Allardyce iced

It wasn't nearly as acrimonious a departure as I thought it would be, but then Allardyce wasn't nearly the success I thought he would be. At the start of the season, with Big Sam's reputation and the squad we had, seventh place seemed sewn up and we could possibly aim for higher. With more than half the season gone, we would seem to be heading for 12th or 13th, barely better than Roeder. I'm not happy to see another Newcastle manager sacked and I thought he would last the season, but last night before I heard the news, I was thinking to myself how BSA was not just changing the team, he was dismantling it and it's questionable to assume anything would be erected in its place. BSA said he needed four to five years to achieve what he wanted at Newcastle, something that sounded horrific the way Newcastle were playing, to have to endure another half decade of that. It made me feel that it would take a further four to five years to deprogramme thse players after BSA left.
Ultimately, BSA's recent mantra "I'm in the results business," to illustrate that he knew what he was facing, did for him. Newcastle weren't just getting bad results, they were playing bad football and the players seemed uninterested. For twelve consecutive games, United have played awful stuff. The only thing making relagation unlikely is the cushion of points from a bright start to the season. BSA was the stereotypical defender-as-manager, with emphasis on defence, yet we couldn't even keep out goals. To say publicly that he didn't want his future decided by these players and that he was stopped from having a clearout because of African Nations Cup departures, did have a ring of the last days of Souness, when the latter said he couldn't motivate the players anymore, they were beyond him. Yet Allardyce stumbled on for a bit more, mid-table mediocrity easing the sense of genuine crisis. There was largely unseen good stuff done off the field, but the results on the pitch send the club in the wrong direction, then it is irrelevant.
His buys struggled to adapt in a way that Manchester City's did not. It's amazing to think that Allardyce was initially believed to be heading to the City of Manchester Stadium and that Sven-Goran Eriksson would wind up at St. James' Park. The expectations for the predicted success was just as wide of the mark - Eriksson having a flying start with sustained quality.
As for Allardyce's crew, it's all fine to not want your future in the players' hands but you bought a lot of them in the first place. Viduka and possibly Cacapa are the only worthwhile ones and the former was always going to move for the right wages. Geremi began well then faded. Joey Barton completely imploded off the pitch and seldom reached the heights on it. Jose Enrique has taken so long to adapt to the Premiership that's he's barely played. David Rozenhal seems a light touch for a centre-half. Abdoulaye Faye and Habib Beye have been quite average. And making Alan Smith captain beggars belief. He seems to have misheard Polonius' advice to Laertes as "neither a midfielder nor a striker be." He falls between two stools and only contribution to each match seems to be to pick up a yellow card. Every five games, I heave a sigh of relief that we have one game free of him. the only thing he's done in a blac-and-white shirt after pre-season has been to win the penalty that won it for us against Fulham. Because of BSA's style of play, Nobby Solano, a loyal servant, felt compelled to leave, robbing us of one playmaker and Belozoglu Emre was limited to cameos. Even when Viduka didn't play, his natural understudy Shola Ameobi was frozen out and due to be sold had BSA not gone first. I'm happy that we are keeping our "Nigerian Geordie" - he may never be a sheetmetal worker's son from Gosforth, but he could be handy when called upon (though not always). Nicky Butt, meanwhile, has been deteriorating in his passing, yet still is one of the better performers.
The decision to axe Allardyce was finally taken after the FA Cup draw for the fourth round, in which we, if Stoke had been overcome, had to play Arsenal at Arsenal (earlier in the same stage of the Carling Cup which he had to do so too and lost 2-0). The season therefore looked over and Mike Ashley and Chris Mort decided to act to stop the rot and try and improve the league position. For the forty-eight hours between the draw and sacking Allardyce, they must have been examining possible replacements before they acted.
BSA, hitherto the second highest paid manager in the Premiership after Sir Alex Ferguson (Jose Mourinho's departure raising him to second), will walk away with a £10 million pay-off because he was on a three-year contract worth £4 million per annum. Interesting to see that he left "by mutal consent", the same statement Chelsea released when relieving their coach of his duties. It just means that the club will pay up the rest of the contract, avoiding a costly legal tussle. Manchester United away is up next. It would have been interesting to see if Allardyce could have repeated his Bolton trick of winning at Old Trafford, but the way circumstances were, that was unlikely.
So to successors. Mark Hughes is mentioned, but his star is waning at Blackburn and the last time we went for a fading Blackburn manager we ended up with Souness. Harry Redknapp is touted, but I don't think he would leave since he's described Portsmouth as his spirtual home. Alan Shearer could gee up the players, but he may need a preliminary coaching role, possibly as a trainer for strikers, before he could feasibly step up successfully. The word out is that the club are looking for a British manager, but this could simply mean Premiership-proven. Only once since 1992 has the club had a non-British manager, the ill-fated Gullit, so why not a foreign change. Jol is available, albeit with a slightly damaged reputation. If prepared to splash 10 million smackers on ridding Newcastle of Allardyce, why not pay up Mourinho's terms of departure for not playing in the Premiership. Lippi is looking for a job, but might be seen to be getting on a bit to adapt. Houllier is in the frame, but he was famed for defensive football, one of the reasons why BSA had to quit. The way he played also led to Owen leaving Liverpool, but Owen was always going to leave Newcastle at the end of the season (despite having missed 99 potential games). Also, the last Lyon manager to try his luck in Britain, le Guen, came a cropper in Glasgow, while Portsmouth failure Perrin is doing very well now at Olimpique Lyonnais. At the time, BSA was seen as the best appointment possible to make. I think Newcastle have to do the same and appoint Jol. He's not the best there is, but he's decent and he likes playing attractive football.