What the hell is Steve Coppell trying to prove?

[Guest magpies_rawk]

A big stadium and pump priming (pumping cash) into the team may be symbols of potential, however i do believe that in this day and age of takeovers and financial injections, the financial gulf between a 50000 seater club and a 28000 seater will gradually diminish.

If you ask me, our time will can and will only come with the demise (metaphorical or literal, i don't care) of Freddy Shepherd. The illusion of his bringing us forward as a "big club" has glossed over his financial and footballing mismanagement.

Wrt our being as big as the likes of the big 4, i was just watching the CL semis last night and to even think that we are anywhere close to their standards of a  footballing team is simply ridiculous. We are struggling to keep up with the likes of Bolton, Everton, Spurs and yes, even Reading this season. A footballing team must be judged by the standards of what really matter... the football and the trophies, neither of which we have at this point in time.

[Guest Reading Fan]

Alot of people keep touting Coppell for the big jobs though, such as the England job........

 

But Coppell has said that he can't work in that type of environment where everyone is watching and questioning everything that he is doing.

 

When he took the Man City a job, a reasonably big club, he found the pressure unbearable. Every day his decisions being analysed over and over and then critisized. The England job is far too much pressure for Coppell and any big job at any massive club is again far too much pressure for him.

 

He was most successful at two relatively small clubs Palace and Reading. He also did very well with Brentford and Brighton.

 

Reading is the right sort of size club for Coppell where the fans are patient, they don't expect too much and the pressure is not as intense. It still took Coppell a good 2 seasons before he had the right team to win the league. We won the league in his third season with us.

 

It goes to show that a manager does need time. Coppell needed about 4 transfer windows of player trading to get the right team with the right balance. he was ruthless with rubbish players as well. He gave'em a chance and then got rid of them very quickly if they weren't up to the level required. He kept on giving players a chance until he had a great team. He did the same with Palace. Didn't spend loads, just kept giving players a chance who looked like they had something about them. If they didn't prove themselves they were gone. He is just very honest with people.

 

Martins is Roeders baby............ It doesn't matter how good or bad Martins is or how well or poorly he performs - Roeder won't get rid of him because he is Roeders signing. To be fair to Martins though he is an excellent player and a great signing. I don't know who else Roeder has signed for you, but if they are not performing he should get rid. But I bet he won't.

 

Newcastle definitely need a new manager. That is the most obvious and clearest thing to everyone in football. Newcastle is a giant just waiting to be reawakened. But you need the right man at the helm who can take the pressure. Big Sam wants a big job desperately like Newcastle.

 

I would give him the job. He will get the full potential out of every player. He won't sign up washed up old players for Newcastle because he won't need to. He will have money unlike at Bolton.

 

The style of play at a club is dependant upon the players that you have. Newcastle have great players already. Sam will get them playing great football. No doubt about that. He knows what he is doing tactically.

[Martin Lol]

Maybe you have a point......... Actually Readings second string isn't too bad.....

 

Our second string is on the lines of:

 

GK: Federici

RB: De La Cruz

LB: Golbourne

CB: Duberry

CB: Bikey

RM: Seol

CM: Oster

CM: Gunnarsson

LM: Hunt

CF: Kitson

CF: Long

 

And alot of the above team played you on Monday night.

The first team would be:

 

GK: Hahnemann

RB: Murty

LB: Shorey

CB: Sonko

CB: Ingimarsson

RM: Little

CM: Sidwell

CM: Harper

LM: Convey

CF: Lita

CF: Doyle

 

Maybe Reading are better equipped for the UEFA cup than Newcastle. Our reserves aren't actually that bad. Had a decent run in the FA CUP and they won the Southern Section Premier League reserve division finishing above Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal and West Ham reserve teams......... Our reserve team seems to be as strong as our first team.

 

Maybe Newcastle pay too much money to a few star names who just can't get it together. So you can't spread the cash over the whole squad.

 

My observation of the Premier League is that the top clubs with cash are prepared to pay a 600% financial premium to players who are only 5% better than their peers... In football it is often the details that make all the difference in a game. The one or two players who can change a game or win a match. But players form do fluctuate and players can lose that extra 5% class after a serious injury or with age. So maybe its just stupid to spend so much money or players.

 

Emre is on probably 6 or 7 times the weekly salary of Gunnarsson but was he 6 or 7 times better? He may have been slightly worse?

 

Money is a huge problem in football, but Newcastle are just badly managed at the moment. Newcastles time will definitely come eventually, there is no doubt. Its such a huge club, such a big fanbase, such a great place that it will definitely come. Newcastle are as big as Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, probably bigger so the Geordies have as much opportunity to take home the silver wear. As soon as you get the right manager in everything will work out. The manager is the most important job at every football club. Reading will cope without Sidwell but we would never cope if we lost Coppell. Losing Coppell would set Reading back 5 years. Losing Sidwell may not set us back at all.

 

Totally agree.  I saw Reading reserves when they played Spurs in February and it was comprehensive, Reading won 4-0 with a lot of familiar names: 

 

Federici; Halford, Sodje, Duberry, De la Cruz (Capt.); Seol, Gunnarsson, Oster, Convey; Kitson, Doyle.

 

Spurs use their reserve team to develop/fast track youngsters and the only one to have had League experience (Phil Ifil) and he is hardly a regular!  Having said that, it looked like men against boys, Reading were a very well prepared and well organised unit, you don't win a league (no matter which league it is) by being lucky.

 

Agree what you say about Sidwell also.  He will be a loss for you, but not an insurmountable one.  Just raid the scum for one of their kids, the majority are very talented!

[Guest Reading Fan]

A big stadium and pump priming (pumping cash) into the team may be symbols of potential, however i do believe that in this day and age of takeovers and financial injections, the financial gulf between a 50000 seater club and a 28000 seater will gradually diminish.

If you ask me, our time will can and will only come with the demise (metaphorical or literal, i don't care) of Freddy Shepherd. The illusion of his bringing us forward as a "big club" has glossed over his financial and footballing mismanagement.

Wrt our being as big as the likes of the big 4, i was just watching the CL semis last night and to even think that we are anywhere close to their standards of a  footballing team is simply ridiculous. We are struggling to keep up with the likes of Bolton, Everton, Spurs and yes, even Reading this season. A footballing team must be judged by the standards of what really matter... the football and the trophies, neither of which we have at this point in time.

 

As an outsider.......... Someone please explain why Freddy is the problem? Thats something I don't understand......... All I have seen over the last few years looking at Newcastle from the outside is that the Stadium has been getting bigger, there are more plans to make the stadium bigger still, the support has been getting larger, the transfer budget has been getting bigger and bigger as well. What more can a board of directors do? Where is the financial mismanagement? Isn't Freddy giving his manager every chance to succeed? The only thing Freddy seems to be guilty of is consistently selecting the wrong man for the managers post. But to be fair getting that hire right is more about luck than anything else.

 

Arsenal got lucky with Wenger. Bruce Rioch wasn't much use before him. That was bad judgement. Chelsea got lucky with Mourinho. Ranieri didn't win much, Reading got very lucky with Coppell, Tommy Burns was rubbish before him as was Terry Bullivant. You need alot of luck when choosing a manager. Big Sam may be an inspired choice for Newcastle, he may also mess it up.

 

But regarding Freddy, he seems to be doing everything in his power to make Newcastle a great club off the pitch. He can't be held responsible for Roeders poor performance on it. Freddy should change Roeder and hopefully this time he'll get lucky with a good managerial appointment. Not every club can get lucky all the time. We all have our ups and downs.

 

So why are people angry with Freddy? Whats is he guilty of?

[ChezGiven]

Let the floodgates open....

[Guest Reading Fan]

Let the floodgates open....

 

I honestly don't understand............. As someone from outside Newcastle, he seems to be doing everything in his power to take the club forward. Newcastle are spending the money.

 

Why is he unpopular?

[junkhead]

he's a bad guy

[Guest Morph]

Let the floodgates open....

 

I honestly don't understand............. As someone from outside Newcastle, he seems to be doing everything in his power to take the club forward. Newcastle are spending the money.

 

Why is he unpopular?

 

'cos he'z fat n duznt giv uz inuf muny n he didn't get ronaldo in th summa.

[Guest Gemmill]

Let the floodgates open....

 

I honestly don't understand............. As someone from outside Newcastle, he seems to be doing everything in his power to take the club forward. Newcastle are spending the money.

 

Why is he unpopular?

 

Tons of reasons mate.  I'll let somebody else (hopefully someone eloquent) reel the list of cos I can't be arsed, but suffice to say that raising cash at NUFC is not something that I particularly give Shepherd credit for.  Season tickets sell themselves and with the prices that are charged these days, the transfer kitty sorts itself out. 

 

The biggest responsibility Shepherd has is hiring and firing managers, and he's let himself and the fans down horribly in terms of both the timing of his decisions, and the appointments that he's made.  Unfortunately we've been going backwards for the last few years and it's all down to poor ill-timed decision-making leading to sub-standard managerial appointments.  That's all the responsibility of the chairman.  I would say that for at least the last three summers, we've needed a major re-think done on where we're going as a club and how we are going to achieve goals, but instead decisions have been made on the fly and it's showing.

[ChezGiven]

Let the floodgates open....

 

I honestly don't understand............. As someone from outside Newcastle, he seems to be doing everything in his power to take the club forward. Newcastle are spending the money.

 

Why is he unpopular?

 

My position on the board differs to most but the reasons you are looking for are Souness and Roeder.

[Guest Reading Fan]

Let the floodgates open....

 

I honestly don't understand............. As someone from outside Newcastle, he seems to be doing everything in his power to take the club forward. Newcastle are spending the money.

 

Why is he unpopular?

 

My position on the board differs to most but the reasons you are looking for are Souness and Roeder.

 

I could understand the logic behind appointing Souness at the time because the dressing room needed to be sorted out. But I didn't agree with that decision because I never rated Souness. He fell out with all his players at Blackburn and he ended up the same with Newcastle.

 

Regarding Roeder. That also seemed like a crazy decision. One I could not understand at all. Because Roeder is famous for relegating the best line up in history. How can a guy like that deserve one of the biggest jobs in football. Roeder has no track record of achievement. I remember him managing Watford in the early nineties. He was useless there as well. Reading played Watford regularly in the lower divisions back in the day. Watford were strong under Graham Taylor. But when Roeder was in charge we hammered them with ease every time.

 

Freddy needs to fire Roeder immediately and get someone in who can start planning for next season. Next seasons plans should start now. Have the whole summer to scour the transfer market. have the last games of this season to assess the current squad. Now is the time to bring in Allardyce.

 

If Sheppard is blamed for making poor managerial decisions. This week is the time he needs to sort it out and redeem himself. Big Sam is available, Roeder is a failure. Give Big Sam the time and chance to plan for next season. You don't wanna bring someone new in after the first 10 games of next season or after pre season has started. This is the best time in the football calender to bring in a new manager when you are in mid table and safe from the drop and not playing for anything. Give the new boss enough time to lay out his plans.

 

[Kitman]

Let the floodgates open....

 

I honestly don't understand............. As someone from outside Newcastle, he seems to be doing everything in his power to take the club forward. Newcastle are spending the money.

 

Why is he unpopular?

 

My position on the board differs to most but the reasons you are looking for are Souness and Roeder.

 

I could understand the logic behind appointing Souness at the time because the dressing room needed to be sorted out. But I didn't agree with that decision because I never rated Souness. He fell out with all his players at Blackburn and he ended up the same with Newcastle.

 

Regarding Roeder. That also seemed like a crazy decision. One I could not understand at all. Because Roeder is famous for relegating the best line up in history. How can a guy like that deserve one of the biggest jobs in football. Roeder has no track record of achievement. I remember him managing Watford in the early nineties. He was useless there as well. Reading played Watford regularly in the lower divisions back in the day. Watford were strong under Graham Taylor. But when Roeder was in charge we hammered them with ease every time.

 

Freddy needs to fire Roeder immediately and get someone in who can start planning for next season. Next seasons plans should start now. Have the whole summer to scour the transfer market. have the last games of this season to assess the current squad. Now is the time to bring in Allardyce.

 

If Sheppard is blamed for making poor managerial decisions. This week is the time he needs to sort it out and redeem himself. Big Sam is available, Roeder is a failure. Give Big Sam the time and chance to plan for next season. You don't wanna bring someone new in after the first 10 games of next season or after pre season has started. This is the best time in the football calender to bring in a new manager when you are in mid table and safe from the drop and not playing for anything. Give the new boss enough time to lay out his plans.

 

 

I fully expect Shepherd to dither as long as possible.  That's usually until angry fans surround his car and attempt to drag him out of it to lynch him from a lamppost Mussolini style.  To be fair, it's not just him, it's the other major shareholders the Hall family too, Freddy gets most of the flak because he's the most visible (for lots of reasons). 

[Cronky]

A Chairman once said that all the decisions that he had to make paled into insignificance beside the importance of the decision about who to appoint as manager.

 

The other problem with Shepherd is he involves himself too much in the choosing and signing of players. He interferes with the manager's judgement, basically. He's built himself a reputation for this, and so top managers are reluctant to work with him. Which of course adds to the first problem.

[Cajun]

A Chairman once said that all the decisions that he had to make paled into insignificance beside the importance of the decision about who to appoint as manager.

 

The other problem with Shepherd is he involves himself too much in the choosing and signing of players. He interferes with the manager's judgement, basically.

 

Everywhere, worms, can, of.