I have a belief that all managers should offer their resignation after a heavy or significant defeat.
So after the 3-0 reverse at home to Sunderland, Alan Pardew should have told their board he was ready to quit, if they wanted him to.
And after the 6-0 thrashing by Liverpool in front of 50,000 Geordies, Pardew, in my view, had a duty to put his job at the mercy of the board of directors at Newcastle.
Heavy defeats tend to show that a team was ill-prepared for the task. That is the manager’s responsibility.
Most football managers have an ego the size of Wembley – even those who fail badly still cling on to the belief they could have been a success had they been given just a little bit more time.
The reality is no one individual is bigger than the club – and that includes the boss.
Recent history suggests failing managers stick around for their pay-off, almost as if the wishes of the fans and the good health of the club mean nothing.
Hit for six: Christian Benteke scored a hat-trick as Villa beat Sunderland 6-1 on Monday nightOut of duty to the fans and the club the manager should offer to resign after a hammering. Then it’s up to the board if they accept that resignation or not.
And yes that also applies to Paolo Di Canio after Sunderland were battered at Villa.
I love De La Soul. In fact I’m going to see the New York hip-hop trio live in London next week and I can’t wait.
My favourite track is Oooh from the Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump album but I can’t sing along to it. At least, not in full.
My voice isn’t the most tuneful, that’s for sure. And trying to do a passable impression of a rap star from Long Island just isn’t going to happen for me.
But those are not the reasons I can’t singalong with De La Soul.
VIDEO: Oooh by De La Soul - This clip contains language some readers may find offensive
The N-word is sung on more than one occasion in the song Oooh, and my personal policy is never to use the word. I’m not interested in offending people.
I also feel a responsibility as a white man to do all I can to ask forgiveness from all black people for the sins of my ancestors who made slaves of people with different skin.
It’s my view and I’m passionate about it.
I also understand how it is deemed inoffensive for a black man to call another black man the N-word, but for a white man to use the same word towards a black man, it instantly becomes demeaning and derogatory. It reeks of the superiority masters felt over their slaves.
So for those reasons I feel I never have the right to ever use the word, in whatever context.
Sadly there are white people whose thought processes can’t go beyond a very basic conclusion: 'If it’s OK for a black man to use the N-word, then why can’t I?'
Missing the target: Comedian Reginald D Hunter at the PFA Player of the Year AwardsAt the PFA awards a black comedian used the word in front of a room full of footballers.
We all know some of those attending need an education as to what actually constitutes racist language.
And so to have a black man on stage legitimising the use of the N-word is probably the least helpful message the PFA could have sent.
There are organisations in this country who exist to make sure all forms of racism are kicked out of football. So there is no room for mixed messages, there is no room for confusion.
The message must be clear and unequivocal.
And the Professional Footballers’ Association, who have members found guilty of racially abusing black players and using racist language, failed badly at their awards night on Sunday.
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But where did it all start going wrong?
It’s easy to say they shouldn’t have sacked Mick McCarthy last season, but he was rightly dismissed after a run of one win in 10 and then a 5-1 home defeat by rivals West Brom.
Sacking McCarthy wasn’t the mistake, it’s who they replaced him with that’s been the problem.
First Terry Connor. When McCarthy was sacked, chief executive Jez Moxey talked about finding a manager to turn the club’s fortunes around, and how they had to change managers otherwise they were 'definitely going to be relegated.'
So appointing McCarthy’s assistant was a ridiculous decision. Wolves went down.
Relegation, with the parachute payments being so huge (Wolves picked up £16million this season, and it’s £48m over four seasons in total for failing to stay in the Premier League), wasn’t a disaster in itself. But the next managerial appointment was.
Stale Solbakken had been a complete flop in the Bundesliga with Cologne. A losing start to his reign, was followed by some head-scratching from the Norwegian, when he openly admitted he had no idea when his 'system' would start working.
He fell out with some players, leaving some of them behind when he took the squad on a team-building trip in February 2012.
Results were awful, they were sinking down the Bundesliga table, and in the end he was sacked after one win in 10. Cologne were relegated.
What part of that disastrous short reign in Germany persuaded Wolves to take him on last summer?
A run of three wins in 17, and an FA Cup defeat by non-League Luton saw Solbakken sacked.
So who next? With Wolves six points above the relegation zone in 18th place in the Championship they appointed Dean Saunders, a man who was relegated from the same division the previous season.
The decision-making process at Molineux is flawed, and that’s an understatement.
At what point was Edgar Davids ever going to be the right appointment for Barnet?
Back in November on a Tuesday night at Underhill, Davids turned out in front of 1,500 fans to help Barnet to a 1-0 victory over Torquay.
Ten days later the former Holland midfielder was sent off against Accrington Stanley.
There are so many young English coaches with immense knowledge of the lower divisions desperate for a break at a club. So what possessed Barnet to appoint Davids?
Down and out: Edgar Davids and Barnet have slipped out of the Football LeagueHe was a great player – a Champions League winner, three times he won the title in Italy, and three times in Holland.
He had successful campaigns at France 98 and Euro 2000 with Holland.
So what exactly did he know about the bottom of League Two, other than the fact he lives quite close to Underhill?
Barnet failed to score in four of their last seven games, won just two of them and were relegated out of the Football League.
When Davids was appointed, Barnet chairman Tony Kleanthous declared: 'These are exciting times ahead for our club.'
Non-League trips to Woking, Braintree and Gatesehad will be very exciting, I’m sure.
I had an interesting conversation with an Arsenal fan this week about which player is better – Santi Cazorla or Eden Hazard?
The Gooner prefaced his point by saying he is a huge admirer of Juan Mata, and then proceeded to rip into Hazard, saying he is massively overrated and his biggest contribution to the 2012-13 season was being sent off for kicking a ball boy.
So wrong.
Star man: Eden Hazard (left) has been superb this season... better than Santi Cazorla (below right)
Hazard is the real deal. While Cazorla has gone hiding when Arsenal desperately needed him this season (did he play in the second half against Manchester United?), Hazard has shown up, except when Rafa Benitez's bizarre team selections have seen the Belgian left on the bench.
To be fair to Cazorla, he’s been thrown into a team this season where he had to instantly become the leader and the best player.
Hazard has been playing with players so good that I believe with the right manager Chelsea would’ve won the title.
Back in March I launched a campaign to stop Crystal Palace getting any more penalties.
At that point they had been awarded more penalties than any other club in the country, and some of them had been very dubious.
Since the campaign started Palace have not been given a spot-kick and they haven’t won a game, falling well short in the race for automatic promotion.
Looming large is the final day of the season. Palace are at home to Peterborough United, the club I’ve supported since I was a boy in the 1970s.
Posh need a win to be sure of survival, anything less could mean relegation depending on other results.
An extremely dodgy last-minute Palace penalty to send Posh down seems inevitable.
Perhaps I didn’t think this campaign through thoroughly enough.
Teenager Marcello Trotta may never recover from his ego-driven over-confidence that saw him demand to take a penalty on Saturday.
Had he scored, Brentford would have been promoted from League One.
But he smashed the ball against the bar and 18 seconds later Billy Paynter unselfishly squared for James Coppinger to tap home the goal to win a game Doncaster thought they were about to lose.
Spot of bother: Marcello Trotta crashed his penalty off the bar as Brentford missed out Nowhere to hide: Trotta (centre) after the Bees snatched defeat from the jaws of victoryThat goal also gave Donny promotion, as champions, and consigned Brentford to the play-offs.
Brentford fans’ favourite and club captain Kevin O’Connor is the designated penalty taker. He believed grappling with Trotta for the ball wasn’t what Brentford needed in added-time of such a crucial game. He’s probably right, and O’Connor was measured and decent in his comments after the game.
Not the finest moment in the so far short career of Marcello Trotta. More like Rodney Trotta.
What a plonker.
More... Villa 6 Sunderland 1: Lambert's boys take huge step towards survival as nightmare night leaves Di Canio's 10 men back at risk Storm brewing as Paolo beaten! Shocking result sees Black Cats in relegation dogfight Slog on the Tyne! As desperate Newcastle sink further into the mire, where did it go wrong for the Magpies? Pressure rises but Pardew remains defiant despite heaviest defeat of his career
