Shepherd Out And A Brick Through The Window
As Newcastle United’s illusions of grandeur were shattered by Yakubu’s 85th minute header and the travelling supporters smashed the watching Freddie Shepherd’s reputation with chants of “Shepherd Out� on Sunday afternoon some chav scum was putting a brick through the rear window of my car!
I have decided it was a Middlesbrough supporter, or some loser from the town anyway, but I suppose it could have been an angry Newcastle fan after the final whistle. When you see your team lose a local derby they should have at least taken a draw from, it can play havoc with your anger management.
But it wasn’t what I needed after watching a Newcastle defeat which has cranked up the pressure on manager Glenn Roeder, as well as his chairman and it wasn’t something I needed to be sorting out on my last night of freedom before I go into hospital for a rather painful operation. More of that, though, later.
Roeder might have felt some sense of relief when the fans vented their spleen at his boss during the final five minutes of the Tees-Tyne derby, but Newcastle’s manager also knows that when the chairman starts to feel the heat, he sweats and looks to find a sacrificial lamb - the manager.
It is not the first time in recent history that travelling Newcastle supporters - what might be called the hardcore - have called for the removal of the board. It happened two years ago under Graeme Souness during a Uefa Cup game in Holland against Heerenveen, but the dissent was drowned out by two goals from Lee Bowyer and Alan Shearer which gave the Magpies victory.
Newcastle went on to equal the club record for successive victories and the angry mood went with it, at least until Souness’ side crashed out of the Uefa and FA Cups in four heartbreaking days a few months later. A sudden slap in the face which begun the long and drawn out process of Souness’ sacking eight months later.
There is no question that the mood is on the verge of turning ugly once more, although whether it is open revolt at the moment is doubtful. There were chants for Shepherd to go on Sunday, but they were from a section of the away support, albeit a large one. Until there is massed and sustained demonstrations, they will be written off as the actions of a vocal minority. It remains to be seen whether the level of disillusionment has reached such an extreme level.
However, as long as Newcastle keep under-performing, the tension will increase and a victory against Portsmouth in the Carling Cup on Wednesday night looks vital. Lose, at home, in a competition which represents the club’s most realistic chance of silverware this season and it might just be the spark which lights the powder keg under St James’s Park.
The Pompey game is then followed by two winnable home games against two of the teams keeping Newcastle out of the relegation zone, Charlton and Sheffield United.
Roeder will be looking at these next three games with some optimism. All our against average teams, are at home and, if all three are won, the pressure will lift. Shepherd will be looking at them equally closely because more under-achievement spells trouble for him and his manager.
Newcastle are going to struggle to finish in the top six in the Premiership this season and the way things are going they are going to struggle to finish in the top half of the table. Can’t keep clean sheets and can’t score goals is not a good recipe for success.
But they can enjoy some cup runs, in the Uefa, Carling Cup and FA Cups. Remember, Middlesbrough were terrible in the Premiership last season, but they reached the final of the Uefa Cup and the semi-finals of the FA Cup and that was enough to get their manager, Steve McClaren, the England job!
Oh yes, my operation. Yes, I’m afraid I’m going to be off line for a couple of days while I am sliced open in a rather delicate area of my body. I won’t go into details, because it will bring tears to your eyes and I’m sure you’ve cried enough this weekend after the Boro defeat.
Oh, sorry, if you’re a Sunderland fan you will have been crying with tears of joy, but as I always say, I’m not getting involved in regional rivalries!
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Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
Luke,
You have summed up the situation perfectly. When it comes down to it, the majority of the Newcastle fans will sit in silence looking miserable and save their moaning for down the pub rather than have open revolt. And that will leave the chairman and the Halls to keep picking up the half million pounds a year salaries (for years of poor decision making) and fat dividends.
When will the fans wake up that any change would be good news.
Bobby
Well put Luke, but we on the message board have been a vocal minority for a long time now, and have been largely ignored by the Chronicle & Journal, we have seen the fans 'vote with their feet' and after two years of team destruction, and the appointment of a puny manager, scrawny staff, and an imbalanced squad it was certain where it would lead. I fear the actions and inactions of our Chairman will take a long time to rectify, I hope to hell he goes sooner rather than later.
PS. the Middlesboro game is not a local Derby to Newcastle fans, it never has been, I think it’s a product of the regional News media calling anything in their sales patch ‘a Derby’, although the monsters see it as such. And you can bet your boots that the brick through your window was a present from the Boro fans, as United fans are beyond such actions, well most of them.
Luke. Can I just assure you I had nothing to do with the car!
Well done though to you and the journal for recognising the discontent toward Shepherd, it's a shame other papers have chosen to ignore it in their match reports!
Also, I'm sorry to hear about the op, it's a shame if you're "losing" yours just when the journal appear to have grown a pair! (only kidding).
Good luck with the op and hurry back, I'm sure this story will still be rumbling on when you return!
Spot on Luke, I feel the mood has finally shifted and the chairman will soon realise it isn't just a vocal minority he is contending with.
I feel sorry for Roeder because this isn't his fault and he will get caught up in it all, but the time has come for major changes at the top of Newcastle United.
As for your op, the mind boggles. Hope it goes ok, get well soon, etc etc
Will you still be writing your blog or will we have to rant among ourselves again?
There's the old saying : "if fans want a manager out, the manager sometimes gets sacked. If the fans want a chairman out, the manager always gets sacked"
Though the bottom line is that we need Freddy out if this club is to progress.
Open Letter to Shepherd
Freddy, if you read this then I’m not going to beat about the bush, get out of our football club and do it now, go and do not come back.
You’ve been chairman for more than 9 years and you’ve failed the club, you’ve taken us backwards while you became richer.
You’ve been financially rewarded for failure at the expense of the fans, the fans you’ve embarrassed, the fans who now say “no more.�
When you took over the club you were handed the second best team in the Premiership, you were handed a football club that was on the crest of a wave, a club that was looking like it was destined for greatness and you’ve destroyed all of that.
This contempt has been shown towards the players in Alan Shearer and now James Milner to name but two, towards the fans who pay good money for club produce and you’ve shown it towards the less well off with your handling of Stevenage before a Cup tie and also your speech in Dubai.
You are an embarrassment to the club and area, that probably doesn’t give you any sleepless nights, why should it?
You’ve failed in your duties as the appointee of the manager of the football club.
You brought Gullit to the club after he had been sacked at Chelsea, did you find out why he had been sacked? No, you’re too clever to do that, you wanted a manager who was an opposite to what you had before, it didn’t register with you that in doing this we would be starting to rebuild again.
After Gullit you actually managed to get one right, amazing.
It’s amazing that the only manager who has been appointed by you and worked was given less spending money per year to than any of the others, he was given less than £6 million net, per year.
For that he lifted the club from 13th in the league to become European regulars and a title challenger.
What did you do? He had a poor start in the league, partly due to external circumstances like a chairman announcing that the manager was a “dead duck�, a serious eye infection that reduced the squad and incompetent officials who missed a goal scored by a player’s hand.
Because of this you sacked the only manager appointed by you who delivered, to quote you, you shot Bambi.
What did you do next?
You appointed one of the few managers of a club who were below us in the league at that time, you paid Blackburn compensation to take a manager that looked more likely to receive compensation for being sacked, you appointed a manager who was a serial failure and a man who was destined to take the football club backwards, in that respect he was just a reflection of you.
You allowed the same manager to spend in the region of £50 million to take the team who were 5th before he arrived to 14th in the league, most managers could take us backwards without spending; this one required £50 million.
You appointed a failure then you backed him like no other manager before him, you were like a gambler who keeps upping his stake to try to win back what he’d lost, and you spent £50 million trying to save face.
When you sacked him you announced that the next manager would be popular with the fans so what did the fans do?
They tried to tell you who they wanted only for you to denounce it as a betting scam.
You proclaimed that Newcastle United was one of the top clubs in world football, excellent; we could expect a top manager.
Well that didn’t happen did it?
You appointed a manager who has failed at 3 clubs, a manager who would struggle justifying himself for the managers job at Gateshead.
You had the audacity to tell the fans that you had delivered the manager that we wanted and you delivered the manager that we’d thanked for restoring a little bit of pride after your last disaster.
Shepherd, leave this club now, you are a serial failure except for taking money out of it.
Shepherd Out.
Yes we are the entertainers again, but not for footballing reasons, no it's because we have everyone in the country crying tears of laughter at the "Carry On" attitude at the club,
What a demise for such a great club and the fantastic support given each and every week, for the amount of cash spent on goods and memorabilia etc, it is very clear to everyone except those in charge of the club and certain journalists that we are in deep trouble through neglect of not getting the right people in from manager to playing staff.
It could have all been a different story if good summer tansfers had been targeted and bought, who is the chief scout FS, as this appears to be the trouble, he should be running the business and not the footballing side. He smacks of another Deadly Doug Ellis character, always wanting to have the final say on players and possibly who plays. I think it has gone to far for FS to regain any credibilty and trust from the great fans of NU and it is time for him move on, he missed the chance during the summer with his appointment of GR and his failure to sign good players for the critical positions within the team which have been claringly obviuos to all but him and his manager. It s all when and good saying "that but for two games this season we have played really well and deserved something from it" that kind of comment will not keep us in the PL, results,correct and competant management and players will. Time to get your head's out the sand FS, AO and GR and look at the stark reality of our position this morning.
Hope the operation went well Luke. Will you be at the match tonight? I doubt it.
I will and it will be very interesting to hear what sort of fan reaction there is to recent events.
I read your piece in the paper earlier in the week and you're right, it's up to the fans now what happens.
Shepherd Out!
It has been announced today that Newcastle United has made a £12 million loss. Well done Freddie!
Quoted, he said 'The board believe that the investment it has made in all areas of the club will deliver long-term benefits and will continue to take every step necessary to maximise potential for success both on and off the pitch'... Does that mean he's going to have faith in the manager and not show Roeder the door when things get even worse than they are? I think not. It is time for Mr. S to leave, we all know that, but as a season ticket holder, I almost want us to lose a few more games so the hate campaign can grow and become a bit nasty. I wasn't allowed to partake in the sit down protest at the Gallowgate End 20 years ago, so I'll be at the front this time. I hope it is hostile and I hope he leaves knowing just how despised he is.
By the way, does anyone know where exactly he is at the minute? Or how much money his family is making out of the club?