Archie’s Talking Points
By Archie Brand On Sun 5 Nov 2006 |
It normally takes me between 2 and 4 hours to write my Alternative Assessment so as it was a late kick off and I’m working tomorrow, I’ve decided that I should maybe write a brief comment on the game and flash it off immediately after the game.
Here are a few comments on the Sheffield United game.
Comment ;- Until this match Sheffield United hadn’t scored away from home. Yes , they had really been that bad! Now they have scored away from home, and it was at St James’ Park.
Comment ;- If we had conceded a second goal - we’d now be bottom of the Premier League. We are equal bottom on points.
Question:- Why were the crowd shouting for the board to be sacked and not the manager?
I would suggest it’s because Roeder is such a likeable character.
I’ll repeat what I’ve said before on this subject, but to emphasize the fact I’ve turned up the volume on my sound card.
History has shown that Roeder has a knack for saving doomed teams one season only to take them down the next season.
Here’s a hint for everyone - he saved us last year, this is his second season and we’re effectively bottom.
Fred - if you’re reading this, go to Google, type in “Glenn Roeder” and check out a few facts. Then call in your personal assistant and discuss preparing your CV.
In all honesty Fred, if you hadn’t screwed us around at the end of last season and had made a decent business decision instead of just trying to save your skin by keeping the fans happy, you could have avoided all of this, not to mention the regional depression.
We lost 1 - 0 to Sheffield United. We deserved to lose.
The trick in situations like this is not to sit around pointing the finger. The secret is to fix the problem and move on.
We have a Chairman who is not earning his money. How do we fix this?
We have a Manager who is not up to the task in hand. How do we fix this?
We have a team of talented players who are not performing. How do we fix this?
What do we do?
The most important thing at this moment in time is to get Newcastle United out of the relegation zone. Forget progressing in the UEFA Cup, or the domestic competitions, all of these mean sod all if you’re playing in the Championship next year.
A few years ago, in the interests of efficiency, my company had to make a few redundancies. The obvious choice in one particular area was Johnny O, who , as an Engineer was sadly lacking in most disciplines. Everyone agreed that this was indeed the the
case.
But we met serious opposition because Johhny was such a likeable guy. Inefficient as hell, but likeable, and get a couple of beers down his neck and he was a real hoot.
Eventually, for the good of the company, Johnny had to go. And things improved.
We’re now talking Newcastle United, and Popular Johnny has to go.
If our current board are incapable of finding us a new manager - then surely they have to go aswell?
Sorry, this is a bit disjointed, and extremely negative, but how long do you let it go before you do something about it? In addition to that I get up at five to go to work, and thanks to you buggers putting the clocks back last weekend, its nearly eleven o’clock already.
It really is time that more than the clocks were changed at St James’s Park.
Check back soon for my Alternative Assessment
Archie Brand
Bahrain
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Hi,
Omar, I’m in Bahrain also, a Newcastle born Bahraini, but more importantly a Geordie! I just think that with Shepherd blasting the squad we’ll get the desired effect, as from memory I know it has worked in the past, i.e. Rolls Royce wages, shite performances.
With Shola having the operation this week, I hope he realises we need another striker, make that 3 strikers! Duff isn’t a striker and niether is Sibierski, even though Luque has shown a few glimpses he isn’t one too. With Rossi leaving the club in January, Martins is our only striker, and with him currently unfit and not on fire, that all explains why we don’t have goals from anywhere, we’ve not conceded a lot lately, but we haven’t kept the gates shut when it mattered.
I just look forward to the end of the season when Bramble leaves, but then again I’m sure next season will start without us signing a replacement centre half, don’t forget we still haven’t replaced Woodgate!
As for the midfield situation, as long as Milner isn’t sold, I believe we will be alright then, but after the deadline day fiasco I don’t believe Milner will be staying any longer. I just hope that he realises that by the reaction he got as he was substituted on saturday that the fans want him here.
To conclude, if things don’t change by deadline day January, it is then we should call for Fat Fred’s head. As for now we have Dyer to return so maybe that will coincide with a nice run. I would like to say that things can’t be any worse, but a goal between us and bottom spot, and a cup tie tomorrow, things could be very different saturday night. But I for one have faith. So go on lads keep the faith, our faith is in the club, the colours, we all bleed black & white.
Hameed
Sent in on: November 6th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
Part of Duff’s contract and the reason we got him so cheap is he wanted to play first team football. That’s why Zog isn’t getting a run anymore. But geez if Arsenal have room for him how can we say we don’t!
Sent in on: November 5th, 2006 at 11:40 pm
There is a lot of truth in your article Archie.
It’s true that Glenn Roeder is a very likeable character, I would go so far to say that he seems to be a very genuine, personable man with very high standards for himself, and I believe he is doing his best to bring success to Newcastle United; But…. Is his best good enough? Sadly I don’t think so.
It will be a complete injustice if he is sacked, as it was with Bobby Robson (one of the greatest men to enter the doors of The Mighty SJP). A return to the academy would be the least he deserves after stepping into a situation where there is, realistically only one outcome.
Our defence has improved drastically under Roeder, not surprising with the position he used to play himself. But the team play from there is virtually none existent. We lack ideas, fluidity, and at times, the simple rudiments of football, which under Keegan and Robson we used to good effect and at times ripped other teams apart.
We have a very skilful bunch of committed players, who virtually all play at international level. I think it’s wrong to keep singling out members of the squad for blame when it is supposed to be a Newcastle UNITED TEAM.
The simple fact of the matter is…. We are being missmanaged, starting with the chairman, who put in place a manager whom he new was the easy option for filling the post. I find it very hard to believe he had to chase or beg Roeder to fill the position, as he will have to if he hopes to bring a truly qualified leader of our United team.
Something has got to be done and fast. Or all the money we have won’t stop the inevitable.
HOWAY THE TOON!
Sent in on: November 5th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
Archie
First of all I live in bahrain too :)
In simple points, here is the postive/negative things in our team.
Postive stuff:
1- Plenty of young talents, such as Milner, N’Zogbia, Krul, Pattison, etc. Those will help us at least in the long term (even if we get relegated they will help us financially, but lets not think of the worst shall we)
2- Good UEFA Cup form.
3- Steve Harper getting a run for the first time, same thing for Luque.
4- That’s all!
Negative stuff:
1- We are 1 goal away from being bottem!
2- Glenn Roeder’s lack of any mangerial skill, he should not be sacked, just demoted back to the acadmy.
3- Poor peformences from almost all of Glenn’s signing, besides Sibierski who doesn’t get alot of games.
4- Clear lack of motivation in the players, I mean when Scott Parker is not running his heart out in a game, that means something is seriously wrong in terms of morale.
5- Poor peformences in terms of defending, which I blame Roeder for that, not sigining too old Campbell, or injury prone Woodgate, or Huth!
6- Poor club mangment by, who else, even though that’s old news! Just had to remind you all of that.
I could go on and on, but lets face it, unless we improve then the negative points will be countless!
Sent in on: November 5th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
I have yet to meet any of these fans that were calling for Glenn to get the job. It was an atrocious decision which most of us knew would end like this when it was made.
Sent in on: November 5th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
We need to get rid of Freddie Shepherd NOW! He has got away with destroying our club for far too long. He appoints the managers, he endorses the transfer fees, he sets the ticket prices and he draws just under £1 million a year from the club. Newcastle is not United while he is in charge. Boycott the next home game and if he doesn’t get the message, boycott the one after that and so on, until he gets the hint that we hate him and want him out.
The only way to hurt people like Shepherd is by stopping him lining his pockets. All the match day revenue we generate will be lost if we stand together and boycott the games. He’ll lose a fortune and WILL get the message that we, the fans, are not going to take any more crap from him! All he cares about is his bank account. All we are to him is a source of revenue. He doesn’t give a toss about the fans.
Spread the word, tell all your mates and let’s stick together for the sake of the club we love. We want a chairman who genuinely cares about the club and the fans; a chairman who will appoint a manager with true ability. Roeder is clueless. He has no idea about tactics. He only persists in playing Duff because he’s Shepherd’s puppet and dances to his tune 24/7.
Duff cost £5 million so in Shepherd’s eyes, that means he must play whether he’s good or not. N’Zogbia is a true talent who will be off to Arsenal in January unless he gets a fair run in the team and not squeezed in here and there to accommodate Duff. Carr, Bramble, Babayaro, Ameobi, Bernard, and one or two others should be binned before we become a bigger laughing stock than we already are.
Newcastle United is on it’s knees right now so it is time for action. If there were no fans there would be no club. Shepherd and any prospective buyers need to respect that. As fans of Newcastle United, we need to act now or we will be relegated. If that does happen and it IS a distinct possibility, there is every chance we will become another Leeds United.
Think about it. If you want to fork out your hard earned cash season after season and are happy to put up with the drivel we are being served, then good luck to you but if you want Newcastle United to get back to where we belong, then you know what to do!
Sent in on: November 5th, 2006 at 2:38 pm