Geordie yawn

IS there a duller story doing the rounds than the fiasco at Newcastle United? Big Sam Allardyce, and please can someone explain to me why he is called 'Big' when he is just six feet tall? has been fired. No surprise there then as Newcastle goes through managers like incontinence sufferers go through underpants. And pants is the right word to describe the behaviour of the Newcastle board of directors when it comes to managerial appointments.

The dubious antics of former chairman Freddy Shepherd and present incumbent and self confessed Spurs' fan Mike Ashley sitting with the faithful rather in the directors' box are scenes that would not be repeated at Old Trafford or the Emirates stadium where managerial stability has brought excellence to the field of play. Something that quick fit Newcastle simply does not understand.

Like some Premiership equivalent of an aged WAG the directors want their team to look beautiful again immediately. They simply cannot live with ugly or even plain.

They could not face Allardyce's siege mentality tactics so now they cast around to find someone who fits the bill. And daft enough to take the poison chalice. The trouble is Newcastle will never be a great club and it is about time that these supposedly wonderful United fans got used to that fact and directed their complaints at the board rather than well intentioned, albeit grossly overpaid, managers who strive to do their best against insuperable odds.