. Zoggy is a talented French youth... Although didn't Anal Oliver suggest Arsenal were keeping tabs on him? This is possibly the best news we've had on the player front for quite some time - better than signing Duff and Martins, better than Dyer's return from injury. Surprising the club didn't try to get some positive publicity out of it though - you'd think they'd be trumpeting the securing of a talent like him to the club...

The People Reproduced in this thread - http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php/topic,30846.0.html (not the first batch of rumours - the second lot)

My memory was that he was doing a pretty decent job at Southampton before the unfortunate disruption to his career...?

All of a sudden that little snippet of gossip becomes a little bit more interesting... If by interesting you mean worrying. I cannot see anything in Curbishley that excites me. Does mid table stability and eventual stagnation excite you? Not at all - just another element in the mix... Let's face it - Freddy has a history of panicking and firing the manager when the fans are discontented. Next, we have a (recent) history of failing to attract quality managers - Curbishley might very well be the best candidate should Roeder be pushed (or jump) Interesting doesn't equal good or exciting - it was an expression to express dismay regarding a sequence of events that can easily be forseen...

All of a sudden that little snippet of gossip becomes a little bit more interesting...

There's every possibility that if he did offer his resignation that Freddy wouldn't accept it - after all, they weren't exactly lining up for the job last time (despite Freddy's lies at the time...)

That's the thing - if there's a Roeder Out campaign, then Freddy will follow the form guide - sack the manager to save his own hide... But getting Roeder AND Shepherd out in one fell swoop isn't going to happen

Weren't we all amazed that anyone would bid for Faye? Perhaps lightning could strike twice

Wel i wish you were all as patient with luque? I despair The difference, of course, is that Duff at least puts a modicum of effort when playing for the Toon...

Fair enough - something about your username deceived me

This is the crucial point right here - Freddy won't give a flying fuck about what ToonFanNorway in Norway thinks, or petersweden in Sweden thinks or Raconteur in Australia thinks... Any successful public campaign against Freddy has to be run by Geordies, in the city of Newcastle. Perhaps the best that can be said for an internet campaign is that it could be used to co-ordinate the type of rally garth proposed, or sit-ins after the games or that sort of thing. Of course, that's going to take a lot of commitment as opposed to gnashing of virtual teeth - is there enough discontent for a popular campaign from Newcastle based Toon fans?

Not that I'm particularly keen to defend Roeder, but I remember it a bit differently - sure, age was mentioned, but the salient quote I remember went along the lines of Roeder being surprised by how few games he had played in the past two seasons ie was too big an injury risk... That said, we really are a fucking shambles at the back...

I'm not advocating him, just throwing it out there as an idea... I'm beginning to think Roeder is on borrowed time, so this sort of speculation might become the norm sooner rather than later! And like you said, the options appear to be very limited

Does anyone think Erikkson is a chance?

I was a fairly strong supporter of Roeder, a combination of his good caretaker form and the sure and certain knowledge that we wouldn't be able to attract a better candidate (based on the debacle after SBR's sacking.) I supported him through a bad transfer period, doubts only rising in the last week or two of the window as he continued to fail to strenthen the squad. But I have to say it's not so much the lack of strengthening that is doing my head in now, but the truly shite football we are playing. For the first half hour yesterday we played like a real football team, on the deck, reasonably paced rathen than kick and rush, good movement - I was thinking it's the best football I've seen us play this season. But then Bolton switched on and started playing, we panicked and never looked like holding onto our lead. When Diouf got his double, was there a single fan watching who thought we could come back from there? As thin and lacking in quality as our squad is, a good manager can inspire his players, and make the team greater than the sum of its parts. Roeder can't do that, simple as that.