January 9, 2008
Despite my previous article on Sam only having a matter of time I didn’t quite envisage him being sacked so soon. Allardyce was in charge of 24 games and leaves the club in 11th position in the Premier League. So who will be the next manager of Newcastle United?
Only one person sticks out for me - Gareth Southgate. No but seriously I can’t see anyone other then that man Alan Shearer getting the job, despite Harry Redknapp being the favourite with some bookies.
So who do you think will be the next Newcastle manager? Who do you want it to be? Do you even care?
Time will tell
James
So who do you think has been the biggest managerial flop so far this season?
Quite a list of potetional winners:
Billy Davies
Chris Hutchings
Gareth Southgate
Lawrie Sanchez
Martin Jol
Sammy Lee
Sam Allardyce
First of all we can dismiss Martin Jol and Billy Davies without much discussion - both are good managers and in my opinion were ridiculously sacked. It’s quite bizarre to think that if Billy Davies would have lost the playoff final, he would probably still be in charge of Derby.
Lawrie Sanchez’s investment in championship players could be seen as a somewhat virtuoso prediction of how he would perform. Well, at least he was planning for the future.
Next is the curse of the assistant managers, both Sammy Lee and Chris Hutchings were the assistant managers at their clubs. How many times has this been tried? And how many times has it failed? And how many times could the majority of the clued up public predicted it would fail? However, they were both only given short periods of time in charge so a little harsh on them.
By now you may have noticed that the only managers not to have been sacked or leave by ‘mutual consent’ are Southgate and Allardyce. So why have I included both of them? Gareth Southgate first and he’s successfully taken an exciting Middlesbrough team and has been steadily reducing the skill level and attacking flair. Viduka and Yakubu out, Aliadiere and Mido in. Hmm? Good job Middlesbrough have that rare ability to beat one of the big top 4 just as he comes under pressure, that and his ‘intimate’ relation with the owners and chairman stop him from searching the championship for a job.
Last but not least is big Sam Allardyce. Like many, I thought Sam did a great job at Bolton, however he has simply tried to enforce his Bolton System on a Newcastle side that is crying out to keep the ball on the deck. It’s only a matter of time for Sam - who’s bitten off more then he can chew.
Winner: Gareth Southgate
Reason: After selling Downing and Woodgate to fund the arrival of an unknown Brazillian midfielder Middlesbrough plummet down the divisions never to be seen again.. maybe
James
