Roeder offers no case for Toon defence

Hatters sack Newell

FL get timing all wrong

—– Manager Glenn Roeder lays the blame firmly on the shoulders of his defenders as Newcastle United crash out of the UEFA Cup.
Having lead by 3-0 after half an hour of the first leg before going on to a 4-2 home win, the Toon eventually go out on the away goals rule after losing the return leg 0-2 at AZ Alkmaar.
The usually placid United boss blasts: “They are not good goals we conceded. Too often crosses come into our box, they are not defended properly and bad decisions are made.
“I have to find defenders who are good enough to play in front of Shay Given.
“They do well, you are happy with them and you think they have learnt. Then ‘bang’ they go and make the same mistake again and let you down.”

—– Controversial manager Mike Newell is sacked by Luton Town.
In one of the least surprising dismissals of the season, the former Hartlepool United boss probably didn’t chose the best time to publicly criticise the Hatters board.
Luton have sold many of their leading players recently and it’s had the inevitable result on the pitch.
Tuesday’s 1-2 home defeat by fellow strugglers Hull City was their fifth league loss in a row as they dropped in to the bottom two of the Championship for the first time.
Speaking to the press after the game, Newell said: “I have told you several times — investigate what is going on at this club.
“Where’s the £9million gone? Give that to me and I’ll get five experienced players in, I’ll pay them fortunes and we’ll get ourselves out of it.
“It takes three or four years to build a reputation as a decent manager and three months to lose that reputation.”
Of course, he is no stranger to speaking his mind.
After earlier high profile outbursts about agents and female officials, in recent days Newell has been involved in a bitter war of words with Leeds United manager Dennis Wise.

—– The day before Comic Relief Day and a fortnight before 1 April, the Football League calendar appears to be wildly out of date.
League chairman Lord Mawhinney has done a fantastic job in guiding the member clubs through debris of the ITV Digital collapse and extreme competition from the Premiership, but the old boy appears to have lost it.
It’s announced that a working party is to be set up to look at ways of making the game more attractive.
Most surprisingly, Lord Mawhinney seems to think penalty shoot-outs to decide drawn games is a good idea: “Managers may hate shoot-outs but fans love them. The chairmen decided to use this proposal to have a broader look at a range of ideas that might refresh our product.”
Not sure which fans they are, but Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is a man who’s been there, done it and definitely doesn’t like it: “I saw this in my first year managing in Japan - it did not have spectacular results.
“In extra-time they played a sudden death goal and if no-one scored they had penalties.
“The draw is part of the culture of the game and I would not like that to disappear.”
Well said.
The Football League prides itself with being the oldest league competition in the world.
After nearly 120 years, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?