Nigel Pearson takes his Newcastle United side to Old Trafford on Saturday evening, hoping to pick up points at Old Trafford, one of the hardest places in the country to go. The 1st Team Coach is currently in caretaker charge of the club until a successor to Allardyce is appointed. We spoke to our Panel about the match, live at tea-time on Setanta Sports.

Rich

“With all the furore surrounding our club at the minute (not a big club, my arse, we are the most covered club in the entire national media) it’s easy to forget that we’ve got a game tomorrow. However, if you’re anything like me, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Manchester United and Old Trafford spells nothing but trouble, especially with Nigel Pearson in charge (remember Watford?) I’ll try to refrain from commenting on the managerial situation too much further – everyone, their dogs and their grannies are saying/writing enough as it is – and do my best to focus on our almost annual humiliation that occurs somewhere not quite in Manchester.

Before we get into it any further, I’ll just say that if it wasn’t for my admiration for our constant away lads, then I’d be trying to put together a campaign to forfeit this match and take an automatic 3-0, 5-0 or 7-0 defeat, whatever the hell it is. I genuinely think that we have as small a chance of winning the match tomorrow than we’ve had in any contest for a good, long while. We’re all over the place at the minute, both on and off the park, and Man Utd are liable to tear us apart.

So two paragraphs in and you’re either bemoaning my negativity or I’m being successful in luring you into a false sense of security before I drop an O-bomb (optimistic) on you. IF the players were as disillusioned with Allardyce as people would have us believe and IF they are as professional as they are paid to be, then we should get some sort of a response from them tomorrow. The lads that wear the shirt get all of the money and all of the adulation, but rarely take responsibility, by and large they’ve been a major factor in us losing yet another manager, and tomorrow we get to see their reaction.

Not many of our players are rated by the majority, and whoever our future manager is will no doubt be watching this fixture very closely, surveying the group of players he’ll soon be inheriting (Harry Redknapp is off tomorrow, isn’t he?) and they’ll be looking for some sort of reaction as well. I can’t see it though, but I can see a bright new dawn at SJP, with a lot of the old chaff thrown out and replaced by some better players, with better attitudes. Mike Ashley has well and truly put his head on the chopping block here, and he will live or die by the next 6 months to a year.

Prediction: Manchester United 4-1 Newcastle United (to be undoubtedly followed by numerous hacks saying the players are lost after Allardyce’s departure, when truth be told I’d perhaps be predicting worse if he was still here.)”

Tom

“Well it’s certainly been an eventful few days, and given the on-going situation, I think it’s fair to say that there are better times to have to play Man United.

Having said that, it’s not unusual for teams who have parted company with a manager to rally together and turn in a good performance, although the fact that we have to travel Old Trafford means that we face an uphill task. To be honest, I’ve written this game off and I don’t expect us to take anything from the game. That would have been the same even if Allardyce was still in charge. However, I actually go into this game with a little bit more hope now that he’s gone. Although I still think we’ll lose, I’m hoping that we might see players being played in their rightful positions that allow them to play football, because I believe we have a team that is capable of playing good stuff if they’re allowed to.

On the management front, I have no idea who we should bring in (only a few ideas of who shouldn’t be appointed), but let’s hope that Mort and Ashley don’t make the same mistakes that Shepherd made.

Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United”

Jonny

“Allardyce is gone.

Wow, I never expected that this week. It came as quite a shock as I thought the pressure had died down since the Stoke game and I certainly didn’t expect such a rapid decision from the board.

Redknapp in? No thanks, I’d rather have KK and Shearer and that is saying ALOT! Ideally, a foreign coach would do me. It’s not about this “keep it English” crap, it’s about who will do the best job at the end of the day, and no attainable British manager can do well in my opinion.

Onto Saturday and we travel to Old Trafford. A tough game if ever there was one and Man United will certainly be up for this. Many will expect them to destroy us and they will if we don’t approach it in the right way.

We need to be up for this and I have a feeling the players may play with a weight lifted off their shoulders.

Prediction: My heart says draw but my head says defeat. Manchester United 3-0 Newcastle United.”