Newcastle's Manager of the Month award

[GM]

Interesting blog on the Guardian website this morning:

 

Newcastle could run their own manager of the month award

 

The rapid turnover of managers at Newcastle can best be described as seriously deranged

David Lacey

January 12, 2008 12:27 AM

 

Well, Sam Allardyce did say he wanted a winter break. Only he was talking about the players. Newcastle United, on the other hand, have decided they want a break from Sam Allardyce. As the big man said at the beginning of the week: "It's a ludicrous situation to be in." He did not know the half of it.

 

In fact Newcastle have long since ceased to be merely ludicrous. The situation at St James' Park would be more accurately described as seriously deranged. Whatever the merits or demerits of Allardyce's management style, eight months is no basis for a judgment. Newcastle might as well introduce their own version of a manager of the month award with fans invited to submit, in no more than 50 words, their ideas for producing the sort of team they want to watch. The winner gets to be manager for four weeks. Next!

 

A frivolous thought maybe but the job has been reduced to this level of frivolity. Allardyce reckoned it would take three to five years to turn Newcastle into a serious power in the Premier League. Three to five? He made it sound like a prison sentence.

 

Well in fairness, much of what was on offer felt like doing time...

 

Allardyce's job was up for debate once Freddy Shepherd, the chairman who appointed him, sold out to Mike Ashley who has taken to turning up for matches in a black-and-white striped replica shirt. Once the owner becomes a fan he will think like a fan and few managers would survive for long should the habit become widespread.

 

A genuinely concerning thought this - have we actually ended up with exactly what we wanted - an owner who thinks like the fans -  only for us to realise too late the dangers inherent in this situation...

 

Allardyce's pragmatic approach to winning, or at least not losing, games, originally designed to keep Bolton in the Premier League, was never going to go down well at St James' Park. He has been a realist among romantics who believe Newcastle are a sleeping giant awaiting the right wake-up call to carry all before them, bewildering Manchester United and Arsenal with sheer footballing brilliance and leaving Chelsea and Liverpool gasping in their wake. True, they have beaten United 5-0 but one inspired afternoon does not make an era.

 

All right, Allardyce was wrong for Newcastle but since Kevin Keegan, the last of the dreamers, left 11 years ago a series of illustrious names - Kenny Dalglish, Ruud Gullit and Bobby Robson among them - have perished on the altar of Geordie expectations.

 

Precisely what those expectations are was summed up by Robson in a recent Sunday newspaper column. "There is a certain style and vibrancy associated with Newcastle," he wrote, "and the fans feel let down if they turn up and don't see anything to thrill them ... To break into the top six you need flair as well as method ... Organisation and stability can take you so far but I don't think Newcastle fans can be satisfied without cheering on players that can attack and entertain."

 

Perhaps Allardyce's natural role as a manager is to keep teams up rather than take them on even though he did give Bolton a glimpse of higher things. Either way, given the state of angst in which two-thirds of the Premier League exists, he should never be short of a job.

 

Robson also had some advice for Newcastle's present owner: "It might be best for Ashley to put on a suit, step back and start making strategic decisions detached from the groans of die-hard supporters." During his successful 13 years at Ipswich Town Robson was helped by the fact that the chairman, John Cobbold, together with his brother Patrick regarded Portman Road as a place to entertain their friends and let the manager get on with managing.

 

Allardyce has not left Newcastle because the team are in danger of going down; more because they are looking like going nowhere. Whether this will improve with a new manager is in the lap of the gods and the transfer window. Of the seven previous managerial changes in the Premier League this season none has so far seen a dramatic improvement although, ironically, Bolton looked happier once Gary Megson restored the direct approach abandoned by Sammy Lee in the wake of Allardyce's departure for Newcastle.

 

A team's style is determined by the character and quality of its players and, unless Ashley is prepared to match the spending of the leading clubs, St James' Park will remain a field of idle dreams. Aston Villa and Everton, where Martin O'Neill and David Moyes are achieving solid teamwork with a smattering of flair, should be templates for Newcastle while Sven-Goran Eriksson's Manchester City have been a revelation, helped by a few squillions but backed by academy graduates. Not that Newcastle fans would be enamoured of Eriksson's habit of playing one up and nine back against the leading sides, even in home games.

 

Finding out what the Newcastle public wants is a bit like trying to discover what Tiggers like for breakfast. And they would probably not swallow that either.

 

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/01/12/newcastle_could_run_their_own.html

 

OK, so maybe what's bothering me now is the thought that we've ended up with the tyranny of the masses ruling the Owner and the Chairman's heads (except in this case, for the "masses" read the "You Don't Know What You're Doing Chanting Mongs"...)

 

Be careful what you wish for...

 

This latest episode could be truly epoch-defining for the club...and not necessarily in a positive way.

[Parky]

Interesting blog on the Guardian website this morning:

 

Newcastle could run their own manager of the month award

 

The rapid turnover of managers at Newcastle can best be described as seriously deranged

David Lacey

January 12, 2008 12:27 AM

 

Well, Sam Allardyce did say he wanted a winter break. Only he was talking about the players. Newcastle United, on the other hand, have decided they want a break from Sam Allardyce. As the big man said at the beginning of the week: "It's a ludicrous situation to be in." He did not know the half of it.

 

In fact Newcastle have long since ceased to be merely ludicrous. The situation at St James' Park would be more accurately described as seriously deranged. Whatever the merits or demerits of Allardyce's management style, eight months is no basis for a judgment. Newcastle might as well introduce their own version of a manager of the month award with fans invited to submit, in no more than 50 words, their ideas for producing the sort of team they want to watch. The winner gets to be manager for four weeks. Next!

 

A frivolous thought maybe but the job has been reduced to this level of frivolity. Allardyce reckoned it would take three to five years to turn Newcastle into a serious power in the Premier League. Three to five? He made it sound like a prison sentence.

 

Well in fairness, much of what was on offer felt like doing time...

 

Allardyce's job was up for debate once Freddy Shepherd, the chairman who appointed him, sold out to Mike Ashley who has taken to turning up for matches in a black-and-white striped replica shirt. Once the owner becomes a fan he will think like a fan and few managers would survive for long should the habit become widespread.

 

A genuinely concerning thought this - have we actually ended up with exactly what we wanted - an owner who thinks like the fans -  only for us to realise too late the dangers inherent in this situation...

 

Allardyce's pragmatic approach to winning, or at least not losing, games, originally designed to keep Bolton in the Premier League, was never going to go down well at St James' Park. He has been a realist among romantics who believe Newcastle are a sleeping giant awaiting the right wake-up call to carry all before them, bewildering Manchester United and Arsenal with sheer footballing brilliance and leaving Chelsea and Liverpool gasping in their wake. True, they have beaten United 5-0 but one inspired afternoon does not make an era.

 

All right, Allardyce was wrong for Newcastle but since Kevin Keegan, the last of the dreamers, left 11 years ago a series of illustrious names - Kenny Dalglish, Ruud Gullit and Bobby Robson among them - have perished on the altar of Geordie expectations.

 

Precisely what those expectations are was summed up by Robson in a recent Sunday newspaper column. "There is a certain style and vibrancy associated with Newcastle," he wrote, "and the fans feel let down if they turn up and don't see anything to thrill them ... To break into the top six you need flair as well as method ... Organisation and stability can take you so far but I don't think Newcastle fans can be satisfied without cheering on players that can attack and entertain."

 

Perhaps Allardyce's natural role as a manager is to keep teams up rather than take them on even though he did give Bolton a glimpse of higher things. Either way, given the state of angst in which two-thirds of the Premier League exists, he should never be short of a job.

 

Robson also had some advice for Newcastle's present owner: "It might be best for Ashley to put on a suit, step back and start making strategic decisions detached from the groans of die-hard supporters." During his successful 13 years at Ipswich Town Robson was helped by the fact that the chairman, John Cobbold, together with his brother Patrick regarded Portman Road as a place to entertain their friends and let the manager get on with managing.

 

Allardyce has not left Newcastle because the team are in danger of going down; more because they are looking like going nowhere. Whether this will improve with a new manager is in the lap of the gods and the transfer window. Of the seven previous managerial changes in the Premier League this season none has so far seen a dramatic improvement although, ironically, Bolton looked happier once Gary Megson restored the direct approach abandoned by Sammy Lee in the wake of Allardyce's departure for Newcastle.

 

A team's style is determined by the character and quality of its players and, unless Ashley is prepared to match the spending of the leading clubs, St James' Park will remain a field of idle dreams. Aston Villa and Everton, where Martin O'Neill and David Moyes are achieving solid teamwork with a smattering of flair, should be templates for Newcastle while Sven-Goran Eriksson's Manchester City have been a revelation, helped by a few squillions but backed by academy graduates. Not that Newcastle fans would be enamoured of Eriksson's habit of playing one up and nine back against the leading sides, even in home games.

 

Finding out what the Newcastle public wants is a bit like trying to discover what Tiggers like for breakfast. And they would probably not swallow that either.

 

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/01/12/newcastle_could_run_their_own.html

 

OK, so maybe what's bothering me now is the thought that we've ended up with the tyranny of the masses ruling the Owner and the Chairman's heads (except in this case, for the "masses" read the "You Don't Know What You're Doing Chanting Mongs"...)

 

Be careful what you wish for...

 

This latest episode could be truly epoch-defining for the club...and not necessarily in a positive way.

 

 

The sad thing is this little episode of flirting with Nappy has probably undermined further our chances of getting a quality manager. I mean it doesn't breed confidence in a prospective candidate when you combine the timing of the sacking and the failed chase for a replacement.

[GM]

The sad thing is this little episode of flirting with Nappy has probably undermined further our chances of getting a quality manager. I mean it doesn't breed confidence in a prospective candidate when you combine the timing of the sacking and the failed chase for a replacement.

 

Indeed. You raise another valid concern which springs directly from the apparently amateur way this whole episode is being executed - but by associating with Redknapp, I do feel, like you appear to Parky, that we have massively undersold ourselves and our ambitions. I think the honeymoon period could be coming to an end for Mort and Ashley now...

[GM]

Once the owner becomes a fan he will think like a fan and few managers would survive for long should the habit become widespread.

 

As I said earlier, this for me is a genuinely concerning thought... I fear we have we arrived at a defining moment for the club here... having pined for the end of the Shephred regime we have now ended up with exactly what we wanted - an owner who thinks like the fans -  only for us to realise too late the dangers inherent in this situation...

 

It could cut both ways, sure...but on present evidence, I am left wondering whether we'll even get someone half as competent as Allardyce.

 

 

 

 

[Parky]

Once the owner becomes a fan he will think like a fan and few managers would survive for long should the habit become widespread.

 

As I said earlier, this for me is a genuinely concerning thought... I fear we have we arrived at a defining moment for the club here... having pined for the end of the Shephred regime we have now ended up with exactly what we wanted - an owner who thinks like the fans -  only for us to realise too late the dangers inherent in this situation...

 

It could cut both ways, sure...but on present evidence, I am left wondering whether we'll even get someone half as competent as Allardyce.

 

 

 

 

 

Ironically our best hope is that the Nappy fiasco has hurt Ashers pride and he will hit back with the only way he knows how....Big money!!

[Bad Mongo]

Oh, come on. That the owner sits with the fans and wears a replica shirt doesn't mean he thinks like a fan. It's a populist strategy to gain quick popularity. Nothing wrong with that, really, it shows that he knows football is about not only winning, but also winning the fans over. He doesn't need to wear a replica shirt to know that Allardyce's football wasn't winning anyone over. All it takes is watching the game, but sitting with discontent fans should make it painfully obvious.

[juniatmoko]

Once the owner becomes a fan he will think like a fan and few managers would survive for long should the habit become widespread.

 

As I said earlier, this for me is a genuinely concerning thought... I fear we have we arrived at a defining moment for the club here... having pined for the end of the Shephred regime we have now ended up with exactly what we wanted - an owner who thinks like the fans -  only for us to realise too late the dangers inherent in this situation...

 

It could cut both ways, sure...but on present evidence, I am left wondering whether we'll even get someone half as competent as Allardyce.

 

 

 

 

 

Ironically our best hope is that the Nappy fiasco has hurt Ashers pride and he will hit back with the only way he knows how....Big money!!

 

 

emmmm very not fair also... just appointing... the owner for the manager sacking... when we clearly now how clueless the mong manager is... if it the reason of giving manager more time... well this is 21 century.... fast food is a must!.... and also this is newcastle = big club high expectation (this is fact)... you want to follow managers that give his vision building team from basic (which it could be relegation first).... FFS this is newcastle.... a ready made concrete!!!

[indi]

I thought that with the takeover and Ashley's reputation for thinking "outside the box" we might have seen what I've always wanted from the people running things at NUFC: intelligence. Cold hard logic coupled with the strength to see beyond the clichés and the outdated "go with what you know/do what you've always done" thinking that's so prevalent in football, is what I hoped for and that seemed to be what we were getting.

 

Up 'til now, that is. Boy has my bubble been burst!! Although I'll withhold my judgement until we actually have someone in place, it seems like they've made a right royal fuck-up of this. They've done all the clichéd football things. Sacked a manager at the first sign of trouble without giving him the time to really impose himself on the club, given in to the pressure of over-expectant fans persisting in the delusion that turning  this club into a major force in world football is something that can be done overnight, that all we need is a few finishing touches rather than the reality which is a total rebuilding job. Not had any real plan about who and how to replace the previous manager. Then tried to replace him with seemingly the first person they could think of, someone they knew personally, rather than thinking about who would be the best person for the job. Not only that, but seemingly such a myopic view of the world that they're restricting the candidates to British candidates or maybe those few foreigners already with ties to this league. We've seen this all before and it will probably fail, just as it has done so many times in the past.

 

What I'd really like to see us do now, but seriously doubt we will, is to do an Arsenal and hunt down the next Wenger. Look high and wide for someone who has the potential to do what he's done and transform our club into a permanent fixture at the top of the league, the kind of club players are falling over themselves to play for, however long that takes, even if it's the rest of the season. Then when we do find him, wherever that is - even Japan!! - do whatever it takes to get him, don't take no for an answer and follow that up by giving him what he needs to get it done. Let him have the time and the space to do what he needs to do and let him know that he has that. Fuck the fans, if it takes a few years of mediocrity then so what, the vast majority of fans are impatient they want success NOW, the only thing that matters to them is the next game, few take the time to consider that sustained and consistent success requires solid foundations and can't be done overnight - Don't try and use Man City as a counterpoint to this, their success is neither sustained or consistent at this point, in fact they haven't even achieved any success yet. The manager needs to be able to do what he needs to do free from the threat of losing his job due to a couple of "fans" being shown on the telly shouting "You don't know what you're doing!!" seemingly oblivious to the huge irony of what they're saying. He needs to be able to put long-term projects into place knowing that they won't be expected to bear fruit immediately and that he won't be constantly be fighting for his job based upon that impossible task.

 

The reason I don't want any of the British candidates is because I know them and I've seen what they can do and I don't think any of them can do what I want of them. Some might bring limited success to the club, bag a Carling Cup, or whatever, but I doubt any of them would be able to bring consistent success to NUFC. Worse than that I don't think any of them would be given the chance to. I had a inkling that Big Sam might have been, if given the time and if he'd had the immediate pressure taken of his shoulders by the chairman and owner making it obvious that they weren't going to cave in to the demands of the fans and media for his head. Even then it was more of a possibility than a real belief. I'd be prepared for the next manager to be a relative unknown (not Shearer!!) if I thought that it was a truly long-term forward looking appointment, like Arsenal made with Wenger and Chelsea might have done with Grant (don't hold me to that one though ), but if it's just a rent-a-manager appointment, like it seems inevitable to be, I won't be happy, but I guess I'll have to put up with it, such is the life of a Newcastle fan.

[gray]

I think the honeymoon period could be coming to an end for Mort and Ashley now...

 

let's just see who we get first man

[GM]

I think the honeymoon period could be coming to an end for Mort and Ashley now...

 

let's just see who we get first man

 

Yes, let's.

 

 

[danswan]

The sad thing is this little episode of flirting with Nappy has probably undermined further our chances of getting a quality manager. I mean it doesn't breed confidence in a prospective candidate when you combine the timing of the sacking and the failed chase for a replacement.

 

Indeed. You raise another valid concern which springs directly from the apparently amateur way this whole episode is being executed - but by associating with Redknapp, I do feel, like you appear to Parky, that we have massively undersold ourselves and our ambitions. I think the honeymoon period could be coming to an end for Mort and Ashley now...

 

Jesus. If that was the honeymoon, I'm not looking forward to the rest...