Messiahitis

[Happy Face 29]

Newcastle United will never be a decent football club until they appoint Alan Shearer as manager. Admittedly, Shearer won’t be any good. Certainly, he will take them into worse trouble than they are in already. But until Newcastle have gone through the Shearer experience, they won’t be able to do anything.

 

The reason that Sam Allardyce has been having such a difficult time as manager at St James’ Park is not that the job is beyond his abilities. It is because the job is beyond anybody’s abilities. Nobody who takes it on can live with Shearer’s record.

 

Shearer’s record is perfect. He has never lost a match as a manager. True, he has never contested one. But he scored a lot of goals as a player, speaks the language, is a jolly good chap, and who needs experience anyway? Everything will be all right as soon as he is given the job. Or to be more accurate, nothing will be right until he has tried and failed, because his existence makes the job untenable for everyone else.

 

Newcastle are living in the future rather than the past and that is an even more debilitating way to live. It involves a belief that everything will be all right some day soon, which means that we don’t have to bother with the problems we have now. Soon they will magically disappear. It is like expecting a legacy, or the Lone Ranger.

 

Newcastle have become football’s Bleak House: a club forever wishing their life away in the belief that a favourable judgment will somehow reverse everybody’s fortune and make everything worthwhile. This is a club that pride themselves on a great past and look forward to a golden future. Jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, but never jam today. They are dying of messiahitis.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/col...icle3142293.ece

 

Those last 2 paragraphs in particular are spot on, I particularly like the phrase "Messiahitis" which perfectly sums up a lot of our fans.

[Asprilla 96]

I actually think the majority of our fans have realised we need to give Sam some time to get rid of this reputation.

[Guest alex]

I actually think the majority of our fans have realised we need to give Sam some time to get rid of this reputation.

I agree.

[Happy Face 29]

I actually think the majority of our fans have realised we need to give Sam some time to get rid of this reputation.

 

I thought so too, until I ventured back onto N-O's footy board for the first time in donkey's.

 

[Big TRon 0]

Hilarious. Simon Barnes is my favourite sports writer.

[Jimbo 133]

I actually think the majority of our fans have realised we need to give Sam some time to get rid of this reputation.

 

 

I can see that happening too, it seems a lot of fans are more pissed off with the fact the media are circling the club like vultures waiting to feast on the Allardyce corpse than they are with the fact we are shite.

[Big TRon 0]

I have real doubts about the direction Allardyce is taking us, and I don't think he's capable of adapting to a different style of football either. But...he's got a 3 year contract and maybe it's best if he's just left to get on with the job.

 

Shearer isn't and won't ever be the answer.

[Jimbo 133]

I have real doubts about the direction Allardyce is taking us, and I don't think he's capable of adapting to a different style of football either. But...he's got a 3 year contract and maybe it's best if he's just left to get on with the job.

 

Shearer isn't and won't ever be the answer.

 

Sam say's its going to take 5 years.

 

 

God help us......

[trophyshy 6567]

I have real doubts about the direction Allardyce is taking us, and I don't think he's capable of adapting to a different style of football either. But...he's got a 3 year contract and maybe it's best if he's just left to get on with the job.

 

Shearer isn't and won't ever be the answer.

 

Sam say's its going to take 5 years.

 

 

God help us......

 

 

How long to it to MessiahKev to get us within touching? 3 years?

[Big TRon 0]

He might think it's a 5 year job, but he's only got a contract for 3.

[Happy Face 29]

I will say this though, isn't it brilliant how all the papers over the last few days were full of comment on how we need to stick it out with Allardyce, how we're too trigger happy with managers and should learn to support through the bad as well as the good, but 7 (is it?) other clubs have got rid of their managers this season, some higher in the league, without half the condescending column inches.

 

Haven't we already shown ourselves to be one of the most patient clubs/sets of fans?

[Guest alex]

I will say this though, isn't it brilliant how all the papers over the last few days were full of comment on how we need to stick it out with Allardyce, how we're too trigger happy with managers and should learn to support through the bad as well as the good, but 7 (is it?) other clubs have got rid of their managers this season, some higher in the league, without half the condescending column inches.

 

Haven't we already shown ourselves to be one of the most patient clubs/sets of fans?

It's bad enough having to read your posts once without getting them in duplicate

[Happy Face 29]

I will say this though, isn't it brilliant how all the papers over the last few days were full of comment on how we need to stick it out with Allardyce, how we're too trigger happy with managers and should learn to support through the bad as well as the good, but 7 (is it?) other clubs have got rid of their managers this season, some higher in the league, without half the condescending column inches.

 

Haven't we already shown ourselves to be one of the most patient clubs/sets of fans?

It's bad enough having to read your posts once without getting them in duplicate

 

miaow

[Guest alex]

Only joking man.

[Happy Face 29]

Only joking man.

 

I know pet. Me too.

[Guest alex]

Only joking man.

 

I know pet. Me too.

Cool. Thought you'd thrown a wobbler there.

[JawD 48]

To be honest, Im going through somewhat of a rollercoaster. I've went from being prepared to give Sam time when he first joined to see what he could do (thinking winning ugly is better than not winning). Then a slippery slope down to thinking the football is shit, the tactics are shit, the players are wrong for what he wants. Now, due to the media bandwagon that so many seem to be jumping on, the amount of people prepared to rehash whats already written and spew out more bollocks, I find myself being more and more in Sams corner thinking "hold on, we were shit last season, this season is just a different kind of shit, but we have a new owner, some new player (some better than others) and it will take time. He has to have until the end of the season, no ifs or buts. Then we need to reasses. If we stand still but start to see improvements creep in, then Id probably take that.

 

Just dont step too far back. The biggest thing pissing me of at the moment (other than the football) is the media. The fact everyone is saying he is on the verge of being sacked despite just starting to turn around the HMSS Toon is crazy talk! The bloke does talk sense, but yes what we see on te field is shocking. But then it was shocking last season and the season before? I do think at the moment we are at times slightly worse than last season. I also think some of our players are wrong for the style of football Sam wants (Martins, Owen) and that he has been let down by some of his signing that I also expected more of (Geremi).

 

We need more games like Arsenal, showing the players at least trying. Less games like Portsmouth or the latter stages of City where we just roll over. Then maybe some in between.

 

As for Shearer, fair enough if Mort wanted Sam out and Shearer was to come in with an experienced partner as no 1 or no 2. But otherwise, is there really any fan who thinks a) he wants the job if he is up to it? I wouldnt be totally against it providing the above, but again to me its the media saying this is what the club wants, the media saying its the shadow of Shearer and the media now saying he needs to come in and fail.

 

In a way, Im glad Mort seems to be level headed and take much of this with a pinch of salt. Wouldnt be to far now until we had fans shouting at the back doors of SJP and Fat Fred ready to buckle.

[Happy Face 29]

Martin Samuel's take on it...

 

There comes a time to climb off the fence and for Alan Shearer it has arrived. Is he in or out? Even the obstinate Sam Allardyce appears exhausted by the incessant speculation over his future at Newcastle United. Shearer could stop much of it with a few well-chosen sentences. He chooses not to, as his non-committal statement last night on the BBC showed, so the unrest continues.

 

This has been another season to forget on Tyneside and, whatever Shearer’s intentions, the love for Allardyce has all but gone. Yet it is the thought of the returning local hero that keeps another managerial change, with its ensuing chaos, at the forefront of so many minds. Alan Hansen endorsed his BBC colleague’s Newcastle candidacy last week and it is hard to imagine that he would have done so without seeking approval for his comments.

 

So, if Shearer wants it, why let Allardyce twist for the rest of the season as the club stagnate? If it is marked as Shearer’s job in the summer, as some believe, there can be no significant January transfer dealings and no respite from the air of negativity that has enveloped St. James' Park this season.

If Shearer has no interest in the role, why does he not say so? And if he does, what is he waiting for? Newcastle will be six points adrift of the top half of the table if West Ham United win their game in hand. European qualification is a fading dream; the club are nearer to Birmingham City than Manchester City. How low must it go before Shearer mounts his white charger?

 

Maybe he wants distance from the dressing-room, having so recently retired as a player. Perhaps coaching badges are an issue. Neither problem is insurmountable, though. Even Hansen claimed there is no better time to walk into Newcastle than now. The fans will not shut up until Shearer puts up: one way or another.

 

http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/200...ebate-is-s.html

 

Needs to replace "fans" with "papers" in that last sentence.

Edited January 7, 2008 by Happy Face

[Jimbo 133]

I have real doubts about the direction Allardyce is taking us, and I don't think he's capable of adapting to a different style of football either. But...he's got a 3 year contract and maybe it's best if he's just left to get on with the job.

 

Shearer isn't and won't ever be the answer.

 

Sam say's its going to take 5 years.

 

 

God help us......

 

 

How long to it to MessiahKev to get us within touching? 3 years?

 

 

Where would we be if Souness had been given 5 years ?

[JawD 48]

I have real doubts about the direction Allardyce is taking us, and I don't think he's capable of adapting to a different style of football either. But...he's got a 3 year contract and maybe it's best if he's just left to get on with the job.

 

Shearer isn't and won't ever be the answer.

 

Sam say's its going to take 5 years.

 

 

God help us......

 

 

How long to it to MessiahKev to get us within touching? 3 years?

 

 

Where would we be if Souness had been given 5 years ?

 

In jail for ABH probably

[Jimbo 133]

I have real doubts about the direction Allardyce is taking us, and I don't think he's capable of adapting to a different style of football either. But...he's got a 3 year contract and maybe it's best if he's just left to get on with the job.

 

Shearer isn't and won't ever be the answer.

 

Sam say's its going to take 5 years.

 

 

God help us......

 

 

How long to it to MessiahKev to get us within touching? 3 years?

 

 

Where would we be if Souness had been given 5 years ?

 

In jail for ABH probably

 

 

Charged with impersonating a football manager tbh

[Happy Face 29]

Now, due to the media bandwagon...

 

I think some have been taking a more measured approach these last few days, spouting the patience line so they can say how fickle we are. Still lots of shite though, suprised to see a suprisingly balanced piece from our Louise this morning...

 

Hope can sometimes be found in the most unlikely places. At first glance it may have seemed in short supply for Sam Allardyce at Stoke last night where, amid driving rain, his Newcastle United side spent much of the second half firmly on the back foot but, nonetheless, there were shreds of optimism amid the icy gloom.

 

They came in the form of a first-half United performance which suggested that their manager has listened to criticism about the direct, percentage-based style of Boltonesque football he has introduced at St James' Park, and has accepted that men such as Sir Bobby Robson and Rob Lee might just have a point.

 

The club's former manager and the former England midfielder were on BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday where Robson urged Allardyce to play "carpet football" and "pass it short" if he wanted to survive as manager at St James' Park, while Lee described much of the stuff produced by Newcastle this season as "awful".

 

If only Allardyce was not still refusing to speak to the BBC he could have answered back on air but, instead, he went one better and instructed his players to keep the ball down and, at times in the first half, they played some neat little passing triangles against a Stoke side defensively equipped to cope with an aerial barrage but not a ground assault.

 

Unfortunately Michael Owen, making his first start since November, proved he is not yet sharp enough to polish off half-chances with his customary gusto and, panicking at their lack of post- interval progress, Allardyce's players allowed their initially considered game- plan to fall apart. The resultant draw left Newcastle without a win in five games but afterwards the manager described their display as "neater".

 

"It was an awful night, weather wise, but it was a good performance from both sides, and we were neater," said Allardyce whose side were cheered on by Mike Ashley, the club's owner, newly returned from a break abroad. "It was nice to see Mike looking so well after his holiday," enthused Newcastle's manager before refusing to divulge details of their post-match conversation.

 

Instead he preferred to reflect on what might have been. "We should have won it, we had better chances," he insisted. "We controlled the game for long periods but unfortunately we didn't find a cutting edge. We need more cutting edge in every department in the final third and to get Michael Owen fitter. Even though the game opened up in the second half and we defended desperately for a spell, I don't quite know how we didn't score today.

 

"We could have done without the replay, especially with four players away at the African Cup of Nations. But we haven't been knocked out."

 

Progress in both Cup and league will surely require Allardyce to deploy a more creative figure in central midfield. He could do worse than shift Charles N'Zogbia - impressive down the left in the first half - into that role, thus letting Damien Duff operate on his preferred left wing.

 

Yet if Newcastle are still malfunctioning going forward they at least kept a rare clean sheet here and Tony Pulis was hugely complimentary of their defending. "You can spin this result any way you want but you have to give Newcastle credit for some great defending," said Stoke's manager.

 

Even so, Pulis was disappointed not to have won. "We've had great opportunities and not taken them but that's maybe the bit of luck Sam needs to turn it round at Newcastle. Sam picked his best team but our second-half performance warranted us going through.

 

"I'm pleased with my players but we stood off Newcastle a bit in the first half. We were a little bit in awe of them at first, which was a little disappointing, but they've got a smashing team with players like Owen, [Mark] Viduka and Duff. On another day we could have scored two or three goals, we had plenty of good chances."

 

One of the best fell to Stoke's substitute striker Jon Parkin and he admitted: "We're a little disappointed not to be through to the next round without a replay. Newcastle are obviously having a bit of a sticky time. I think they are relieved to still be in the competition but we've done fantastic."

 

Allardyce's team failed to hit such personal heights but at least he indicated a welcome willingness to compromise stylistically.

 

Perhaps he could offer Sir Bobby a senior advisory role and make Rob Lee his technical director.

[The Fish 9382]

I think some have been taking a more measured approach these last few days, spouting the patience line so they can say how fickle we are. Still lots of shite though, suprised to see a suprisingly balanced piece from our Louise this morning...

 

Progress in both Cup and league will surely require Allardyce to deploy a more creative figure in central midfield. He could do worse than shift Charles N'Zogbia - impressive down the left in the first half - into that role, thus letting Damien Duff operate on his preferred left wing.....

 

...Perhaps he could offer Sir Bobby a senior advisory role and make Rob Lee his technical director.

 

 

most of it is ... fair enough I suppose, still hate the oxygen thief though.

 

those two bits I've cut resonate with me, Charlie in the centre is a good shout. Of our attacking players, he is most likely to take on and (more importantly), beat his man. He's got a decent shot and has a seemingly unaffected stock of confidence.

 

The Robson/Lee thing is obviously a tongue in cheek suggestion. But would a figurehead appointment to appease some sections of the baying crowds (not saying necessarily the people on here, but some of the more burberry of our support) bring in a man who has the fans backing in a titular role like a DoF?

 

I don't know exactly who, it couldn't be Bob, for both health reasons and the unsettling nature it would have to Sam Allardyce if a recognisable and much loved manager was to return in any kind of coaching role. But a Sir Les, Rob Lee... fucking Tino appointment might bring some much needed impetus to the squad

[Big TRon 0]

Charlie in the centre is a good shout. Of our attacking players, he is most likely to take on and (more importantly), beat his man. He's got a decent shot and has a seemingly unaffected stock of confidence.

 

Not sure whether Zog's cool-headed enough to play in the centre - we desperately need someone who can put their foot on the ball, but it's worth a shot. If Smith can play there why not?

[RlCO 0]

Newcastle United will never be a decent football club until they appoint Alan Shearer as manager. Admittedly, Shearer won’t be any good. Certainly, he will take them into worse trouble than they are in already. But until Newcastle have gone through the Shearer experience, they won’t be able to do anything.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/col...icle3142293.ece

 

He's just ripping my posts off, although I demonstrated a bit more journalistic balance.