Sam Allardyce has talked to the Newcastle Journal today after a 3rd successive defeat last night, and has admitted that since he is in the results business, and he isn’t getting many with Newcastle, he has to be under tremendous pressure at the Tyneside club.
Sam Allardyce – results have been terrible, and he’s under pressure
Sam said this morning:
“The support (from the boardroom) is great, but the pressure still mounts,†“The pressure mounts despite that support. It mounts on us all. But it mounts on me in particular, because we’ve lost a game at St James’ Park.â€
“The pressure grows because a team like us shouldn’t be losing at home – a team like us shouldn’t be losing three games on the trot. I’m not daft enough not to realize that I’m in the results business and I need to win some games.â€
“That’s clear but Stoke isn’t a defining game for me, I don’t see it like that. It’s deflating, but we’ve got to stick at it and we’ve got to stick together.â€
Sam hopes his efforts in the transfer market can help him increase the fortunes of his team, but it is now uncertain whether Chris Mort will fully back him, given the terrible results Newcastle have had in their last 12 games. We have only 9 points from those games, with just 2 wins and 3 draws and 7 defeats. And it’s not like we’ve been up against only the top teams in the league during that time.
Newcastle have some tough games coming up to against Manchester United and Arsenal away in January, so things will not get any easier for Big Sam. And of course we’ll soon be losing Faye, Beye, Martins and Geremi to the African nations Cup. Beye and Faye have been top performers for Newcastle in their last two games, but Martins and Geremi seem to have lost their way at the club.
Sam continued about the tough Stoke tie on Saturday:
“ “It’s a tough month for us,†“Stoke will fancy it, they’ll think we’re there for the taking, but the FA Cup can relieve the pressure of the Premier League. It can be a confidence booster. It can turn a league season around.â€
That Allardyce will be glad that his side’s festive program is over is obvious. “I didn’t expect this to happen given what happened earlier in the season.†“I felt we were just getting our teeth into what could be a good Christmas.
“I’ve got talented players here. I don’t want them to lose their confidence, but that can happen. We’ll stick with it and come through it, we’ll stick together and believe that we can get out of trouble. That has to start at Stoke.â€
There’s nothing more to do than to go to Stoke and hope we can turn this thing around. There’s not much else to say. But a defeat there is the last thing we need and pressure isn’t only mounting on Sam and his players. but also on Chairman Chris Mort. If things don’t improve there’ll be enormous pressure on Chris to do something, anything.
Comments and opinions welcome.
27 comments so far
Graham
Jan 3, 2008 at 9:31 AM
Comment #1Ed, I think a defeat at Stoke will be a blessing in disguise as strange as it may seem. I have never wanted Newcastle to lose a game but Allardyce clearly cannot make the current set of players play. And he’s certainly not gonna get the money to bring in 11 who can play his style and tactics.
Its a horrible thing to say but its not working and i dont think it ever will with Allardyce as manager.
Everyone was shouting for Roeder to be sacked this time last year (for some reason i wanted to give him another season) but 12 months on we are no better off – infact after spending 20 million in the summer and having a player in prison – possibly for 6 months we are in a worse state than i can recall for 15 years.
Its an bad time to get rid of your manager with the transfer window open but i cannot see anyway forward with him – the majority of the fans will never take to allardyce (myself included) and the players seem unable – or unwilling to adapt to his style of play – possibly because they are better with the ball on the floor (though you wouldnt think so at the minute)
The clocks ticking Sam – i reckon by the end of the month the alarm will have sounded…
mark
Jan 3, 2008 at 9:34 AM
Comment #2Compare the cries for Shearer like this lads –
Shearer was a great player, great goalscorer, fantastic commitment, determination and will to succeed.
Sam is an experienced Manager, is rebuilding, and said at the very beginning of his tenure its going to take some time. Rome wasnt built in a day…
Imagine you run a restaurant, you have a Chef who is good but a few meals arent up to scratch.
You have a waiter, he can serve 10 people at once, he is faster than the rest of them, can take 15 orders at once, and knows the ins and outs of the kitchen, but theres no proof he can cook…
Do you sack your chef for that waiter to become chef???
No. Didnt think so
LeazesEndLoyal
Jan 3, 2008 at 9:42 AM
Comment #3Mark, you could replace the cook for another cook!
If you continue to back this guy we will go down. Do you know what fixtures we have this month? We will be dragged into a relegation battle!
LeazesEndLoyal
Jan 3, 2008 at 9:44 AM
Comment #4Secondly, how do you know the waiter isn’t a gourmet chef in his spare time?
Thirdly Sam was once a waiter too, so your arguement has floors right through it!
mark
Jan 3, 2008 at 9:59 AM
Comment #5Do you not understand it? So your saying Shearer is a manager in his spare time??? Riiiight.
Graham
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:01 AM
Comment #6Forget the waiter… I’ll take my chances with the barmaid!
LeazesEndLoyal
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:02 AM
Comment #7Sam wasn’t born a manager, you do realise that?
LeazesEndLoyal
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:03 AM
Comment #8Oh and if he was a chef, the crap he’s been serving me up I would’ve thrown back in his face!
adam
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:03 AM
Comment #9mark i like your loyalty towards sam. but you just got to realise that he is out of his league.
granted faye and butt did ok in mid, but we were playing at home against a man city side who havnt won away since opening day, and even then, we should be putting out a more attacking side. emre shouldve played from start. he is losing confidence under sam. viduka was as lazy as iv seen a striker play, hes the new kluivert.
WE NEED TO GIVE THE RIGHT MANAGER THE TIME.
ill wait till summer because thats when they become available. hitzfeld, bilic, van basten, big phil etc
James
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:04 AM
Comment #10It comes down to this:
SACK HIM OR BACK HIM
Either get rid of him now or back him properly in the transfer market to bring in better players.
Interesting news today is that Hitzfield at Bayern Munich said he is leaving there in the summer and has always fancied the challenge of the Premiership. A definite replacement possibility if the board wait till the summer.
Personally if I was Ashley I would move heaven and earth to get Keegan to come back on a 2 year contract with Shearer as number 2. Two men who know exactly what us fans want and who other players around Europe would want to play for.
Either that or offer an insane fee to get Jose in the summer.
Graham
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:11 AM
Comment #11James – Keegan and Shearer – your talking about 2 people who have won nothing in management and 1 who only has a golden boot in his trophy case!
Its romantic, it sounds great in theory. But Keegan would be undermined by the the fact that when 2 years are up Shearer will be in charge. The players would have more respect for Shearer than Keegan, which for a manager is wrong.
But to be honest – anything would do other than what we have now.
I’d settle fo Jose mind too…
James
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:18 AM
Comment #12Graham – Sam and Roeder have won nothing either.
Keegan wouldn’t want the hassle of it beyond 2 years so I don’t think it would be a problem.
As much as I hate what Sam is doing to the team I still believe we need stability and he should stay. Lots of managers have struggled at clubs initially but eventually they have been successful.
What we have to remember is there is no manager in world football who more wants us to win more than Sam. He is desperate to prove himself and become part of the top four. That desire will gradually become a reality.
Graham
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:28 AM
Comment #13Point taken – yet I wouldn’t have appointed either – Fat Freddy Again!
I wish I shared your optimism James. Yes we need stability but we haven’t had it for a few years now so what difference does another six months make?
Get rid now, get another manager in either now or in the summer and lets start afresh (again).
The players cannot or do not want to play for Allardyce – lets cut our losses before were playing stoke twice next season…
LeazesEndLoyal
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:29 AM
Comment #14Solid point Graham
Hammy
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:34 AM
Comment #15Graham, you should write for the Chronicle mate…
Graham
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Comment #16Hammy – Thanks – mind you i’m not sure whether thats a compliment or insult as I would end up working with that Buffoon Alan Oliver!
Hammy
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Comment #17No Graham…..replace
James
Jan 3, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Comment #18Playing devil’s advocate today – Howard Kendall could’t win a game in the first 6 months at Everton. In his second season he won the league.
Managers can turn things around.
To replace him though is more complicated. Financially it will hit us hard (£30 million in wages for him and the back room). And the new board will want to appoint not only their own man, but the right man. At present nobody who supports Newcastle including the board has a clue who the right man would be.
Sinead
Jan 3, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Comment #19People have different opinions of getting Shearer to manage Newcastle. The one thing that you can say about him, that no one else will get, is time. Shearer will get time. The fans wont be as short with him as they were with everyone else. The biggest flaw about Newcastle is the fans, the fans can be great but they carry with them an ability to hand out a death sentence. And in Newcastle it;s just a constant demand of immediate success, Shearer is the only person that I can think of, except maybe Mourinho would be given time.
Sam is border lining on completely failing. When he looses the crowd, he’s gone. When the crowd start booing before the match when his name is called out, it’s just a matter of time.
I can’t tell ya how similar the situation is here with the one Ireland had, I mean they’re so similar you couldn’t even write it. Now if things remain the same and still copy what happened with Ireland, Newcastle will get a poor result against Stoke. I draw maybe, or even barely winning and he should be gone come next week.
Willowtoon
Jan 3, 2008 at 11:40 AM
Comment #20Graham
Shearer won a premier league title with Blackburn
Steeley
Jan 3, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Comment #21James – I wish people like you would think about the whole compensation thing before you write about it! If Sam is sacked, his team do not get sackd with him!! They are signed on separate contracts and we would like to retain them I would think.
If the chumps want to follow the fat one out of the door then they will have to quit, which means they get bugger all compo from the club!
The only money we will need to pay out is Allardyce (approx £3m) and I’m sorry, but that’s better than the £40m we will lose if we get relegated!!
Tom_Toon
Jan 3, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Comment #22exactly steely, the new manager wll want to keep the bck room staff and change them gradually so its only 7 mil to get rid of him, i will contribute tenner.
Bosck
Jan 3, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Comment #23James – i am still just about a supporter of allardyce, but as i have said on another post. if he is to go the replacement for me is clear:
Ottmar Hitzfeld wko is supposedly available in the summer.
Zx
Jan 3, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Comment #24“That’s clear but Stoke isn’t a defining game for me”. Oh, great! He can afford to lose and still keep the job. I hope he resigns if we loses to Stoke.
Tom_Toon
Jan 3, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Comment #25Hitzfeld has begun talks to coach the swiss naional team at the end of the season, i would have liked him too.
scotty
Jan 3, 2008 at 5:42 PM
Comment #26Probably nothing to do with this story but i hear in the grapevine that they agreed late last night for Shearer to be the next manager soon…….
Make of this what you will but the guy who told me rarely gets his facts wrong – i hope he is wrong on this occassion!!!
mark
Jan 4, 2008 at 8:57 AM
Comment #27LeazesEndLoyal // Jan 3, 2008 at 10:02
Sam wasn’t born a manager, you do realise that?
— Yes obviously, and you do realise Shearer wasnt born a striker?
How old are you anyway? you dont seem to understand what my point is and its simple, my 5 year old cousin knew what i meant.