I must be getting old because I feel like saying, "In my day the manager would be given more time"

Big Sam was under pressure, from the fans and media. The Newcastle fans never wanted him in the first place and the media love a good kicking. The rumours of his demise probably contain fact but I can't help feeling the matter was exacerbated. Newcastle are 11th in the table, level on points with West Ham, a team who have spent an awful lot of money on crap players since last January. Newcastle have been underperforming, and Allardyce is to blame for most of it - strange team selection (Alan Smith seems to be the new John O'Shea or Phil Jagielka, I expect a centre back berth soon), changing formations, leaving your top scorer (Martins) out and frantic defensive rotations.

Naturally the players aren't happy. But when are Newcastle players happy? The day they sign their £60,000 a week contract. After that, they look around and see more mercenaries like themselves, which I will now list.

Shay Given - a man who could have walked into any Premiership team a few years ago keeps signing contract extensions, even when Arsenal and Man Utd were looking for keepers.

Stephen Carr - not a bad bloke, a great right back for Spurs but has been rubbish since 2002

Emre (Not a Racist) - left Inter, a team that challenges for honours, for a big fat contract

Martins - see Emre, add in a release clause

Duff - one of the best wingers in the league, got the hump at Chelsea for no reason, will never win a medal again

Alan Smith - once described as having the best skills at Leeds, he's a hard worker, but no team has much need for a non-goalscoring striker or poor midfielder.

Mark Viduka - the man who inspired today's piece, plays well for 6 games a year to get the fans off his back and 'earn' a new contract.

Geremi - one of the best midfielders while at Boro, happy to sit on the bench for years at Chelsea, the rich man's Bogarte

Nicky Butt - has a large collection of medals despite his performances. In semi retirement

Celestine Babayaro - the only good thing he's done at Newcastle is slap Dirk Kuyt in the face. Was shipped out of Chelsea with Wayne Bridge keeping him out of the team - a deep insult.

What a collection of losers - a collection of never will be's and has beens that Big Sam (or his replacement) needs to ship out of St James Park before we can judge with accuracy the manager's effect.

Now, Alan Curbishley, my bet for the next media witch hunt, but in this case it will be 100% deserved. He's the big money flashing, mediocre transferrer, over payer who has done an average job so far. Check out his West Ham League record P 27, W 11, L 12 D 4.
He genius idea of saving them from relegation was to drop Mascherano.

Thrilling.

Mark,

The Okey Doke Football Podcast is available every Friday morning, subscribe here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/OkeyDokeFootball

Who's that idiot with a desperate look on his face? Why, it's every opposition's favourite goalkeeper, Paul Robinson. The latest in a list of calamities occurred last night as he dropped a cross, allowing Villa to score. A freekick later exposed his inadequacies further, poor positioning of the wall and himself gave away another soft goal. This man has done more than anyone else to try to lose Jol his job this season and how is he rewarded? Constant selection and the England No. 1 jersey. Tottenham have been a disaster at the back this season, making a mockery of rubbish predictions of 4th place (i.e. mine) but with Lardy Robbo in goal crumbling to pieces at the sight of a cross into the box it is hard to see it getting much better in the short term. Jol should be smart & ruthless and bring Cerny into the team but doesn't it strike you as strange that Robinson has been the most vocal backer of Jol? I wonder why that is....

The Champions League is on tonight and the most interesting encounter is Man Utd vs Roma. Roma have conceded plenty of goals lately (not least a 4-1 loss at home to Inter) but should be a bit more savvy this time round. United's lineup will again be interesting, a miserly defense and flukey 1-0 wins are OK in the opening weeks of the League but I get the feeling that they need to improve quickly to stay in the title race. The loss of form of some players is alarming from United's perspective - Rooney, Tevez, Scholes & Giggs have been poor by their standards, while Ronaldo is in the 'could do better' bracket. They are relying on their defence heavily, and with Hargreaves scheduled to play tonight, I can't see much luck for Roma, and sooner or later, United will click past 2nd gear - unfortunately for neutrals, probably not tonight.

Arsenal are off to Bucharest to play Hagi's former charges in what should be a leisurely stroll while Lyon take on Rangers in a much more interesting match. Rangers got off to a flyer by beating Stuttgart while Lyon took a 3-0 pasting away to Barca. Lyon have had a poor start to the season, not helped by injuries in goal and defence (or by the fact that Alain Perrin, former Pompey 'supremo' is the man in charge). Walter Smith has turned around Rangers and I'm taking a punt on a draw here, with the wonderfully named Jean-Claude ('The Rocket') Darcheville to be fit and throw his considerable weight around.

Mark,
http://www.okeydokefootball.com