Double-edged sword?

[brummie]

It must be odd being a Toon fan at the moment, with your league form so poor (barring recent slight upturn) but your cup form being so good. From what I've seen of you in the UEFA cup, I've been pretty impressed, and you can't really argue with winning your group. However, in the League you've been pretty rotten.

 

I was wondering how you feel about this - does doing well in the cups buy Roeder time in the league? Should it? What if you go on and win the UEFA (or Carling or FA, for that matter) cup but narrowly avoid relegation - this buys Roeder time, obviously. Browsing through this forum, I'm yet to see many people arguing for Roeder as a genuine, long term appointment - lets face it, there hasn't been much evidence suggesting he is the man so far.

 

I wouldn't be at all surprised if you got to the final of the UEFA. Look at Boro last year - they made it (thanks to some very flukey last minute winners, but I suppose that's what cup competitions are about), and it got McLaren the England job. This could quite easily happen to you this year, which would I imagine buy Roeder considerable time to get it right in the league.

 

Would that be a price worth paying?

[Guest TampaToon]

most likely is we finish mid-table and glenn sees out the season - i doubt freddy makes a move without a clear upgrade in hand....if, in the course of this, we manage to win the FA or UEFA cup (unlikely IMO), i think roeder gets to stay on and further build his squad with the promise of european football next year. if we're mid-table with no europe, freddy needs to make a move to keep butts in the seats, and the manager, as usual, will be the fall guy

 

without europe or a manager who people across football have respect\admiration for, i can't see us being able to lure too many quality players to newcastle in the summer

 

if we win any trophy besides the carling cup, i think floating above the relegation zone is something i can live with.

[The Bonk]

It must be odd being a Toon fan at the moment, with your league form so poor (barring recent slight upturn) but your cup form being so good. From what I've seen of you in the UEFA cup, I've been pretty impressed, and you can't really argue with winning your group. However, in the League you've been pretty rotten.

 

I was wondering how you feel about this - does doing well in the cups buy Roeder time in the league? Should it? What if you go on and win the UEFA (or Carling or FA, for that matter) cup but narrowly avoid relegation - this buys Roeder time, obviously. Browsing through this forum, I'm yet to see many people arguing for Roeder as a genuine, long term appointment - lets face it, there hasn't been much evidence suggesting he is the man so far.

 

I wouldn't be at all surprised if you got to the final of the UEFA. Look at Boro last year - they made it (thanks to some very flukey last minute winners, but I suppose that's what cup competitions are about), and it got McLaren the England job. This could quite easily happen to you this year, which would I imagine buy Roeder considerable time to get it right in the league.

 

Would that be a price worth paying?

 

A cup win and mid-table would suit me fine.  The prem is very competitive this year (apart from Chelsea and the Manc's) and there are

at least 6 teams who are all within reaching 3rd place right now.  I don't really seeing us being able to get into Europe next year unless

we go on some incredible run in the new year.  Intertoto qualification looks like the only thing attainable and that will be tough to get.

 

I wasn't impressed when Freddy hired Glen, but I've backed him since and will continue to back him until he's gone.  I just don't see

much point in calling for his head in every thread of this forum, it get's a touch redundant.  I would expect if this Belgravia takeover

happens Glen would be replaced as manager at the end of his 1 year contract.  If not, I think Fred will extend it.  Who really knows,

anyway, I certainly don't and no one on this forum does. 

[Guest]

It's a strange one. The whole point of doing well in the league is to qualify for Europe. Once we're in Europe, we should go hell for leather to win it. We won't go down, so if we finish 16th and win the UEFA Cup (or at least go very close), I'd take it as the very minimum.

[Superior Acuña]

Our recent bad start is easy to recove from, realistically we could get 6th place based on the gap, however we lack the consistency.

 

A cup win and mid table finish would be amazing though, and imo would far surpass european qualification.

[CaliMag]

There are many issues at hand that puts us in a state of limbo.

 

Roeder's success or failure is linked to how long Fat Fred stays in power, when or if there is a takeover from Belgravia, what kind of funds will be available and when and if Shearer decides to get involved in the management of NUFC.

 

We need resolution on many of these issues before we can move on with a more long term plan - Roeder is a short-term/stop gap measure, one of many which has typified the management of our Club for the past decade.