Wallace

I am getting really wound up by the constant attacks on our supporters from other fans and the media. Everything that happens at Newcastle seems to be blamed on the supporters and there are now so many misconceptions that have now been accepted as the truth by the media and repeated constantly. Ultimately, the supporters do not make any decision about the Club - only Ashley and co can do that. The only power we have is not to attend games or buy the merchandise and therefore not put any money into the club. Also, Newcastle today is not the same club as 8 months ago. This board cannot be held responsible for the mistakes made by those previously in charge. And this obsession about whether or not Newcastle are a big club does my head in. I do not care - I just want a club I am proud of and enjoy watching.

We done our bit tbh. Sold out our allocation and all the noise was comming from our section. I know you sold your allocation, Spurs away support is nearly always good. Atmosphere was still poor though even if most of the singing was coming from your end. I would have thought that if Arsenal bandwagon fans didn't want to go tonight that Spurs fans would have snapped up the tickets with it being 10mins down the road and a big game but there were rows upon rows of empty seats in the top tier. It really is strange as it was near enough a sell out when we played them in the League Cup. I presume they didn't drop the prices for this one. spurs didn't allow them to drop the prices. arsenal usually charge 10/20 for league cup matches since they use it as a competition for their reserves and it wouldn't be fair otherwise. the spurs game was at Category B prices, so obviously they aren't going to pay that kind of money to see a reserve team. That is becoming a common attitude. It happened with Villa v Man Utd and NUFC.com suggested that Stoke would not let us reduce our prices for the replay - not being satisfied with their highest home attendance for some time and the TV money, Stoke are out to try and get even more. I would imagine there will be a much lower attendance than Stoke are expecting (they keep on about 50,000 - when did we last have an attendance like that for a cup game) so it will backfire on them.

In the preamble to the Arsenal v Spurs game, he said he agreed with the decision - but then he does despise Allardyce's style of football.

The North East correspondent on TalkSport reckons he was tipped off about McClaren at the weekend but then he is normally wrong about anything to do with Newcastle. Maybe the British manager is a smokescreen?

Anyone know if they are opening up the West Stand tonight or will it be standing only?

This is the sort of stuff that gets us a bad name and accusations that we are deluded. A lot of what he writes anyway is repoduced in the national press and ends up causing a lot of problems for the club. If he had the club's interests at heart as he claims then he should think carefully about some of the stuff he writes.

Alan Green cannot stand Allardyce. He once said on 606 that Bolton played ugly football and it caused an uproar with Bolton. On the programme this season, he has asked supporters if Newcastle are playing the Bolton style because he despises it so much. With regards to comments by other managers, you will never hear one say that a fellow managers should be sacked. They all stick up for each other so their opinion counts for nothing. I think a lot of the media have been very critical of the fans response to games. What is apparent though is that the majority of the written press and broadcast media have very little understanding of NUFC. They base their ideas on the stereotypes promoted in the media. Something else that amazes me is that when we are discussed on the radio, how many fans from other clubs phone in to pass opinion on us. So many feel that they have to phone in to say how deluded we are and that we are not a big club!! As a club, we seem to really get under the skin of other supporters - probably because of all the media attention.

But at Bolton when defending their style of play, Allardyce would say that he would play a different way if he was at another club. That's what I expected but it does not seem as if he is able to. Bet Allardyce is hugely irritated by Bobby's comments.

I do not think centre half is our prioity. We have 6, 3 of who were only bought in the Summer. They have not been a huge success but is that just a case of them having to get used to the Premiership or have they been written off already. I just think Sam needs to decide who will be first choice and stick with them so they can build a partnership. Maybe one of them will prove to be the real deal in time I think a creative midfielder and a striker who can either (a) score goals and (b) form a partnership with at least one of the other strikers is required more. If we could keep the ball up the other end of the pitch more often, then there might not be quite so much pressure on the defence all the time.

Maybe he spent too long at Bolton and after 8 years, he is finding it much harder to adapt to a complete new environment than he had expected. Also, I think he is struggling with the press scrutiny and although he has friends in the press, there are others who do not like him and are just going to be mischief-making for the sake of it. At Bolton, he was at one of the lesser clubs in the Greater Manchester area where most of the focus would have been on Man Utd and City. Every decision that he now makes is being discussed to the nth degree by the press and supporters where as before, few would have taken much notice. I am disappointed though as I expected so much more from him. I am not saying I expected us to be near the top of the table but I did expect to see our old failings disappear like losing at places like Wigan. I also thought that with a new board, backroom staff and many new players (who had mostly come from fairly successful clubs) that there would be a new attitude on the pitch so I just cannot understand why it is the same old Newcastle. I also heard so much about his man-management skills and again he has disappointed because he seems to be alienating the players so much. Blaming them in public, dropping them as soon as they make a mistake, changing the team every week etc - I think has contributed to their lack of confidence. Yet former players have had nothing but good words about him. I just can't make sense of it. I was never a fan but I expected us to be a competent team showing gradual improvement but yet again a manager starts to unravel before our eyes at this club.

I loved Keegan as a player and as our manager - it was definitely a very special relationship but I do not want those memories spoilt. I think the game has changed too much now and what he did then was unique and unlikely to be repeated by anyone. The only way I could see him being involved with Newcastle again is in a PR/ambassadorial role. I wish there was something named after him at the Club because he did soo much for the club as both player and manager and I think that the Club should honour him in some way.

He could play Carr instead of Beye and if Smith is fit, he will be in there somwhere (now he is captain) - preferably in a forward role rather than in midfield.

you've posted that 8 years too early mate It took him 8-years to turn a very good Championship side, into a respectable mid-table Premiership side. People can go on about the lack of money, scientific techniques, etc...but at the end of the day, that's all he did. In this day and age, no manager would get 8 years. Whilst we gradually improve (or not), teams that could be considered similar to us move further away ie. Villa, Everton, City, Spurs. And all of this nonsense about Fergie getting the time to change it around that the media trots out winds me up because that was 20 years ago. He would not get that opportunity today as times have changed and the pressure to stay in the Premiership and make money is too great.

Listening to pundits and fans today, I got the impression that Stoke have us beaten already.

Weren't the first few seasons at Bolton relegation battles for Sam and then they started to gradually improve? As for a relegation battle, I think we will be in it. Spurs will definitely overtake us and probably Reading as well so that takes us down to 13th. Hard to say about Birmingham, Wigan, Fulham with their new managers as performances have improved but will the results improve enough? Sunderland and Boro - who knows - but they will probably raise their game when they come to SJP. Our away games look like non-starters - Man Utd, Arsenal, Villa, Spurs, West Ham, Liverpool, Everton, Portsmouth. Home games include Man Utd and Chelsea. Oh and remind me where did Fulham last won away? Bolton and Blackburn won't be easy home games if we are still lacking in confidence. That doesn't leave us with many games to get points from. It does depend on the teams below us and if they run into some kind of form.

Robson always used to complain about a mole at SJP as well.

I thought it was odd that whilst the players were arguing about the offside goal with Riley and the linesman, Chelsea TV replayed the goal (several times) on the big screens so everyone in the ground could see that it was offside. I wondered if Riley had seen it but felt that he could not reverse his decision. Really strange to see the goal finally given when everyone already knew for certain it was offside.

Not keen on him being the next manager but I do think that he will continue to cast a huge shadow over future managers until he has had a go himself. I don't think he would want to manage in the lower leagues either for experience. But to be fair to him he has always tried to distance himself from the job but the media and many fans won't let it go.

It would have happened sooner or later anyway.

All managers have a natural shelf life. Some managers have success wherever and others have it at some clubs and not others. Sometimes, a manager is hugely successful at one club and never repeats that elsewhere. I wondered how many managers are still working in the Premier League that were managing there 5 years ago and I reckon there are only 4 that are still with the same clubs Wenger, Ferguson, Moyes and Redknapp (albeit with a break inbetween). 7 others have previously managed at other Premier League clubs - O'Neill, Allardyce, Megson, Curbishley, Jewell, Coppell and Bruce. I wonder if Sam has just come to the end of his natural shelf life as a manager and what at one time seemed to be a very advanced and forward approach is now just run of the mill stuff for most clubs. If he had come here when the Club first tried then it might have been a different story.

Allardyce was ahead of his time with the Sports Science approach but everyone else seems to have cottoned on to it (Newcastle typically being one of the last). Probably doesn't offer much of an advantage any more - just a case of keeping us on a level with other clubs.

It depends what Ashley wants from the team. So far, Mort has insisted that Ashley wants to enjoy the club as a fan in which case, he will be having as miserable time as the rest of us. The difference is that he can do something about it while the rest of us can only complain.

Another example of bad man-management to me. Why does Smith need to get ready for the responsibility when Geremi is only away for a month. What on earth does a captain do that needs practice - maybe there is some special technique to tossing that coin. What a crisis it would be if Geremi suddenly got injured and no-one had had any time to get used to the role. Just seems to me that Allardyce has realised that he made a mistake making Geremi captain and is not sure how to get around it.

Really irritated with the comments in the papers this morning that Sam is blaming all the players. He needs to look at himself first. Yes the players bear a responsibility but if he keeps changing the team every game and playing players in different positions in every game, how are they ever going to build up a understanding of what he is trying to ask them to do. He may want to get rid of most of the players but that is not practical and there are some decent players there. His acclaimed man-management skills are not apparent as he seems intent on undermining many of the players - saying that he couldn't get his first choice premiership players and had to resort to looking abroad cannot make them feel especially wanted. He is also very keen to make scapegoats of those that make mistakes. At Bolton, he tended to buy lots and lots of players and there were a few hits and lots of misses. This is feasible for a club like Bolton when you are dealing with a certain category of players but we would be expecting to look at a higher calibre of player and you cannot be paying out that sort of money to find out what works and what doesn't. Sam's record since last Christmas is very poor as Bolton were on the way down since then. I cannot stand this idea that you try and stop the other team from playing - surely you should be going out trying to win the game from the start especially against the lesser teams. It didn't do Aston Villa any harm yesterday whereas we will no doubt be going to Chelsea looking to contain them and so inviting attack after attack which means that we will inevitably concede. I am losing faith as I do not see any evidence of his supposed strengths as a manager. All I see is a bully who is looking to blame anyone but himself for the performances. He needs to concentrate on the players that he has at his disposal and look at ways of maximising their strengths in a consistent team formation. Although not worldbeaters, those players are good enough to form a cohesive team that should be able to score goals.

I recall Allardyce saying when at Bolton that if he was at a different club and had better players, the football would change. So far there has been little of evidence of that and you cannot tell me that with the players that we have, that we should not be beating teams like Wigan, Derby etc or at the very least be able to compete with them. I am not expecting miracles but I do expect to see some gradual improvement but it is steadily getting worse and players like Martins seem to have lost all confidence and none of them have any confidence in the penalty area. He always seems to pride himself in his man-management skills but I have yet to be impressed with that area so far. I just see a very stubborn man who refuses to change his methods to cope with the different players he now has available to him.