Sam Allardyce out at Newcastle

Allardyce out as Newcastle pull the trigger yet again

Sam Allardyce has parted company with Newcastle via the age old 'mutual consent' route. Seems Newcastle have in their time honoured tradition bowed to the pressure from fans and local media and pulled the trigger in double quick time. That makes it 6 managers in the 11 years since Kevin Keegan left. Stability and continuity bring success and Newcastle have left themselves in turmoil yet again.

One of these years, they will get a chairman who is prepared to ride it out, believe in his manager and give him time to get it right. There are those who believe they have done it now in the hope of getting their man before Liverpool pull the plug on Rafael Benitez in the summer.

Harry Redknapp has emerged as an early favourite.

Newcastle's Joey Barton arrested again

Newcastles bad-boy does it again

Sam Allardyce will be waking up this morning with a bigger headache than anyone will have on New Years day. Not only is he under ever-increasing pressure after a deserved defeat at Wigan, following a home draw with bottom club Derby, Joey Barton is again in trouble after being arrested on suspicion of assault in his home town of Liverpool.


The Times is reporting Barton and two others were arrested after two men were assaulted in Church Street, Liverpool City Centre.

Barton has a long history of off-field scrapes and I suspect the Newcastle board will want rid of him after this. Given the on-field problems of Allardyces reign and Barton's recent criticism of the club's fans, I don't think they will be in any mood to tolerate Barton after this.

Newcastle 2-1 Birmingham

Newcastle followed up their creditable performance against Arsenal with a heartening 2-1 against Birmingham City to ease their Premier League woes, and give manager Sam Allardyce some much needed breathing space.

They made it hard for themselves with a gift opener to Cameraon Jerome after only nine minutes. They got back in it after thirty six minutes Martins slotting home a penalty given from Sadlers challenge on him. Newcastles winner came in the last minute, with Senegal defender Beye heading home from Emres corner to flatten Birmingham with a sucker punch.

Newcastle dominated for large parts of the first half and could well have had more than Martins equaliser. After the break Newcastle fell flat, maybe because of their midweek exertions, and maybe because they were up against a determined and organised Birmingham.

It may not have been too pretty but three points following the Arsenal game will do wonders for Newcastle's confidence and give Sam Allardyce much need breathing space as he seeks to put his stamp on the team.

Premier League - Wed 26th Dec - Newcastle 1-1 Arsenal

Newcastle have defied my predictions and eased the pressure on Sam Allardyce with a battling point against Arsenal. Arsenal got a great early goal but Newcastle battled back in the second half to equalise through Stephen Taylor.

The Gunners, who along with Liverpool remain unbeaten in the Premier League, just didn't capitalise on their early goal and overall Newcastle deserved a point after a match in which they showed a real determination and work ethic.

The draw and performance against the leaders will be heartening for Allardyce, after Newcastle's woeful recent run that had seen them take just one point from the previous five Premier League matches.

Arsenal meanwhile remain unbeaten in the Premier League but have missed the chance to extend their lead to 6 points and are now 4 points clear of Manchester United having played the same number of games. Chelsea and Liverpool remain in third and fourth on 31 and 30 points respectively with Liverpool having played a game less.