So Glenn at last got his wish and wrote the name of Michael Owen on a teamsheet at SJP.

Unfortunately for him, the other names that he penned once again left him quite literally defenceless in the eyes of both Freddy and the fans.

Our immediate post-match inquest ended with the message that Roeder had "nowhere to go".

That was then rubber-stamped at a hastily-convened meeting on Sunday at which his 15 month tenure came to an end with immediate effect, not even allowed a valedictory farewell at his old Watford stamping ground.

While the post-match "protest" outside the Milburn Reception was trotted out as proof that the natives were agitating for change, the real story was to be found the gaps in the stands as another below-par home campaign petered out.

Quite simply the fans voted with their feet, registering a motion of "no confidence" in the administration.

Not for the first time though, that was interpreted by the powers that be as "sack the manager".

If nothing else, Shepherd has at least given whoever becomes our sixth manager in the decade since Keegan abdicated slightly more of a run-up to their first campaign in charge.

The comparative luxury of a pre-season and a full transfer window weren't accessible to messrs Dalgish, Gullit, Robson, Souness or Roeder - none of whom began a season at the helm.
There again, that didn't do Roeder much good second time round....

Whoever arrives though faces the same problems that have stumped and ultimately defeated his predecessors.

Our current administration has such little credibility that possible new managers (and players) are eyed with mistrust and almost considered tarnished by their very willingness to sign up for this madhouse.

The Turkey/Xmas scenario precludes the current custodians of the club from dismantling it willingly - and surely that extends to the level of decision and policy-making power Roeder's successor will be allowed.

Be it training methods, player and staff recruitment, pre-season arrangements or whatever, it seems unlikely that they're prepared to give somebody the freedom to mould the club from end to end. 

After all, we retreated from that very scenario when Martin O'Neill rode into town with a notebook full of initiatives. Someone should have told him we don't do planning round here - just damage limitation and crisis management....

So if all we're doing is replacing one figurehead/patsy with another one, is that anything more than riding on that first wave of new manager positivism (eg Souness registering seven wins and two draws and 22 goals scored in his first nine games)?
 
Back to the visit of Rovers though (who may have gained no fans post-Souness but seem to be a bit happier and less strife-torn under Hughes) and for us, a clear case of new strips, old shite.

It's a typically Newcastle situation to reflect that the seeds of our demise and Glenn's downfall were sown by the act of qualifying for the Intertoto Cup - the very achievement that made United battle the authorities to convert his caretaker stewardship into a more permanent arrangement.

Dirty mackem that he is (and richly deserving of a toe-ending for his unbecoming recent post-match gloating) Reading assistant Kevin Dillon hit the nail on the head when he spoke about gaining nothing from beating teams of waiters in July.

Struggling past successive no-mark XIs, we then embarked on a goal splurge against the most competent side we faced - only for AZ to suss us out by the time we got back to their place.

Those fourteen fixtures though took their toll on us domestically, three of our six signings unable to appear in Europe (Rossi, Onyewu, Bernard) and various injuries reducing our limited personnel options still further.

And the post-Alkmaar throwing in of the towel by numerous players looks more and more as if a decision was made by some in the dressing room that the Intertoto wasn't going to be on the agenda again - we're struggling to explain our loss of form any other way....

Given all that, Roeder deserves credit for keeping us up this season - before "senior players" informed Freddy that he'd lost the dressing room with one game to go.

Taylor has shown some encouraging improvements and welcome signs of maturity that can reasonably be attributed to Roeder or Pearson passing on their defensive wiles.

None of the four other outfielders who did it for us were here last season though - new boys Sibierski and Martins being joined by Butt and Milner returning from exile in the West Midlands. 

Twelve months on we've gone backwards from the side who carved the mackems up on their own ground.

Shearer retired, Chopra sold, Luque not sold, N'Zogbia in bits, Shola and Owen out of the equation, Duff and Dyer a laughing stock. It's been so long since we played well and won that it's difficult to remember what that's like.

That 4-1 reverse at our hands is now being spoken of on wearyside in similar terms to the pivotal 1-2 monsoon defeat that saw off Gullit and strengthened Shearer's status at SJP.

That's perhaps an over-egging of the pudding(s), but it's undeniable that the return of the cavemen from down the road to the big league is focusing minds somewhat.

A poor start to next season in comparison to them would certainly have seen far more spectacular protests in Toon, while it's an easy line to compare and contrast the off-field changes on wearside with the Tyneside Kremlin.

However, talk that the Roeder "resignation" news was leaked to try and keep the championship -winning red and whites off the local back pages is a bit OTT.
 
With no chance of relegation or European qualification, we had an opportunity today to end the home programme on a high note, providing some crumbs of comfort in the form of a victory and a half-way committed display.

That the team singularly failed to do so shows the obvious contempt that the players hold their manager and their public. Now the former has gone, but it's routinely expected that the latter remain loyal - that's loyal to those in power. 

The sight of people hurrying for the exits clad in new forty quid toon shirts or waiting around to abuse their own side is both savagely amusing and embarrassing.

The lack of anger from the stands though is perhaps the most telling aspect of this miserable finale - resignation is the word.

It remains to be seen how many season holders remain in a rotten fettle when the renewals come through the door - certainly nobody will have been inspired to invest a brass farthing in the club after this display.

So for the second year running we bid farewell to a loyal servant of the club.

2006 saw Shearer make his final bow, while Glenn Roeder now departs in vastly reduced circumstances - no testimonial, but with some residual goodwill for his onfield service.

In retrospect, a man who never wanted the job shouldn't have had the job.

Whoever comes in now has to contend with the unique pressures of managing here:

The mindset of the fans, the power of the local media, the structure of the club, the burden of history, the legacy of previous managers and that ability to repeatedly f*ck it up that some call luck or a curse.

Without doing more than changing the name on the office door, it doesn't really matter who takes it - the outcome will be the same.

Fra en Geordie som kommenterer:

Absolutely we've went backwards. If we'd have come 6th or 7th like we would've done if we didn't have the worst injury crisis in the clubs history the FFS would still be there, and that artcile above would be laughable. He had no luck at all Roeder worse than I can ever remember for injuries. We had good players, they were just arseholes who needed someone strong (and good) to sort them oot. I'm chuffed to bit with the start we've had but we still have him in charge and I say again from FMA's in put it's pure chance it's going all right. As soon as we lose 4-0 and Best looks like he used to play like this won't even be an argument.

The fact Ashley is in charge means we've gone backwards, we can no longer dream, we're in a like it or lump it position. We're a very much smaller club now than we were under FFS, supports less we had 70000 people wanting to go to the match now we have 44000 who want to go regular because the board keep telling us we're not as big as we think we are. Fucking pathetic. Even the much smaller Newcastle are twice as big as Villa and Everton, and the LEAST we should expect is 7th. Very much worse position than 2007.

Tenkte å prøve meg på litt aksjehandel i sommer, men har aldri gjort dette før..
Har opprettet en konto på Nordnet, og ført over penger der..
Er det noen skjærer her inne som har noe erfaring med dette?

Jeg leste i dag om vår oppkommende stevenage kamp og påfølgende PL kamp mot the uncleans, og Pardew uttalte seg om den heller omfattende skadelisten. Det som slår meg er at i lys av blackpool`s bot for å stille med et svakt lag, kan det tenkes Pardew overdriver skadeproblemene betraktelig av to grunner;

1. Så han kan stille med et betraktelig svakere lag mot Stevenage uten å bli sanksjonert av FA.

2. Det psykologiske aspektet ved å melde en haug av skader, for så å stille med et relativt toppet lag på match-dagen mot Sunderland. Dette faller jo også inn i det mønsteret man ser med tanke på at Pardew ikke var særlig fornøyd med Jose Enrique sin tvittring om sin egen skadesituasjon. Dette er intern info.

Vi gikk til pause med 3-0, og det er ikke utenkelig at han gav gutta noen instrukser i pausen om å halte litt av banen ut i andre omgang. Jeg synes det er litt påfallende at vi får 4 spillere skadet i løpet av 15 minutter, så jeg tror og håper at dette er rent taktikkeri fra Pardew sin side. Rednose Ferguson har jo gjort dette så mange ganger at man nesten har sluttet å tro på han når han syter om skader.

Hva mener dere?

Mvh Flatline