I’m not a big fan of Glenn Roeder, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t appreciate a man telling the truth.
And when Roeder says that Newcastle have ‘underachieving’ stitched on their badges, and that the current team isn’t his, he’s bang on the spot.
It doesn’t mean that he’s a good manager though.
Roeder:
“That result against Alkmaar is Newcastle. Not just this season, not last season, it is the Newcastle which threw away a 12-point lead at the top of the Premiership, which you would have thought was impossible. That is Newcastle.
The problem is, it has happened so often. If you go back years and years to when I was a player here and before, the fans are used to it, they expect it to happen. It’s stitched into the badge. Somebody has to unstitch it and I want it to be me.”
While I agree that the squad Roeder inherited was not perfect, to say that he should only be judged on the quality of his signings is childish and shuns his responsibility to get the most out of his squad.
Yes, Roeder has a brief to create a winning team over a number of seasons – no one is saying that Newcastle should transform overnight – but it also falls upon Roeder to get the best out of his players.
“I do not believe anyone else could have done any better, I do not believe it.
‘Now, anyone who comes here will be my signing. I am happy to be judged on Martins, Sibierski and Duff, but three signings is not my squad.
If we can get another four then half the squad will be mine.”
You’ll be judged by the results you can bring Mr. Roeder, and regardless of Newcastle’s affinity with underachieving, it’s up to you to make the current players perform (and it doesn’t say much for your faith in the current squad, players such as Dyer, Parker, Owen, Ameobi, Given).
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