End of the ancien regime

After some time to reflect and await developments it is now appropriate to make comment on all that is unfolding at St. James Park. First the manager. So Freddy Shepherd thought as he appointed the new guy, that he saw in Big Sam Allardyce a latter-day version of Joe Harvey, presumably meaning as manager material. Does he then expect BSA, on three million pounds a year, to win only the UEFA Cup and lose in the FA Cup Final at Wembley? Crucially, Harvey was the last manager to put a trophy in the cabinet (the Intertoto triumph was presented as a plaque), but surely such wages as are being paid to BSA justify more? It maybe too much to expect an immediate final league position commensurate with his pay ranking (behind only Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho) for next season, but surely something like that has to be achieved in a relatively short-order of time, despite the understandable protestations of BSA. Newcastle United have lost too much time to rivals, failing to take advantage of Arsenal's stumbling transition, while Spurs consolidate and Liverpool, Everton and maybe soon Manchester City strengthen. Interestingly, Joe Harvey's successor was the last manager before BSA appointed with a full summer to plan, instead of being parachuted in with the season already underway. Also, if BSA stays at St. James Park for as long as Harvey, then United will pay him 39 million pounds! As it is, if he sees out his current contract he'll be paid 12 million, but then, with some of Newcastle's player purchases in that region (and money not always well spent), perhaps that's bargain. He is esteemed by the bookies who some reckon he is evens on to achieve UEFA Cup qualification conventionally which should go some way to erasing the notion that he once played and managed in a certain other team, that he turned down Shepherd at least once, perhaps twice and the gob-stopping thought of his vast wages. Nemesis though he may be to Arsene Wenger, their utilisation of science marks them out as in the vanguard of managers. A bit of a change from previous holders of the post at Newcastle United.
For Big Sam Allardyce to make Newcastle United a big club, he needs a sprinkling of big players to complement the squad players and Big Mark should be a suitable short-term replacement for Big Al. I think BSA did not want to manage NUFC while Alan Shearer was still a dominant personality in the dressing room, hence his rejection after Sir Bobby's sacking and maybe after Souness' not-so premature departure. Now BSA can stamp his ideas on the players without possible complaints from the influential Shearer. Mark Viduka has been a bit wayward in the past with motivation, but he is big if not in footballing stature then size.
And then there's the takeover at board level. The Halls were the first to sell out to Buckinghamshire-based Mike Ashley - so much for Sir John Hall's Geordie Nation rhetoric; he's a businessman at heart. Freddy Shepherd realised the game was up and knew it was in the interests of the club to resolve the boardroom contention before the new season began. Hall will be life president, Shepherd will remain as titular chairman, but the new power will be someone who is a lot more private and so less prone to gaffes than has been the case before at the top. The mantra is that no-one is bigger than the club and so if the chief executive keeps out of the limelight and lets the manager and players get on with the job that can only be for the best.
So, like the beat, the transition goes on.