NEWCASTLE United Chairman Chris Mort has assured Sam Allardyce that he is the man to lead the Magpies and insists he is an integral part of the club's long-term vision.
The Geordies have slipped to consecutive defeats in their last two matches - Reading and Portsmouth - with some media reports suggesting Big Sam's position may be under threat.
But Mr Mort has come out in defence of his manager and insists that both he and owner Mike Ashley will not be forced into any knee-jerk decisions.
"We are like any supporter, we lurch from one result to the next and we are affected by each game and how well we do," said Mr Mort,
"But from our perspective we have to take a more long-term to medium-term view. We are not going to leap to any rash decisions.
"We are not going to entertain stories like the one we had on Sunday saying that we were going to get rid of Sam because we have lost two games on the trot.
"We're not going to get into that type of mindset.
"We have a much more long-term view about building the club over a prolonged period of time so that the club can compete at a higher level. That is going to take time, but on and off the field we feel the club is moving in the right direction.
"I think the Premier League, generally this season, seems to be more short-term inclined. There seems to be a real short-term thinking in the football business, which we want to resist.
"We absolutely want to hear what fans have to say, but we still take a medium and a long-term view, and we will not be swayed from that by two defeats on the trot, no matter how disappointing they may be.
"It doesn't make accepting defeats any easier, especially when it's a 4-1 home defeat, we're both unhappy with those sorts of results, but we have to look beyond immediate results and think to ourselves, 'Are we still heading in the right direction?' We won't get knocked off what we feel we need to do by short-term considerations.
"Chopping and changing managers here hasn't worked and the success stories at other clubs are usually connected with longevity.
"The Premier League manager is clearly in a highly pressured position, there are four who have gone so far this season, it's a pressurised environment. But the guys who h ave brought success have clearly been there longer term, without doubt.
"The fact that Sam wasn't our appointment and that Mike has lots of money doesn't create any kind of problem for me. Sam is doing a great job, he's developed a strong team around him. If clubs had been looking around for a new manager to recruit in the summer then I'm sure we'd all have said that Sam was one of the best you could get. I've no problems with that.
"Mike might get compared with other billionaire-type owners - he's a very successful businessman, very demanding, very good at what he does - but that doesn't work against us taking a medium to long-term view. He takes a long-term view, because he can.
"I always had a sense that his club has an intense reaction to what happens on the pitch week to week. We have a club that has a massive following and the team and the club is a massive part of people's lives in this part of the world.
"Because of that, there does tend to be a bigger swing in emotions. One minute it is full of optimism and we are going to qualify for the Champions League, then you lose two games and it's, 'Right, who's going to be the next manager?' The swings are incredible."
