Roeder resigns as Newcastle boss

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LONDON, England -- Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder has resigned after a string of poor results, the Premier League club confirmed on Monday.

Roeder has been in charge at St James' Park for 15 months including his spell as caretaker and enjoyed a successful start as he guided Newcastle to the UEFA Cup via the Intertoto Cup.

But they have been without a home goal in five Premier League matches and Saturday's 2-0 defeat to Blackburn ended their faint hopes of claiming the Intertoto route again.

A statement issued through the club's Web site said: "Newcastle United today announced that Glenn Roeder has offered his resignation as team manager with immediate effect and this has been accepted by the Newcastle United board."

The 51-year-old Roeder made his decision after being summoned to an emergency board meeting earlier in the day.

Roeder had been in defiant mood after Saturday's game, saying: "I'm very much the same person who was here last year who had a fantastic finish to the season. "I have not changed as a person.

"Of course I understand, 100 per cent understand where the fans are coming from.

"They want a winning Newcastle team and I also want a winning Newcastle team.

"At the moment, we have not been winning and I understand their frustration."

Roeder's departure comes at the end of a week which has seen frenzied speculation about his position and the availability of former Bolton manager Sam Allardyce.

However, chairman Freddy Shepherd had earlier insisted he had never spoken to Allardyce, who turned the job down before Graeme Souness was appointed in 2004, about the matter.

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

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has also been linked with the Newcastle hot seat, although Shepherd has been quick to dismiss these reports.

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