[Archived] Sam Allardyce

[RovertheHill]

10 points from our next 4 home games should be an absolute minimum target - Wigan, Hull, Bolton wins and possibly a draw against Birmingham.

[Bobby G]

12 and Id say we would be safe. Big ask for a team with 1 win in the last 13 games.

[unluckymorton]

10 points from our next 4 home games should be an absolute minimum target - Wigan, Hull, Bolton wins and possibly a draw against Birmingham.

We've got to go all out to win all those games, including Birmingham. If we buck our ideas up and play like we did on Saturday, especially if Kalinic starts bagging a few, there's no reason why we can't take maximum points from those games. Add dingles, Wolves and Pompey to the equation then the pressure could be off for our extraordinary run in.

Why on earth does Sam sit in the stand for the first half? More often than not when he comes down for the 2nd half we pick our game up, Should he not be starting the game from the touchline?

Credit where credit is due, he made the right selections on Sunday and we took all three points. Let's hope we're now turning the corner.

[G Somerset Rover]

I now don't want a change of manager at this particular juncture.

But I don't want him to stay on after this season. I think we should already be looking for a successor.

Think I'm with you there Bucky.

This season is now all about survival - of which Sam will get us no problem. IMO this will be Sam's last season with us. For a number of reasons, health, poor form, fan unrest.

I think it will be best for both parties to part this summer, giving us the whole of the close season to get a new man in fully prepared for the 2010/11 season.

[thenodrog]

I think it will be best for both parties to part this summer, giving us the whole of the close season to get a new man in fully prepared for the 2010/11 season.

How long is your memory SR? Thats exactly what happened 2 years ago!!!!

Give Emerton time on the ball to think and he ###### up. Give him no time and he usually does OK.** John Williams must be of similar ilk.

[Bobby G]

He wont leave in the summer if he makes it through. Cant see that happening.

[G Somerset Rover]

How long is your memory SR? Thats exactly what happened 2 years ago!!!!

Well lets hope John Williams and the powers that be don't have another moment of madness and appoint a Paul Ince mark II.

You've said it yourself Theno, a managers shelf life these days rarely passes the two year mark. It's best to get planning now, rather than to make a rash decision and perhaps another gamble on an 'up and coming manager' (although I take your point on his success at appointing swiftly with Hughes & Sam).

[thenodrog]

Well lets hope John Williams and the powers that be don't have another moment of madness and appoint a Paul Ince mark II.

You've said it yourself Theno, a managers shelf life these days rarely passes the two year mark. It's best to get planning now, rather than to make a rash decision and perhaps another gamble on an 'up and coming manager' (although I take your point on his success at appointing swiftly with Hughes & Sam).

Exactly what Bolton did imo. I bet the possibility of Coyle going there has been on the cards for ages.

btw I seem to rem it took JW yonks to appoint Hughes didn't it? I rem his agent virtually begging BRFC to come and get him. 3 years later and he ###### us over with not a hint of gratitude. Messy world isn't it?

[Hughesy]

NEXT 5 League games -

Wigan (H)

West Ham (A)

Stoke (A)

Hull (H)

Bolton (H)

Our target should be simple. Win the homes games, pick up at least 1 point from the away matches. Would give us 11 points and stick us on 35 points after 27 games - and more or less Safety in the bag.

If we can pick ourselves up now then we could quite easily still end on target (13th), if not higher! Now what board (unless its a loaded club) would sack their manager if he met their targets?!

[waggy]

A CLUB THAT WILL LISTEN TO ITS FANS

[S15]

They obviously have one ear on what the fans are saying, however, the Newcy Browns tried the outright listen to their fans approach, and it didn't work.

[unluckymorton]

A CLUB THAT WILL LISTEN TO ITS FANS

Our club listens to the fans wagster, cheap season tickets, 3 games for £30, free travel to certain away games. Let's leave the actual running of the club to the board, they are more than capable of taking us as far forward as possible with the extremely limited budget that we have. The club has fans involved in the running of the Blues Bar, The Club Shop and has a Fans Forum for the general running of the club.

We are sitting 12th in the best league in the world, in the semi final of the league cup with a good run of winnable games coming up.

If we sack Sam we pay him out a couple of million that we do not have. we then have to attract a new manager that is happy running a club that has no financial clout in the transfer market. Someone like Steve Bruce? He's spent big bucks and his Sunderland side are below us in the league, Curbs? no thanks, failed at Charlton and failed at West Ham, Avram Grant? nah, he can't do it without superstars. Gareth Southgate? Roy Keane? Shearer, Walter Smith, Bilic, Dowie, Reid, O'Leary, Jewell, McCoist, Kinnear? There's nobody out there to come here to take the squad we have got any further. Who could we really attract? Trappatoni hasn't got many Chrismtmas's left in him, never mind the chance of a relegation scrap, and don't forget he is a fan of Keith.

This isn't a dig at you wagster, I know you and many others have strong feelings against Big Sam and it's your choice to stay away but what else is there for us? I'm no fan of Sam and his tactics but I look at where we are in the league and I've got to be satisfied (even with the point's we've lost/thrown away due to Sam's strange decisions loosing us points) that we are sitting in 12th position above some big spending sides compared to us.

[LeChuck]

Curbs? no thanks, failed at Charlton

I don't disagree with the overall sentiment of your post, but this bit is totally wrong. Curbishley was brilliant at Charlton; he turned them from a League One team into a solid Premier League side. Along the way he found some bargains like Darren Bent, he was also excellent at bringing players through from the youth team. I think you only have to look at how they have plummeted since he left to see what a job he did.

[Bobby G]

Maybe cause he has no charisma, and gets overlooked consequently.

[unluckymorton]

I don't disagree with the overall sentiment of your post, but this bit is totally wrong. Curbishley was brilliant at Charlton; he turned them from a League One team into a solid Premier League side. Along the way he found some bargains like Darren Bent, he was also excellent at bringing players through from the youth team. I think you only have to look at how they have plummeted since he left to see what a job he did.

Point taken, I got carried away with the remark about his Charlton day's but he didn't cut it at West Ham and I don't think he could cut it at Ewood. It took Curbs a long long time to build a Charlton team capable of staying in a weaker Premier League than we have now, and sadly these day's managers do not have time he also wouldn't have resources to build a squad. Maybe a job at the academy for him? It's highly unlikely he'd be up for that post and if he was we probably couldn't pay his wages.

[BPF]

What a stupid comment, of course people are going to be happier if we play well and win...

No it doesn't... go out and loose to wigan and this result is irrelevent. Also one result and half decent performance doesnt mask over the fact we are dogshite to watch.

Exactly. The Fulham result was good and well needed but to say that we played a good standard of football is laughable. Football is a fickle game and a loss on Wednesday and then a loss to Wigan will have everyone calling for his head again. Last week the majority of people were calling for his head and now, after one victory people are talking about the top ten!? Crazy.

[unluckymorton]

Exactly. The Fulham result was good and well needed but to say that we played a good standard of football is laughable. Football is a fickle game and a loss on Wednesday and then a loss to Wigan will have everyone calling for his head again. Last week the majority of people were calling for his head and now, after one victory people are talking about the top ten!? Crazy.

It seems some would rather be looking down the table than up. We are 5pts off relegation and 3pts off 9th. I'm happy looking at 9th spot rather than thinking about losing points against Wigan, Hull and Bolton.

Sunderland's next couple of games are Stoke and Everton so teams around us must drop points. Same applies with Wigan playing Everton, Brum playing Spurs & Chelsea.

[sweet]

I don't know where this view comes from that curbs didn't do well at west ham. They looked certain for relegation and kept them up. And in his next season got them to finish in 10th place, hardly a relegation battle. I'm pretty certain if he had stayed on another season, they would of progressed again.

[BPF]

It seems some would rather be looking down the table than up. We are 5pts off relegation and 3pts off 9th. I'm happy looking at 9th spot rather than thinking about losing points against Wigan, Hull and Bolton.

Sunderland's next couple of games are Stoke and Everton so teams around us must drop points. Same applies with Wigan playing Everton, Brum plating Spurs & Chelsea.

Totally agree there, people are pessimistic and I largely fall into that category having seen this countless times, but I would certainly rather see us climbing up the table than in any other direction! My point is that I refuse to base my opinion for the rest of the season on the Fulham game and ignore the previous twelve games. I feel as though a post regarding us finishing in the top ten after the Man City game would have resulted in ridicule. The top ten is not an easy bracket to get in. If we string together a few results over the next five or six matches then it becomes possible but if you look at the last games of the season, then we need to be winning our next games PURELY to ensure survival.

[unluckymorton]

I don't know where this view comes from that curbs didn't do well at west ham. They looked certain for relegation and kept them up. And in his next season got them to finish in 10th place, hardly a relegation battle. I'm pretty certain if he had stayed on another season, they would of progressed again.

Compare that with the big signings he made and the money he ad available.

[LeChuck]

He did probably underachieve at West Ham, but he did have a pretty tough time there. I think at that point the West Ham board sold a few players without his consent, I can't remember who though. He did waste money on the likes of Boa Morte.

Seven wins from nine to haul them to survival was a brilliant achievement though, and following up with tenth certainly isn't awful. I actually think he'd be excellent for us, but after Sam I can't handle another manager who would be instantly disliked for non-footballing reasons, so for that reason alone I wouldn't want him.

[unluckymorton]

He did probably underachieve at West Ham, but he did have a pretty tough time there. I think at that point the West Ham board sold a few players without his consent, I can't remember who though. He did waste money on the likes of Boa Morte.

Seven wins from nine to haul them to survival was a brilliant achievement though, and following up with tenth certainly isn't awful. I actually think he'd be excellent for us, but after Sam I can't handle another manager who would be instantly disliked for non-footballing reasons, so for that reason alone I wouldn't want him.

Saving from relegation then finishing mid table... that's on the cards for us but without the hefty financial backing.

I'm not saying anybody is right or wrong, I just can't see who would be an improvement.

[gumboots]

It seems some would rather be looking down the table than up. We are 5pts off relegation and 3pts off 9th. I'm happy looking at 9th spot rather than thinking about losing points against Wigan, Hull and Bolton.

Sunderland's next couple of games are Stoke and Everton so teams around us must drop points. Same applies with Wigan playing Everton, Brum playing Spurs & Chelsea.

I'd like to be sitting in twelfth and looking upwards but the reality is that the scary bit is what's behind us, not what's above. If we were comfortably in 12th with a significant cushion over those below us then I'd gladly look up, but you can't get away from the fact that teams below us have games in hand and even if they look hard games they must also have some easier ones somewhere where they could pick up points. I'm trying not to think about losing points to Wigan, Bolton and Hull but the sad fact is that we have dropped points to too many teams we should have beaten. Sunday's match was like the curate's egg - good in parts, but it wouldn't take much to send our players back into their shells and shake their confidence again. It was better and I felt more comfortable at Ewood yesterday, but it still has a long way to go and there's a lot of consistently good results to be found before we can really start concentrating on the teams above us.

[unluckymorton]

I'd like to be sitting in twelfth and looking upwards but the reality is that the scary bit is what's behind us, not what's above. If we were comfortably in 12th with a significant cushion over those below us then I'd gladly look up, but you can't get away from the fact that teams below us have games in hand and even if they look hard games they must also have some easier ones somewhere where they could pick up points. I'm trying not to think about losing points to Wigan, Bolton and Hull but the sad fact is that we have dropped points to too many teams we should have beaten. Sunday's match was like the curate's egg - good in parts, but it wouldn't take much to send our players back into their shells and shake their confidence again. It was better and I felt more comfortable at Ewood yesterday, but it still has a long way to go and there's a lot of consistently good results to be found before we can really start concentrating on the teams above us.

There is a long way to go I agree, but we seem to be starting to go in the right direction. The pressure is on the teams below us to win while we rest and prepare for the upcoming games.

[broadsword]

There is a long way to go I agree, but we seem to be starting to go in the right direction. The pressure is on the teams below us to win while we rest and prepare for the upcoming games.

Bit early to be looking for the green shoots of recovery, no? After 9 games without a win, we get one which could easily have been a draw.

January is going to be a decisive month ...