Angry Toon protest as slump continues

12 April 2012

Thousands of angry Newcastle supporters staged a prolonged protest outside St James' Park on Saturday night after seeing their slide slump into the bottom two in the Barclays Premiership following their 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United.

Glenn Roeder's players were booed from the pitch as the crowd turned on chairman Freddy Shepherd both during and after the game. Shepherd is currently out of the country with his wife Lorelle, who was taken ill recently - but as speculation mounts over the Belgravia Group's interest in launching a takeover, his critics are becoming increasingly vociferous.

Roeder said: "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."

He added: "Who was it - Alan Ball - a number of years ago who said 'It is all very well me having to pick the players up, who picks the coaches up?' That is not a problem for me."

Asked about the fans' protest, he said: "I would be a liar if I said I did not hear them. Of course I heard them - and the players heard them as well. But, in capital letters, the responsibility for results is mine and nobody else's - and that is how it should always be with a manager."

The Newcastle boss remains determined to turn things round.

"Glenn Roeder has stood up all his life and he will always stay standing up whatever happens to him," he vowed, having fought his way back to health following a brain tumour.

"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."

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