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Fury at Toon gloom
Nov 5 2006
By Coreena Ford, The Sunday Sun
Angry Newcastle supporters staged a demonstration outside St James's Park last night calling for the board to quit.
Dozens of police officers, some on horseback, were sent to the stadium to disperse a crowd of as many as 1000 fans who bellowed "sack the board" after the club fell to 19th place in the Premiership.
The protest followed the Magpies' 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United - newcomers to the league this season - plunging the club deeper into crisis after failing to win a league game on home turf since the opening day of the season.
The defeat puts Newcastle clear of bottom club Charlton only on goal difference.
Glenn Roeder's players were booed from the pitch as the crowd turned on chairman Freddy Shepherd, who is currently out of the country with his wife Lorelle, both during and after the game.
After the final score was greeted angrily from the stands, hundreds made their way to the club's reception area to air their frustration.
Steven Stevenson, 20, of Blyth, Northumberland, said: "We were all chanting `sack the board' and `Shepherd out'. They've got to go.
"The players they've bought just don't want to play for the club, they play for their pay packet, and many of them are injured so are getting £60,000 a week for doing nothing."
Hopes were raised that Newcastle would find their form once more, following a good performance in the UEFA Cup last Thursday, when Roeder's men beat Italian Serie A league leaders Palermo 1-0.
Fan Steven Smith, 21, of Blyth, said: "They certainly haven't brought their form back from Italy. It was a poor performance. We've got to get Shepherd and the board out because they are wasting money on players."
Gavin Wilson, 20, also of Blyth, agreed: "Over the last seven years they've spent £30m to £35m on rubbish players.
"It's not Roeder's fault . . . it's the board. We want them out."
Billy Lynn, 55, a supporter since 1962, of Birtley, Gateshead, said after the match: "I'm very disappointed. The club wants to have a harsh look at itself.
"I don't think the manager's to blame but I think he should do the decent thing and resign because the players don't want to play for him and they've failed the Geordies for the last five seasons." Manager Glenn Roeder remained defiant, despite admitting that he could hear the fans' chants.
He said: "I'd be a liar if I said I did not hear them. Of course I heard them, and the players all heard them as well. But - in capital letters - the responsibility for results is mine and nobody else's, and that is how it should be with a manager.
"I do not feel under pressure, no. I have been around too long. I do not feel under pressure whatsoever. If I do not feel under pressure, I am not fearful of my job."
Roeder, who has fought his way back to health following a brain tumour, said he was determined to turn the club's fortunes around.
He said: "Three-and-a-half years ago I was flat on my back. I am standing up now, and it is great to get out of bed every day. I am not happy - really unhappy - with this situation. It is not nice, but it needs someone with broad shoulders, it needs players with broad shoulders.
"They must not stand behind me. I will not let them stand behind me. They have to stand alongside me and come out fighting."
A spokesman for Northumbria Police said four arrests were made outside the ground for drunk and disorderly behaviour.
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