4) was entirely his choice, though

At a time when I was aware they were close to £100m in debt - so should he have been! You're dead right about the first three: but still, he hardly helped himself by constantly talking in the press about nullifying the opponents' strengths; at one point acting as though their poor form was entirely the fault of the players, and nothing to do with him; refusing to speak to the BBC at all (very stupid, that one); and inflicting sheer anti-football on fans who've come to at least aim for better, if not actually expect it. I saw Allardyce's final game - a 0-0 draw at Stoke - and was dumbstruck by what he'd done to that team.

Doesn't excuse a vast number of colossal errors by Ashley, not to mention the ghastly Freddy Shepherd: whose legacy of incompetence is the real reason Newcastle are in this mess. But Allardyce was never, ever going to be the answer either.

Posted By: thebigfeller, Feb 25, 12:56:02