Newcastle right back Danny Simpson has been giving interviews to the press today, and he relates his time on loan at Blackburn in the 2008-2009 season, which seemed to be going well until a new manager was brought in.
Sam Allardyce – while manager of Newcastle
And that manager was Sam Allardyce, who was appointed in mid-December of 2008, just 11 months after he had been sacked by Newcastle United, where he had lasted only a short 7 months.
This is what Danny said about that time in his career at Rovers:
“That time at Blackburn was probably the hardest period,” “I went there under Paul Ince, got into the side, played 11 games on the bounce, we were doing well and I was doing well. But there was a negative atmosphere around the training ground, there were a few iffy results and Incey got the sack.”
“Sam Allardyce came in and from day one I knew I wasn’t his type of player. It’s fair enough, but at the time I didn’t feel like that. I was playing in the Premier League one week and the next I was sitting in the stand not even making the bench.”
“I thought I was going to kick on there, prove myself, but it went horribly wrong. Knowing that, no matter how hard I trained, I wasn’t going to get a chance, it’s easy to get distracted. It was a sickening feeling. I’d never felt rejected like that before. I wanted to go back to Man U. I was miserable.”
“When I got back, I felt I’d been written off. When people looked at me, managers, players, they saw a Championship player. I’d done it in that league at Sunderland and so on, but I’d failed in the Premier League. That was the perception of me. There was a huge question mark and it was hard to get anyone to give me a chance.”
As it turns out, Sam’s first game was a 3-0 win against Stoke City and he went unbeaten in the first 9 games of his tenure at Blackburn, and certainly saved them from relegation that season.
In mid November of last year, an Indian company Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group, acquired the club for around £23M, and as we all now know, Sam was surprisingly, and rather ruthlessly sacked by the new owners of Blackburn last December, after almost exactly two years at the club.
The reasons for Sam’s sacking were never too clear, but they mentioned about wanting attractive winning football, or some stuff like that, but the 7-1 thrashing at Old Trafford on 27th November couldn’t have helped Sam much.
And since that time Blackburn have not done too well under inexperienced new manager Steve Kean, and are currently in 15th place in the Premier League, on 35 points, just 3 points above the drop zone.
In fact in their 15 league games since Sam was sacked, Blackburn have gained only 14 points, and have only 3 wins, and their last win was 9 games ago.
It seems the new Indian owners are trying to prove they have no idea how to run a football club.
That sounds familiar somehow. 😀
Comments welcome.
22 comments so far
roshan MAGPIE
Apr 15, 2011 at 11:55 AM
Comment #1WELL some people dont know anything abt FOOTBALL and buy a FOOTBALL club and some no every thing about FOOTBALL and cant even buy a ticket for a match
dave_barron363
Apr 15, 2011 at 11:55 AM
Comment #21st!
dave_barron363
Apr 15, 2011 at 11:55 AM
Comment #3Damn you Roshan!
ganiyu
Apr 15, 2011 at 12:14 PM
Comment #4Mr ashley sell simpson please….he is not good for b.burn and man utd ,he is not good for nufc….capello wont pick you.
NI Toon
Apr 15, 2011 at 12:20 PM
Comment #5@ ganiyu
Enough of the comments…
Danny is playing well, he is a better player than he was then and as for being picked for england..
Any player at newcastle seems to be at a disadvantage when it comes to that line up.. Just look at Nolan – 12 goals from midfield this season and not even mentioned as a possible player in the squad!!
geoff777
Apr 15, 2011 at 12:21 PM
Comment #6All an owner has to do is appoint the right manager for the club.
The owner lets the manager know how much money will be available each transfer window, so scouting in advance can take place.
The owners job is then pretty much done.
Scouts, manager, director of football, whoever does the deals.
The owner keeps out of the day to day running of the team side of the club.
The club runs how it should … everyone knows their place & job.
NI Toon
Apr 15, 2011 at 12:28 PM
Comment #7@ geoff777
Sounds easy doesn’t it but Mike is not one for leaving decisions up to others.
He is putting in his money and seems to want to make the calls.
Which is upto him as he owns the club but its not good for the team as a football club is not an ordinary business, and I have not seen much evidence of Ashleys footballing knowledge..
Overall your right though he needs to trust in the staff to do their jobs and then he can just assign a budget for them to work with.
Partizan
Apr 15, 2011 at 12:31 PM
Comment #8BSA has been the cancer of this club with all his signings,it took us more than 2 years to get rid of his dinosaurs which relegated us.
Thump
Apr 15, 2011 at 12:33 PM
Comment #9Oh, are we talking about football here? I wasn’t sure but I’m glad roshan pointed it out 😉
Thump
Apr 15, 2011 at 12:35 PM
Comment #10@Partizan: He also knew that Geremi was crocked when he bought him. Jose Mourinho actually told him before the deal took place iirc.
Partizan
Apr 15, 2011 at 12:40 PM
Comment #11Not just Geremi,,,Viduka,Smith,Cacapa
JohnnyBrookes
Apr 15, 2011 at 12:54 PM
Comment #12Hughton is on Talksport lads.
ganiyu
Apr 15, 2011 at 1:03 PM
Comment #13Ashley is the best owner this newcastle football club.he is our saviour..
WWJBD
Apr 15, 2011 at 1:05 PM
Comment #14I must admit (I dont feel good about this) but when I heard Blackburn had fired Allardyce a smile came over my face
Just need Pulis to get the sack and the EPL will be a better place. Horrible ideas towards football management, they will always keep teams up but in the most horrible way.
as for Simmo my rating of the lad is very high (as I’ve stated many times)
WWJBD
Apr 15, 2011 at 1:07 PM
Comment #15@ganiyu
What are you on?
You want to sell all our players and praise Ashley for being our Saviour?
Are you just looking for a fight?
coolcatcarter89
Apr 15, 2011 at 1:10 PM
Comment #16Obvious troll is obvious, ganiyu. Just ignore him guys.
ganiyu
Apr 15, 2011 at 1:32 PM
Comment #17anyone disagree with me that the club is moving forward????
rwpoynter
Apr 15, 2011 at 2:24 PM
Comment #18geoff777.
Pretty obvious to most of us football fans really. I would add ‘ and don’t expect too much inside two years.’ The fact is that most football owners think they know everything about football and clearly do not and can never resist the temptation to have a finger in every pie usually making a pig’s ear with their meddling. Abramovich is no exception. What person in their right mind would get rid of Mourinho? The problem is their ridiculous pride. Long after Abramovich is forgotten Mourinho will be fondly remembered. His problem is that he is far more clever at football than most of his employers, knows it and isn’t afraid to broadcast it. Freddie Shepherd is another one. To sack Sir Bobby Robson and replace him with Souness to this day leaves me speechless.
ganiyu.
I am not Mike Ashley’s biggest fan and time will tell ( in the next few months) if he is as good as some people paint him, but if I was asked who in the past has been better, only Sir John Hall comes to mind (minus his son) because in general in the last sixty years, the list of owners of NUFC has ,frankly, been pretty unimpressive.
Mike has made mistakes certainly, but he has done a lot of good things too. Only the immediate six months will tell us if he has got what it takes.
geoff777
Apr 15, 2011 at 3:55 PM
Comment #19Every mistake Ashley has made has been made because he’s appointed the wrong people in the wrong structure (Wise) or the wrong person (JFK & Pardew).
Or he’s interfered in transfer dealings because he’s greedy & loves money. (Milner, Carroll).
He breaks the simple rules of club ownership that are “Pretty obvious to most of us football fans really”. (@rwpoynter)
Until he finds the right manager (quality Int/European class) and Llambias & Ashley keep out of who is bought and sold. We will be going exactly nowhere.
He’ll sell everyone who is talented enough to be wanted by bigger/less shortsighted clubs.
chuck
Apr 15, 2011 at 4:32 PM
Comment #20“It seems the new Indian owners are trying to prove they hae no idea how to run a club”……
Where was it i have i heard that same statement before… ?
Widowmaker
Apr 15, 2011 at 7:57 PM
Comment #21I would have sacked Big Sam myself with the football his teams play.
Charlietoon
Apr 15, 2011 at 11:53 PM
Comment #22ganiyu you are the most committed troll I have ever seen.