Newcastle fans will not change Allardyce focus

The Newcastle United manager, Sam Allardyce, is refusing to allow the pressure of a fans' revolt to get to him as he attempts to dig his club out of a hole.

The club chairman, Chris Mort, stated that owner Mike Ashley's continued to support the 53-year-old after supporters turned on the manager during and after Saturday's comprehensive 3-0 Premier League defeat by Liverpool at St James' Park.

Speculation since has suggested Allardyce's days on Tyneside could be numbered with a series of names being thrown into the hat at potential replacements should his brief reign be brought to a premature conclusion.

However, the former Bolton Wanderers manager was today putting his preparations for Saturday's trip to Blackburn Rovers into full swing insisting he remains confident of winning over the dissenters and doing the job for which he was recruited.

Asked if he had sought assurances over his future from Mort and Ashley, he replied: "No, no, not at all, no. Why should I do that?

"Just because somebody writes it in the papers, I should not be be ringing or chasing the chairman or the owner to seek assurances over my position.

"My position is safe if I get results; my position is not safe if I lose football matches. It has never been any different anywhere else, not here, not at Bolton, not anywhere.

"I would not have lasted eight years at Bolton if I did not get results, so it is no different anywhere you go."

Allardyce, of course, was appointed by the previous chairman Freddy Shepherd just weeks before the new regime was installed at St James' in the wake of Ashley's 134.4m takeover.

Rumours have persisted almost from day one that the billionaire businessman could bring in his own man, prompting repeated denials.

A run of four games which has seen the Magpies collect only one point and that in rather fortuitous circumstances at Sunderland has piled pressure on the manager despite the fact he has been in charge for just 15 games.

Allardyce is well aware time is a commodity which is often in short supply in his profession, but he remains confident that he will be given enough of it to engineer a recovery from what he believes is a blip rather than a lasting trend.

He said: "At the end of the day when you take over a football club, generally it is not in a good condition that's why you get the job and you have got to try to build it up from there.

"You get less and less time to do that now and from my point of view and the point of view of all managers, it brings a huge and extra pressure on us.

"But we have to live with that because there is little we can do about it.

"Only our bosses can be more stable and be more supportive and I believe there will be no knee-jerk reaction from my bosses. They are very stable and very supportive, and I hope that remains the case."

For all his bravado, Allardyce knows fans at the club will ultimately have a major say in his longevity and is aware that he must get them back on side as quickly as possible.

He said: "I got booed off when we lost a semi-final of a play-off at Blackpool against Bradford, and then got sacked four days later, so nothing surprises me.

"At the end of the day, this is Newcastle and I knew what was coming if I did not get the results right or the performances.

"There is an impatience around the place and the desire for success and of course, that impatience was shown at our performance against Liverpool."

Allardyce added: "I am not surprised and I cannot say we did not deserve it, I think we did. At the end of the day, constructively it will not help, but that is not for me to tell them.

"They pay their money, they are entitled to do exactly what they want when they come to watch a football match."

Allardyce concluded: "For us, we have just got to take it on the chin and make sure we do not put ourselves in that position again.

"Basically what we do is when they turn up, entertain them and give them what they want."