Shepherd and his IDIOTIC choice Allardyce have DESTROYED NUFC

[Mick]

Granted Allardyce couldn't adapt his 'underdog/spoiling style of football' here on the big stage, but Mort and Ashley's handling of the club has been nothing short of comical in the wake of the Allardyce's appointment. Shepherd could not have seen Allardyce's eventual inability to adapt to a bigger stage/bigger club. This he cannot be held accountable, but the club's dealings in the wake of Sam's appointment fall squarely on the cautious/conservative buggers who now run the club.

 

For starters they financially didn't back Allardyce in the Summer, for example several of our incoming transfers hinged on players departing once we had secured the incoming revenue streams. The sales of Parker and Dyer in particular acted as the twin catalysts behind our spending flurries at the bookends of the transfer window - the already secured transfer of Barton, at least at the agreement stage between ourselves and City, was put on hold as Mort quickly established a 'sell to finance buys' policy. During the above mentioned window i would've preferred to have seen Ashley pump another 20mill into the transfer coffers, as opposed to him reducing the club's debts and making the club a more lucrative asset for potential buyers in the event of him wanting to pull the plug & cash-in later on.

 

Sacking a manager so late in a transfer window, without having a successor already signed sealed & delivered on the dotted line, leaving Keegan - or whoever else - inadequate time to strengthen the sqaud was amauterish bordering on suicidal. Sacking Allardyce at the beginning of the window, and appointing Keegan soon after whilst having the neccesary time and financial backing to make things happen in the window just past would've been a good move.

 

As much i respect Keegan as a club manager circumstances beyond his control, circumstances which been dictated by the powers that be aka Mort & Ashley, have put him behind the 8-ball from the outset. Right now i'm prepared to label the Keegan appointment as being a desperate gimick, a desperate roll of the dice. In the form of Souness we had a manager who relied on having Lady Luck rescue the team from it's on-field doldrums, it appears that we now have top-level pair - aka Mort & Ashley - who gambled the club's future on similar footnote.

 

There was nothing wrong with Shepherd's appointment of Allardyce, if he indeed was the sole string puller on this front. Allardyce had Bolton punching above their weight. The same rule of thumb would apply to Moyes as well, and i'm sure many supporters would've applauded such a move - ie. a football based decision - if the previous board had pulled off such a move.

 

Judging by the original post's motive the power of hindsight, and the blame game which can ensue, is certainly a beautiful thing.

 

 

I agree about the Allardyce appointment, he wasn't a recognised serial failure like his previous two appointments, very few if any could have seen the way things would go with him.

 

The Barton transfer was put on hold while the greedy bastard held out for his loyalty bonus, a bonus we had to pay in the end to get the transfer through, it had nothing to do with a sell to buy policy.  I'm also sure we brought somebody in for £6 million while the Dyer transfer looked to be going nowhere after we had problems with the way West Ham were trying to do the deal.

[Guest f***thepress]

Allardyce wasn't good enough but it wasn't all his fault. We were awful last season and were lucky to finish 13th. We won at Spurs when we could have been 3 or 4 down before we scored, how we beat Villa at SJP is a great footballing mystery, the performance against Sheffield United at SJP was awful, the one against Man City even worse but the quality of that squad was summed up by the way Birmingham City took us apart in the Cup.

 

Allardyce inherited s**** and didn't have the ability to sort it. KK has inherited a situation far worse than even he could have imagined and a few signings in January wouldn't have sorted it. This has to be root and branch and those of us who remember him know that Keegan is ruthless enough to do it.

 

 

Spot on analysis

[Thespence]

In the Sunday Sun it says Big Sam has spent a fortnight chilling out at Shepherds Barbados gaff.

[La Parka]

The club started to ruin the day Bobby Robson was sacked.

 

This.

 

Finally fan expectation is dropping to a more realistic level. The talk in the summer was, at times, laugh-a-minute.

 

[Karjala]

The club started to ruin the day Bobby Robson was sacked.

Yep, while Robson was deservedly gotten rid of (the football the season before was going downhill) the timing, and replacement began the real rot.

We had a good squad then, who a good manager could have turned into a league/european contender. Instead we got Souness, and the rest is history.

[quayside]

 

Of course Barton has been an utter disaster and Smith was no replacement for Dyer. But my point was that I don't think we would have risked relegation under Allardyce although it might have been ugly. Sacking rather than backing a manager in early January, when we weren't totally safe, was high risk especially when the (second choice) replacement hasn't managed a club for 3 years. If Sam wasn't Ashley's man then 12th May 2008 was the date for saying goodbye.

 

I agree with most of that except for where we would be with Allerdyce, I don't think we would have a single point more.  In some ways I wish he was still here, just so he could get the stick he deserves and suffer the s**** we're having to suffer, instead of sitting at home with all those £millions.

 

Well I don't think we'd have been humped like we have recently under Allardyce but who's to know. Would we have been better off spending £6 million on sacking Allardyce or keeping him on and spending that money on Lassana Diarra?

 

what part of 90k don't you understand??

 

I assume that question refers to Diarra's alleged wage demands. I have no idea if that is what he was after or if it was just media crap. What I do know for certain is that he was available in January and whatever he cost and whatever he wanted as wages Portsmouth were prepared to meet. He is a young international player and is way better than what we have at present. If you are happy watching cloggers like Butt and Smith attempting to play deep midfield for us then fine - but I'm not.

 

I find it depressing enough that we have lost so much ground to the top four that they are now out of sight. We have also lost ground to clubs like Villa, Everton and Spurs. Are we now expected to watch Portsmouth join the list (if they haven't already)? There is no bargain basement route back - it needs money and if we aren't prepared to meet the costs required then we can sit back and become the new Middlesbrough.   

[NE5]

What say you ?

I believe these two incompetent b@stards have destroyed Newcastle United.

 

still clinging to the belief that one man picked the managers then despite others being the major shareholders 

 

Whats your opinion on us ending back to where the Halls and Shepherd found us 16 years ago as soon as they have gone ?

 

 

[NE5]

Granted Allardyce couldn't adapt his 'underdog/spoiling style of football' here on the big stage, but Mort and Ashley's handling of the club has been nothing short of comical in the wake of the Allardyce's appointment. Shepherd could not have seen Allardyce's eventual inability to adapt to a bigger stage/bigger club. This he cannot be held accountable, but the club's dealings in the wake of Sam's appointment fall squarely on the cautious/conservative buggers who now run the club.

 

For starters they financially didn't back Allardyce in the Summer, for example several of our incoming transfers hinged on players departing once we had secured the incoming revenue streams. The sales of Parker and Dyer in particular acted as the twin catalysts behind our spending flurries at the bookends of the transfer window - the already secured transfer of Barton, at least at the agreement stage between ourselves and City, was put on hold as Mort quickly established a 'sell to finance buys' policy. During the above mentioned window i would've preferred to have seen Ashley pump another 20mill into the transfer coffers, as opposed to him reducing the club's debts and making the club a more lucrative asset for potential buyers in the event of him wanting to pull the plug & cash-in later on.

 

Sacking a manager so late in a transfer window, without having a successor already signed sealed & delivered on the dotted line, leaving Keegan - or whoever else - inadequate time to strengthen the sqaud was amauterish bordering on suicidal. Sacking Allardyce at the beginning of the window, and appointing Keegan soon after whilst having the neccesary time and financial backing to make things happen in the window just past would've been a good move.

 

As much i respect Keegan as a club manager circumstances beyond his control, circumstances which been dictated by the powers that be aka Mort & Ashley, have put him behind the 8-ball from the outset. Right now i'm prepared to label the Keegan appointment as being a desperate gimick, a desperate roll of the dice. In the form of Souness we had a manager who relied on having Lady Luck rescue the team from it's on-field doldrums, it appears that we now have top-level pair - aka Mort & Ashley - who gambled the club's future on similar footnote.

 

There was nothing wrong with Shepherd's appointment of Allardyce, if he indeed was the sole string puller on this front. Allardyce had Bolton punching above their weight. The same rule of thumb would apply to Moyes as well, and i'm sure many supporters would've applauded such a move - ie. a football based decision - if the previous board had pulled off such a move.

 

Judging by the original post's motive the power of hindsight, and the blame game which can ensue, is certainly a beautiful thing.

 

 

pretty spot on, but I don't expect those who judge people on how many pies they eat to see anything other than what they want to see.

 

For interest, how many people - apart from myself, you and one or two others - said that last summers transfer activity was a shambles at the time and we needed quality forwards ? Because THAT is where the seeds for this season were sown.

 

 

[Mick]

 

pretty spot on, but I don't expect those who judge people on how many pies they eat to see anything other than what they want to see.

 

For interest, how many people - apart from myself, you and one or two others - said that last summers transfer activity was a shambles at the time and we needed quality forwards ? Because THAT is where the seeds for this season were sown.

 

 

 

Of course we needed quality forwards, I have no idea why we wasted so much time trying to replace Bramble, Bernard, Moore and Gooch when we only had Michael Owen coming back from injury and Boro's highest scorer of the previous season (I think) coming in. 

 

The stupid bastards would have probably wasted more time looking for creativity in midfield if they had more time instead of going for forwards, totally clueless.

 

[NE5]

 

pretty spot on, but I don't expect those who judge people on how many pies they eat to see anything other than what they want to see.

 

For interest, how many people - apart from myself, you and one or two others - said that last summers transfer activity was a shambles at the time and we needed quality forwards ? Because THAT is where the seeds for this season were sown.

 

 

 

Of course we needed quality forwards, I have no idea why we wasted so much time trying to replace Bramble, Bernard, Moore and Gooch when we only had Michael Owen coming back from injury and Boro's highest scorer of the previous season (I think) coming in. 

 

The stupid bastards would have probably wasted more time looking for creativity in midfield if they had more time instead of going for forwards, totally clueless.

 

 

Did YOU say you were happy with last summers transfer dealings ? [ie anythings better than Fred etc etc]

 

Quite noticeable that we aren't embarrassed anymore now the fat bastard has gone.

 

 

[Mick]

 

Did YOU say you were happy with last summers transfer dealings ? [ie anythings better than Fred etc etc]

 

Quite noticeable that we aren't embarrassed anymore now the fat b****** has gone.

 

 

 

I would have liked to have seen some creativity come in, especially with Dyer and Nobby going.

 

I wasn't too happy with Barton or Smith but could see what both could offer, I didn't want to see us get the Smith of Man U but wouldn't have minded the one who played for Leeds, I thought Barton offered little and was just like Lee Bowyer when he played here.

[Guest NSMagpie]

Not one person was saying we were going to get relegated when Allardyce was here.

 

We've gone backwards since then whether you want to admit it to yourself or not.

 

True. Disappointment while Allardyce was still here didn't have anything to do with possible relegation.

[Teasy]

Full of s*** Phil.

 

Not one person was saying we were going to get relegated when Allardyce was here.

 

We've gone backwards since then whether you want to admit it to yourself or not.

 

There were people saying we could get relegated back when Allardyce was here.  The only reason more people have now cottoned on to the possibility of relegation is because we're much closer to the end of the season.  Its staring people in the face now, where as before it was far enough way to stay in denial.  As a Football team we've gone forward since Allardyce left, fortunately for Allardyce he got out just before this run of tough games came along.

[ChezGiven]

Full of s*** Phil.

 

Not one person was saying we were going to get relegated when Allardyce was here.

 

We've gone backwards since then whether you want to admit it to yourself or not.

 

There were people saying we could get relegated back when Allardyce was here.  The only reason more people have now cottoned on to the possibility of relegation is because we're much closer to the end of the season.  Its staring people in the face now, where as before it was far enough way to stay in denial.  As a Football team we've gone forward since Allardyce left, fortunately for Allardyce he got out just before this run of tough games came along.

 

So we were definitely going down under Allardyce were we?

 

I dont know whether the team would have picked up more points against Bolton and Boro but i do think we would have conceded less in the other matches. I think the goals against and defending in general makes me feel like we have gone backwards.

[Mick]

 

So we were definitely going down under Allardyce were we?

 

I dont know whether the team would have picked up more points against Bolton and Boro but i do think we would have conceded less in the other matches. I think the goals against and defending in general makes me feel like we have gone backwards.

 

We let in as many away to Blackburn as we did away to Arsenal, we let in 3 at home to Liverpool and it could have been worse and we let 4 in at home to Portsmouth.

 

We were as likely to get well beaten in these recent games under Allardyce as we have been with Keegan, we could have possibly done worse with the knock on effect of defeat after defeat.

 

[Teasy]

Full of s*** Phil.

 

Not one person was saying we were going to get relegated when Allardyce was here.

 

We've gone backwards since then whether you want to admit it to yourself or not.

 

There were people saying we could get relegated back when Allardyce was here.  The only reason more people have now cottoned on to the possibility of relegation is because we're much closer to the end of the season.  Its staring people in the face now, where as before it was far enough way to stay in denial.  As a Football team we've gone forward since Allardyce left, fortunately for Allardyce he got out just before this run of tough games came along.

 

So we were definitely going down under Allardyce were we?

 

I dont know whether the team would have picked up more points against Bolton and Boro but i do think we would have conceded less in the other matches. I think the goals against and defending in general makes me feel like we have gone backwards.

 

We're no more definitely going down now then we were then.  The only difference between now and then is that now the possibility of relegation is more imminent.  We may have conceded less against Manure and Arse with Allardyce here (or maybe we wouldn't have, see Portsmouth, Blackburn ect).  We may have been beaten by Boro and Bolton (or maybe not).  What I do believe, and being thrashed by Manure and Villa hasn't changed this belief, is that we have a much better chance of getting results against the beatable teams (such as Reading and Fulham at home) without Allardyce.  Playing the lower teams at there own game was always a suicidal tactic and managed to give Derby half the points they currently have this season.

[ChezGiven]

 

So we were definitely going down under Allardyce were we?

 

I dont know whether the team would have picked up more points against Bolton and Boro but i do think we would have conceded less in the other matches. I think the goals against and defending in general makes me feel like we have gone backwards.

 

We let in as many away to Blackburn as we did away to Arsenal, we let in 3 at home to Liverpool and it could have been worse and we let 4 in at home to Portsmouth.

 

We were as likely to get well beaten in these recent games under Allardyce as we have been with Keegan, we could have possibly done worse with the knock on effect of defeat after defeat.

 

 

I hear you but its not exactly a fair comparison when looking at goals conceded in the last 6 games with our worst defeats spread out over the season.

 

The goals conceded in the second half at Manchester showed that the problem was already there before he arrived and i'm not expecting miracles and i suppose conceding one less goal and scoring one is progress of sorts. Just not very evident progress.

[GM]

You can analyse it til the cows come home. You can try and attribute blame to whosoever you wish. You can make a case that Allardyce got out while the going was good, you can claim Keegan's just been unlucky to inherit a squad of useless, uncoordinated, selfish, thick overpaid arseholes. The plain fact is that none of this pontification, deliberation, prognostication means anything at all - it does precisely the sum total of fuck all in making any difference to whether we will stop being shit any time soon.

 

 

[Mick]

 

I hear you but its not exactly a fair comparison when looking at goals conceded in the last 6 games with our worst defeats spread out over the season.

 

The goals conceded in the second half at Manchester showed that the problem was already there before he arrived and i'm not expecting miracles and i suppose conceding one less goal and scoring one is progress of sorts. Just not very evident progress.

 

Any progress has been on a small scale so far, it needs to be seen this weekend in what has almost become a must win game.

 

Our problem at the minute is we almost look as if we do need a miracle, the run of games we've just come out of hasn't helped as we've played the best two teams by far, twice each.

 

We all need a lift, the fans and players.

[Mick]

You can analyse it til the cows come home. You can try and attribute blame to whosoever you wish. You can make a case that Allardyce got out while the going was good, you can claim Keegan's just been unlucky to inherit a squad of useless, uncoordinated, selfish, thick overpaid arseholes. The plain fact is that none of this pontification, deliberation, prognostication means anything at all - it does precisely the sum total of f*** all in making any difference to whether we will stop being s*** any time soon.

 

 

 

You're spot on, not that it makes any difference.

[Guest NSMagpie]

 

I hear you but its not exactly a fair comparison when looking at goals conceded in the last 6 games with our worst defeats spread out over the season.

 

The goals conceded in the second half at Manchester showed that the problem was already there before he arrived and i'm not expecting miracles and i suppose conceding one less goal and scoring one is progress of sorts. Just not very evident progress.

 

Any progress has been on a small scale so far, it needs to be seen this weekend in what has almost become a must win game.

 

Our problem at the minute is we almost look as if we do need a miracle, the run of games we've just come out of hasn't helped as we've played the best two teams by far, twice each.

 

We all need a lift, the fans and players.

 

Unfortunately, it doesn't look at all like we'll be getting the lift this weekend, but, let's wait and hope.

[Teasy]

You can analyse it til the cows come home. You can try and attribute blame to whosoever you wish. You can make a case that Allardyce got out while the going was good, you can claim Keegan's just been unlucky to inherit a squad of useless, uncoordinated, selfish, thick overpaid arseholes. The plain fact is that none of this pontification, deliberation, prognostication means anything at all - it does precisely the sum total of f*** all in making any difference to whether we will stop being s*** any time soon.

 

 

 

You're spot on, not that it makes any difference.

 

[Baggio]

Granted Allardyce couldn't adapt his 'underdog/spoiling style of football' here on the big stage, but Mort and Ashley's handling of the club has been nothing short of comical in the wake of the Allardyce's appointment. Shepherd could not have seen Allardyce's eventual inability to adapt to a bigger stage/bigger club. This he cannot be held accountable, but the club's dealings in the wake of Sam's appointment fall squarely on the cautious/conservative buggers who now run the club.

 

For starters they financially didn't back Allardyce in the Summer, for example several of our incoming transfers hinged on players departing once we had secured the incoming revenue streams. The sales of Parker and Dyer in particular acted as the twin catalysts behind our spending flurries at the bookends of the transfer window - the already secured transfer of Barton, at least at the agreement stage between ourselves and City, was put on hold as Mort quickly established a 'sell to finance buys' policy. During the above mentioned window i would've preferred to have seen Ashley pump another 20mill into the transfer coffers, as opposed to him reducing the club's debts and making the club a more lucrative asset for potential buyers in the event of him wanting to pull the plug & cash-in later on.

 

Sacking a manager so late in a transfer window, without having a successor already signed sealed & delivered on the dotted line, leaving Keegan - or whoever else - inadequate time to strengthen the sqaud was amauterish bordering on suicidal. Sacking Allardyce at the beginning of the window, and appointing Keegan soon after whilst having the neccesary time and financial backing to make things happen in the window just past would've been a good move.

 

As much i respect Keegan as a club manager circumstances beyond his control, circumstances which been dictated by the powers that be aka Mort & Ashley, have put him behind the 8-ball from the outset. Right now i'm prepared to label the Keegan appointment as being a desperate gimick, a desperate roll of the dice. In the form of Souness we had a manager who relied on having Lady Luck rescue the team from it's on-field doldrums, it appears that we now have top-level pair - aka Mort & Ashley - who gambled the club's future on similar footnote.

 

There was nothing wrong with Shepherd's appointment of Allardyce, if he indeed was the sole string puller on this front. Allardyce had Bolton punching above their weight. The same rule of thumb would apply to Moyes as well, and i'm sure many supporters would've applauded such a move - ie. a football based decision - if the previous board had pulled off such a move.

 

Judging by the original post's motive the power of hindsight, and the blame game which can ensue, is certainly a beautiful thing.

 

 

pretty spot on, but I don't expect those who judge people on how many pies they eat to see anything other than what they want to see.

 

For interest, how many people - apart from myself, you and one or two others - said that last summers transfer activity was a shambles at the time and we needed quality forwards ? Because THAT is where the seeds for this season were sown.

 

 

 

I thought you said Alan Smith was a quality forward?

[Guest clownhat]

And what of Ashleys choice of bringing Keegan back?

 

Was he thinking tactical genius or was he thinking merchandise?

 

Makes you wonder.

 

David Moyes is the type of manager we should be aiming for. Sadly we're unable to attract a manager of his calibre to this club I feel.

 

ginger scottish cunt

[sicsfingeredmong]

Sacking a manager so late in a transfer window, without having a successor already signed sealed & delivered on the dotted line, leaving Keegan - or whoever else - inadequate time to strengthen the sqaud was amauterish bordering on suicidal. Sacking Allardyce at the beginning of the window, and appointing Keegan soon after whilst having the neccesary time and financial backing to make things happen in the window just past would've been a good move.

 

I think you are being a bit harsh on Ashley there - at least Keegan was appointed DURING the transfer window.

 

Unlike Souness appointed 5 days after the transfer window closed.

 

Unlike Roeder appointed 2 days after the transfer window closed.

 

And unlike Sir Bobby who was appointed about a week after the transfer window closed.

 

*Robson was given an entire transfer window to further strengthen the 1st team unless of course our attempted signing of Rooney was just a smokescreen aimed at delivering the aforementioned player into United's lap, and Souness should've benefitted from the club's transfer activity associated with that Summer. Granted it was a 'panic sacking', but you can't level the blame at Shepherd re- the timing of SBR's sacking & Souness' appointment. Afterall it was Douglas Hall who was crying 'Robson would've got us relegated'.

 

Despite being undermined, when the The Halls' mouthpiece and convenient whipping horse for the supporter base announced that SBR had one final season, it was still very much Robson's team........... until Dyer's bratish display when he threw the captain's armband to the ground effectively told the The Halls otherwise.

 

*The point i'm making is 'newly appointed managers' walking into the hotseat on the back of a transfer window, whether it be the Summer or Winter windows, after his predecessosor has balled his opportunity is just about a formality in football. Inheriting another manager's squad, and having to work with that sqaud is an accepted hazard which goes hand in hand with the profession. At the time this certainly wasn't a negative issue according to Souness given that he labelled his then newly acquired squad 'as the best one he's had at his disposal', or words nearest to that anyway.

 

Prior to the Winter window just past Mort had already gone public on two separate fronts. He questioned Allardyce's management of the first team by declaring 'that the team was not playing as a unit' and that 'Allardyce obviously wasn't their choice - ie. the previous regime's appointment - and they effectively decided to stick it out'. By going public, especially with regards to the first point/raising concerns over Allardyce's performance, imo they effectively issued a vote of 'no confidence'.

 

If Ashley & Mort by that stage had in fact had little or no confidence in Allardyce's potential to things around an earlier sacking - ie. at the start of the window, followed by an immediate appointment - would've given Keegan, or any other successor, some sort of platform to build upon in the form of a couple more valuable weeks to make things happen in the window.

 

Right now, due to Ashley & Mort's inability to act on their pre-conceived convictions earlier...... and Ashley in the wake of Allardyce's sacking is on the record as having said 'that he should've bought in his own team from the outset, Keegan has been dealt shit hand by the blokes now running the show.