Magpies quiet on Roeder rumours

Newcastle were tonight making no comment on reports that manager Glenn Roeder’s reign could be drawing to a close.

Conflicting rumours circulating throughout the day suggested variously that the 51-year-old had been summoned to an emergency board meeting and given his cards, or that he would be tomorrow morning.

However, the club were saying nothing on the matter, although as a listed company, they would have to make any official announcement to the Stock Exchange, which is currently closed for business for the Bank Holiday weekend.

Roeder’s future has been the subject of intense speculation in the wake of Sam Allardyce’s departure from Bolton, although chairman Freddy Shepherd insisted last night that he had not spoken to the outgoing Wanderers manager.

He told the Sunday Sun: “I have never spoken to Sam Allardyce. I don’t know where all this is coming from.”

But Roeder’s situation was brought into sharper focus by yesterday’s 2-0 home defeat by Blackburn which ended their faint hopes of European qualification and left them looking at a 12th-place Barclays Premiership finish at best.

Angry fans staged a prolonged protest against the chairman, the manager and the board following the game after booing the players off the pitch.

Former Newcastle skipper Roeder has been in charge at St James’ for 15 months and was appointed on a permanent basis in May last year after guiding the club into the Intertoto Cup as caretaker.

Shepherd had to win the approval of his Premiership colleagues to waive rules which state that managers must have the UEFA Pro Licence, which ironically Roeder is now close to completing.

However, injuries to key players – Newcastle lost record signing Michael Owen for the bulk of a season before a ball had been kicked, and their luck did not improve as the campaign wore on – and limited transfer funds tied his hands to an extent.

But performances on the pitch have been patchy to say the least and too many players have under-achieved too often to leave the manager under extreme pressure.

The fact that arch-rivals Sunderland clinched the Coca-Cola Championship title with a 5-0 victory at Luton today did little to improve the mood on Tyneside.