Roeder: "Down the years Newcastle have always been an easy target for speculation - it happened with Graeme Souness, Bobby Robson and now me.
"It's the same with the players. That's the animal and I do not lose one second's sleep over it. I've been through too many things in my time to worry about the speculation."
However The Times, who linked the Bolton boss with the Newcastle post two weeks ago, long before speculation grew about Big Sam leaving the Reebok, say Roeder could do without Freddy Shepherd's backing.
The Times: The back page of the local newspaper in Newcastle proclaimed "Roeder told his job is safe" yesterday, which must have had the manager scurrying to check his contract. Being told that you are secure by Freddy Shepherd, the chairman, is about as reassuring as hearing from an estate agent that the cracks are only superficial.
However The Times, who linked the Bolton boss with the Newcastle post two weeks ago, long before speculation grew about Big Sam leaving the Reebok, say Roeder could do without Freddy Shepherd's backing.
The Times: The back page of the local newspaper in Newcastle proclaimed "Roeder told his job is safe" yesterday, which must have had the manager scurrying to check his contract. Being told that you are secure by Freddy Shepherd, the chairman, is about as reassuring as hearing from an estate agent that the cracks are only superficial.
Shepherd is, after all, the man who said in July 2004 that "you simply do not sack Sir Bobby Robson". A month later, he had done precisely that. Examples of the chairman pointing one way and walking in another are not in short supply.
Even the most experienced Newcastle watchers stopped second-guessing Shepherd when he set about replacing Robson. The names of Steve McClaren, Steve Bruce and Sam Allardyce were all prominent, and with good reason. Somehow he contrived to end up with Graeme Souness, of whom Blackburn Rovers could not wait to be rid.
All good reasons for Roeder to regard yesterday's back-page headline with the disdain that he has unwisely adopted for stories linking Sven-Göran Eriksson and Allardyce with his position. He has even talked in the past few days about making plans for next season, but the experiences of several of his most recent predecessors should inform him that a Newcastle manager is never more vulnerable than after he has blown a transfer budget. Ruud Gullit, Kenny Dalglish and Robson all left shortly after their own summers of rebuilding.
Now that he has walked away from the Reebok Stadium, Allardyce must surely be causing Shepherd to consider another approach for his services.
The man to lead them back into the top four, where they finished under Robson? You could not say so with certainty, but Big Sam would surely improve Newcastle's present mid-table mediocrity.