The cliche about the Newcastle fans dragging the team down doesn't even begin to cover it:

Calling them "fickle" doesn't really fit either - as far as I could tell they never liked Allardyce at any point. By all accounts, the problem has been that Allardyce was appointed by Freddy Shepherd - not the greatest chairman in footballing history - just before Mike Ashley took the club over, and Ashley wanted his own man.

Go through The Guardian's recent football blogs and read the articles on Allardyce, too - some very illuminating pieces on the players' responses to Allardyce's tactics (and particularly rigorous planning of set-pieces) and his failure to understand the culture of the club.

I'm not saying Newcastle's fans aren't hard to please, but they respond to what happens on the pitch, like any other set of fans - they don't lead it.

Posted By: Ottosson Foxtrot, Jan 9, 23:37:43