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.........

Reggie Who?

In 2006 the struggling Houston Texans, controversially drafted NC State's defensive end Mario Williams number one overall in the annual NFL draft. In doing so they passed up the supposedly more exciting talents of USC running-back Reggie Bush and hometown kid Vince Young, amongst others. Howls of derision reverberated from all corners as critics up and down the country lambasted the decision from the Houston Texans general management.
Such was the level of public outcry, that Mario Williams' career in the NFL looked doomed to fail before it had even started. Sure enough his rookie season in the NFL was nothing to shout about. 5 sacks and 35 solo tackles hardly had the home crowd purring and it seemed the armchair experts had been proved right. One prominent hometown journalist even labelled Williams and his NFL career as 'a complete and utter bust.'
Luckily for the Texans franchise, new seasons often bring with them new beginnings. Williams has been nothing short of sensational throughout the latest NFL season and single-handedly ensured victory for the Texans in a number of games, most notably against KC and Denver. 14 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and 59 tackles later and the media have started to mention Mario Williams in the same breathe as Reggie White or in the case of Texans owner Bob McNair, Julius Peppers. Whilst these comparisons are premature to say the least, Williams does deserve a universal apology for the derision he took as a twenty-year old rookie trying to make an impression upon the NFL. The only thing more surprising than seeing Jim Rome make a public apology to Williams on his TV show Jim Rome is Burning, was the fact that the player was left off the roster for the 2007 AFC Pro-Bowl squad.
The 6-7, 291lb physical phenom may have some way to go to prove that he has the consistency to continually scare the living daylights out of opposing quarterbacks but, as we have learnt, only time will tell. If he does then perhaps he will be afforded the honour of being mentioned alongside the defensive end greats of White and Carl Eller.
As for the Texans, their 2007 record of 8-8 was a drastic improvement on their 2006 showing. They still have a long way to go, especially on the offensive side of the ball, but Williams and his promising young defensive colleagues, such as Amobi Okoye and DeMeco Ryans, have the Texans moving in the right direction. If they continue to do so then perhaps they may start to make an impression on the treacherous AFC South.
Contrastingly, following their NFC championship appearance in the 2006 season, the New Orleans Saints and Reggie Bush stumbled to a 7-9 record in '07. Not surprisingly critics were quick to jump on Bush's back by saying that the Saints offence was more fluid when he was out of the team through injury. If Bush is to re-gain his reputation as being the next Barry Saunders then he's going to have to return to form in '08 and stay off the treatment table. I'm sure that this time next year, with Bush waltzing through opposition defences, his star will rise again and 2007 will be dismissed as a sophomore slump. This is too often the case with fickle journalists and their short term memories................just ask Mario.