merlin

Probably his position as executive on the league managers association. A position which he takes quite seriously by all accounts and always contacts sacked or recently employed managers. Oh yes, he takes it seriously alright - so seriously that he stoops to making suggestions that Forest & Leeds would lie down when they played NUFC so that we could pip Man U to the title... A worthy representative of his profession - NOT.. Was he in it then? Anyway, Allardyce is also on the LMA committee, so it's no surprise to see Fergie sticking up for a colleague. http://www.leaguemanagers.com/lma/structure-3.html Does it matter whether he was in it then or not? he still did those things and would do so again if he thought it would help his own cause. the only person/club Fergie cares about his himself and Man U - I read an interview with him just after they had pipped us to the title in 96 and he was reflecting on how he had been watching Liverpool play us in the 4-3 game and urging them on 'Come on Reds', he was saying to himself and recounted how he had always thought that L/Pool & Man U were worthy clubs etc etc - Do you honestly think he gives 2 s----s about Liverpool ? Does he still say 'Come on Reds' when he's watching them in today's Premiership ? Does he b--------ks !! They are rivals, and nothing more - it was 'any port in a storm' for Fergie then, and would be again. You won't find me giving him credit for being anything other than a great manager - and that's all...

Totally agree - there has been too many media people trying to blame the fans and anyone else bar Allardyce for the problems the club currently faces ; the manager HAS signed quite a high percentage of the current side, so must accept at least that percentage of blame ; his judgment has proven not to be as good as has been made out.. However, this is a rare piece of decent comment from Green - he IS generally a tit..the only surprising bit is his courage on naming Fergie - THAT won't go down well on his next visit to OT..!!

Probably his position as executive on the league managers association. A position which he takes quite seriously by all accounts and always contacts sacked or recently employed managers. Oh yes, he takes it seriously alright - so seriously that he stoops to making suggestions that Forest & Leeds would lie down when they played NUFC so that we could pip Man U to the title... A worthy representative of his profession - NOT..

Absolutely right - that goal at SJP when he left Dabizas for dead before sticking it in, just about all in one movement, was sheer class...

Oliver could get sacked over this if it's a lie and Mort goes to the editor with it. Yes, unless there is any substance in it, he could really have cooked his goose this time ; many of his claims have been somewhat 'wide of the mark'....

Yepp! I love Obafemi as a player. But his carreer will soon be ruined if he stays with NUFC. I would love to see some magic from Martins in the future. So far Sam sticks with the S*** tactics, it won't happen in NUFC. So it's allmost I hope - but that doesn't mean I like it - Martins gets a club where they play attacking football. He deserves to show his qualities you'll all be kicking yourselves if he moves to another club in england - put martins in a team with (a) a coach that can drill some runs into him, remind him how to make the best of his pace and (b) have the players/tactics to best exploit that pace and he WILL score a lot of goals and be dangerous does no-one think coaching is necessary any more? he's patently not had any since he left inter so is it any surprise his game is getting poorer? martins needs to be put through the middle and his sole purpose needs to be using his pace to unsettle defenders with better runs, stretching defences and creating space for others...he'd gain confidence and start scoring again right now he's being asked to play like a winger and the only time he sees the ball it's going over his head, flying at him at chest height on the wing, or he's got his back to the goal on the touchline the best thing for martins would be to leave NUFC if allardyce stays, if allardyce goes we need to keep him and get a coach who can improve players, not just piss and moan because those players can't play his "system" 10m too much, get a fuken grip man...we paid 6m for smith for christ'ss sake, is someone trying to tell me 10m is too much for martins in this climate? clowns I agree that coaching IS important, but in that case, what are those among the 20 back-room staff Allardyce has signed doing for their cash..?? I have long thought that the team as a whole plays as if there is NO coaching other than HOOF IT & Chase... A top coach could improve ANY player, but I doubt that Martins will ever be in the really top bracket of strikers - he's not aware enough. Would swap for Ashton.

Hamann didn't 'screw us over' - he actually liked the NE, but his words when asked why he left Newcastle were 'The Board was average, so the club was average'... He also didn't get on with Gullit and found him arrogant. Was a top class signing by Dalglish, would have played for us for years in the right circumstances..

This is Fairy-Land stuff - no one will be signing Ashton for less than 12m - if for that...

HAS to be Sir Les - if he had not been sold when Shearer picked up that terrible injury at Goodison in the close season of 97/98, the whole history of the club would have been different ; Tomasson would have been able to play OFF a big CF instead of trying to BE one, and I reckon he would have been just as big a success at NUFC as he eventually was at Milan - also, we would have probably qualified for Europe that season instead of struggling to get by and I doubt that there would have been enough discontent to sack Dalglish when they did. At the time the sale was mooted, it looked a good fee for a 30 year old, but it proved a total disaster for NUFC...

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought that the year must really be going faster than ever because I wondered if it was April 1 already.... The current board WOULD be able to justify getting rid of a manager who wasn't their choice IF he was being unsuccessful ; if Allardyce does not get the team achieving better results by May, he WILL be gone because we will be lucky to avoid being drawn into the relegation battle - this will not be a good stimulus for fans to buy new Season tickets, esp if the economic situation continues to deteriorate, which looks almost certain.. Many fans take loans to buy STs, and those loans are going to be harder to come by and more expensive to service......there is pressure from all sides, and I agree with what SBR has just said, which is that only Allardyce can save himself by improving the football and results....

Glad you put a smiley on that ..! I have ALWAYS thought he wasn't a top striker,nor ever would be...

What complete and utter tosh. Without the takeover we would all be hating FS still and BSA would be his man and we would hate him more. The reason we are impatient is because we have had to put up with absolute dross on the field for way too long whilst pumping more money into this club than a hell of a lot of other clubs. We had to put up with the biggest arsehole of a chairman the world has ever known (constantly shitting on the fans and publicly bragging about it) and watch the fat man hire the worst managers for the job. BSA was a good choice to improve our club in the way it is run but we need as a club on the pitch someone with creative flair who can get the best out of whatever players he has and get them attacking. And for gods sake can we get a manager who can teach our players to keep possession I am sick of screaming at them every time they give it up. This has been happening since the last year and a half of SBR. Totally agree with this ..

Tony Mowbray of WBA - if you want to know why, read my piece on the Kevin Keegan thread ; too much to type out again here.... Oh - one thing I missed on there is the fact that it WOULD be possible to get him, unlike most of the names being bandied about...!

We've got to stop living in the past with ideas like this - I agree with Wallace that some sort of PR/World Scouting role would be about the only thing KK would wish to do now.. We had some fantastic times under his managership, but we didn't win anything and that is the ONLY criteria of a successful big club - he set us up so that, had SBR come in when asked straight away, I reckon we WOULD have started winning things but it didn't happen. I said before that we need a special kind of manager - someone who knows what the fans want, but also knows football ; someone young enough to BUILD A CLUB DYNASTY - NOT just a team that might get Euro football in 3 years and then get old ; we need someone who, although experienced, is ambitious and open to new ideas ; we need someone who is respected enough by the players to enforce discipline, but in a way that makes them respect him....its not too much to ask, is it..!!!? Allardyce fails in several of the categories I have outlined, and people forget - he is 54 next October, just a couple of years younger than KK, who many are saying is 'past it'... A person like Hiddink , whilst he would undoubtedly be a short-term success, would not be here for more than 2 years at most - we need long-term continuity, BUT - with someone in whom the fans, and the Board, have confidence enough to give 2 or 3 seasons because they can see the plan unfolding..Allardyce is not meeting that criteria, but the type of guy we want will not be available at this time. It will be May before that type of guy is available - my choice, based in his record at two clubs, his age, the style of football his teams play, and the fact that he knows the NE, would be Tony Mowbray of WBA - but I wouldn't give him, or anyone else, the job until I was satisfied both from interview and references from previous employers, that he fitted the bill. There are others, such as Pardew and Boothroyd, but Mowbray comes closest to what we need - promotion for WBA would seal my choice as worth a real go; Bruce Rioch, who took Boro through their Administration crisis in 1986 made Mowbray Capt at the age of 22 and is reputed to have said that if he had to Fly to The Moon, he would want Mowbray alongside(hence the name of Boro's Fanzine) - Rioch was a tough cookie, so that is no mean compliment.....

This is an excellent summing-up of what is wrong...well said.

This HAS to be a wind-up - MON is streets ahead of Allardyce. Expand? Has won a trophy with a small club(Leicester) and got them into the Prem ; won Promotion at Wycombe ,took Celtic to final of major Euro comp on a limited budget , took over at Villa on eve of last season(no time to make many signings, club taken over just as NUFC were this time)and steadied a rocking ship - went through a poor patch in mid-season, BUT - unlike Allardyce - they got a fair number of draws, not defeats.. Has arguably made Villa the surprise team of this season and they play good attacking football but with a decent defence..I cannot see NUFC doing the same next year under Sam esp if they spend the same amount of money that O'Neill did this time...

i agree with that, but you can say that about any player, the more chances they get, the more they'll score, his conversion rate is just too low imo What is Torres conversion rate? Not saying Martins is better because he clearly isn't but Torres misses a lot of chances, the thing is he gets himself in the positions and with the chances created he will score. good point, i have to admit i dont have stats, but i watch martins more than i watch torres, seems torres cant quite lace up his shooting boots away from home but he looks deadly at anfield, torres is much the classier player though, excellent close control which means he can use his pace to go past people like they aren't there, martins just doesnt have that talent Spot On..

N'Zogbia is NOT a LB, and if you think he's doing OK there, you obviously missed the Chelsea game.... Enrique should have played more than he has - we do not have the luxury of buying 6m players and 'grooming' them for the future at this time.

Its how 'occasional' the skill appears that is the problem - erratic, just as NUFC have very often been in the past - we need to get away from inconsistency...

Let's ignore all the glaring deficiencies in his game too, eh? 23. Same age as Adebayor, Tevez and Torres then. Who are all much better players.....

This HAS to be a wind-up - MON is streets ahead of Allardyce.

IF are getting to the stage where relegation might be a threat, I would bring in George Graham until the season's end - he would certainly sort out the defence enough to get us enough points to survive.. Graham has the ability to do this with a club like NUFC OVER A SHORT PERIOD... Fans wouldn't like it(boring 1-0 wins, 0-0 draws etc), but needs must - relegation would be the ultimate disaster for this club... IF Allardyce is fired, a short-term appointment with top class experience is the best way until we can take a wider choice in Summer.

So yes then Yes what? They're down there because they can't win games. So because we're s*** they'll all turn into Brazil 1970? Just yes that there seems to be complacency that we arent capable of being dragged into it That is exactly the point - we ARE capable of being dragged into it - Wigan's point at Anfield illustrates just what can happen...don't forget, Wigan & Derby have new managers and there is always a honeymoon period when this happens,,also, in the case of Jewell, I reckon that had he come in earlier, they could have improved enough to make a realistic attempt at escape. I said on this site yesterday that we would be lucky to get 3 points out of games with Man U(twice), L'Pool away, Arsenal away , Villa away and Everton away - with Chelsea also to visit SJP...that leaves 11 games to secure another 14 points which would put us on 43 - an acceptable safety margin... We have a home game against Boro, and if they play as they did against Arsenal, we will get a point at best...after results during the first part of the season against largely mediocre opposition and the performances of late, can ANYONE put their house on the club NOT being threatened with relegation.?? If we lose at Stoke, Allardyce has either to be fired OR be given full backing in the transfer market - there is no middle way now and as I said before, its a really tough call for Mort & Ashley...if they let it drag on in limbo as we are now, then there could be real problems later in the season and I hope it doesn't come to that because this team are NOT equipped for a relegation scrap...

Spot on - a waste of 10m quid - what would we get for him now, I wonder..?? He has been well-sussed by Prem sides after his first season - they know that if you keep tight on him, he runs into blind alleys.

True, and lest we forget, a TOP manager gets the best out of players at the club and IMPROVES THEM - isn't that what O'Neill has done with Villa's Centre Backs ? OK, they signed Davies, and he's starting to look the business, but there were plenty on this site who didn't rate him as a prospect when he was at WBA.. If Allardyce is the genius some are suggesting, he should be improving our CBs, not just chopping & changing them - after all, he WAS a CB himself, whereas O'Neill was a midfielder so even less excuse.. Also, as for stating that Allardyce has come all the way from the Irish League to Europe, what the hell difference does that make ? He has ONLY managed ONE club in the top 2 Divisions and they were basically a small club by modern standards..past history needs to be examined in depth before assuming great things of people, and his successes have all been based on workrate primarily - this will NEVER succeed at the top level if it isn't accompanied by a large helping of skills and originality.. Allardyce is 54 next birthday and has NO TROPHIES as a manager - given his 5 year plan, he will presumably be retiring without winning one...