Big Sam only has himself to blame....

Sam Allardyce, joined the growing list of Newcastle ex-managers who have been shown the door at Tyneside after failing to win over the fans and the chairman. He joins the likes of Kenny Dalglish, Ruud Gullit and Grame Souness who have all raised the hopes of the Toon army only to dash them with more mediocre performances and mid-table finishes.

In 2008, Newcastle find themselves sitting in the lower-half of the Premiership, in 11th. Surely they are only a win or two away from re-gaining a respectable position, but with their current form it is difficult to see where these wins are going to come from. It is clear Allardyce has not got the formula right. Or rather, he HAD the right formula but it has been unable to solve Newcastle's deficiencies. At Bolton, Allardyce forged a reputation for transforming the fortunes of a club by bringing in international mis-fits and turning them into an efficient unit capable of bullying more accomplished opposition out of the game. Players like Tal Ben Haim, Ivan Campo and Rahdi Jaidi helped bring success to the Reebok stadium and build a foundation for Allardyce to recruit more established talents to take Bolton to overachieving Premiership finishes of 6th, 7th and 8th.

A leopard never changes its spots and Allardyce has tried to have the same effect on Newcastle only to find that is has back-fired on him. David Rozehnal, Hamid Beye and Claudio Cacapa were signed over the summer to help patch up Newcastle's leaky defense, but in truth this has only served to exacerbate the problem. This season the new foreign recruits have often resembled confused schoolboys as they turned in one forgetful performance after another whilst keeping Geordie-born Steven Taylor on the bench, much to the angst of the Magpie faithful. With Mark Viduka playing up-front Allardyce's Newcastle have reverted to playing the style of football that brought Bolton much success. Allardyce's insistance on 'winning ugly' has too often this term turned into 'losing ugly' and left the fans crying for some more attractive football to be played at St James Park. Easier said than done, especially when your central midfiled pairing of Nicky Butt and Alan Smith wouldn't know a through-ball from a bar of soap. All this has contributed to the downfall of Allardyce and the Toon army. If there is the opportunity for success at Newcastle then it will take time and an intuitive manager to tease it out. Cue Harry Redknapp.........