Journalist Louise Taylor writes:

"Last night friends of Shearer indicated that the former Newcastle and England captain would be interested in managing his home-town club should Allardyce, who witnessed a 3-1 defeat at Blackburn on Saturday, fail to turn things around...The former striker has been touted as a potential successor to Steve McClaren as England's head coach but it is understood that he would be more interested in coaching Newcastle than his country."

Newcastle face Arsenal mid-week in a tie which they must steal the points, however with Arsenal winning more games than most and Newcastle still finding their feet the likelihood of a straight win is slim.

Big Sam however, remains confident in the work his is doing with Newcastle United, recently quoted saying:

"I can't do a job, other than by doing it the right way.

At the moment, there's 52,000 who can pick a better team than me, so that's a distraction you can't let happen.

You've got to get on with your job. You know what works, and you know what doesn't work. You know what's right, and what's not right.

Just because you get one or two bad results, it's doesn't change the way you work."

Since Newcastle's 3-1 defeat against Blackburn at the weekend, the pressure has increased on both the manager and the players. Allardyce reflected on the team's performance after the match.

"The support, the performance and commitment from everybody was terrific.

The most disappointing thing of all is the most crucial thing of all - the result. And that is difficult to take after a performance like that and the support we've been shown.

We were in control of game for long periods but unfortunately we fell foul of being caught on the break. That is the disappointing thing for me. When we got in front, instead of going 2-0 up we went 1-1. At that particular time Charles N'Zogbia had a chance to make it 2-0 but was wrongly ruled offside.

They go up the other and score. While I am bitterly upset at the result, the performance was excellent."

However in today's The Sun Alan Smith has spoken out with regards to the team's performance and the fans reaction.

"We wanted it to be a turning point. We didn't get the result but I think it showed it was from the commitment we got from the fans and the players.

Everyone who came saw the improvement, not just in the performance but also in the manner of the performance but also in the manner of the performance. And that was a big thing from our point of view.

We wanted to get out there and make sure we played with pride and passion. I think you saw from the reaction of the fans at the end that they got that. It was a different Newcastle United from the one you saw last Saturday. This is the one we want to see for the rest of the season.

It's the manner of the defeats that disappoints the fans and the players. But this time they were singing us off at the end. They know when a team has given 100%, they know when players deserve clapping off and they know when they deserve a b******ing."

Whilst Blackburn manager Mark Hughes said of Allardyce:

"Everybody need time and Sam' in a situation where people are showing impatience. But he's a proven Premier League manager and a guy who gets results. Given time he'll do that with Newcastle. I've seen examples at Manchester United of players who were very good prior to being signed but then crumbled before your eyes. That's when you have to make sure the players you have are able to cope with the demands of the club they're playing for."

Bookies William Hill has Alan Shearer as 5/4 favourite to succeed Big Sam and Martin Jol 7/2-second favourite. Allardyce 5/2-second favourite to be the next Premier League manager to get the boot behind 9/4 favourite Gareth Southgate.

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