Sam Allardyce goes in on Anthony Gordon as Newcastle exit nears

Former Newcastle United boss Sam Allardyce has taken aim at Anthony Gordon's attitude as the winger looks set to leave St James' Park.

Sam Allardyce was one of the most unpopular managers in Newcastle's recent history, but the former Sunderland man has leapt to the club's defence in a recent episode of the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast.

Big Sam seems to have taken offence at the way Anthony Gordon and his team have handled his potential exit from Newcastle.

While nothing has been agreed yet, a summer exit for the England man seems inevitable as various reports of transfer meetings appear in the media and Eddie HOwe seems to be refusing to put Gordon out on the pitch.

Anthony Gordon has struck a nerve with Sam Allardyce

Trouble is certainly brewing behind the scenes, and Sam Allardyce feels managers and clubs should have more power in these situations.

“He’s already made the statement, he doesn’t want to be there. His agent has already been out talking [to other clubs]. He did the same at Everton.

"I think there is so much research now that goes on, or has to go on, about a football player like Anthony Gordon or [Alexander] Isak, that they are going to throw the towel in as soon as somebody bigger comes in for them. I think there needs to be a real look at that situation.

“You don't see the PFA, it's disgraceful not coming out and slaughtering the player. They are straight away jumping on your back if you try to discipline them or trying to fine them.. They will say: 'oh we will have to go to an appeal and you go: 'Shut up'. I almost swore there but you then go: 'All right, we will just not play them. How about that?'

"I think there should be a bigger punishment for that. And people need to look at contracts and write contracts in because it appears that when they decide they don't like the contract any more they go when they feel like it. And the agent goes and does the deal on the side."

Players have way too much power

We all said it last year: players have far too much power. The way Alexander Isak engineered his exit from Newcastle, and to a lesser extent, how Yoane Wissa got his move to Tyneside, they both left their clubs in terrible positions.

Newcastle didn't have a CEO in office or a sporting director in place to deal with the fallout either, so Isak had the beating of Eddie Howe and his recruitment team, so it's no surprise that everything was such a mess.

Contracts aren't worth the paper they're printed on these days, if indeed they ever were, and the fact that agents and the like are able to meet with clubs well before any contact has been made between the buying club and the selling club is so wrong. In my day, they called that 'tapping up', and it used to come with sanctions. I guess the players managed to squash all of that.

The only good to come from working this way around is that Gordon's future is likely to be sorted out pretty quickly this summer so we can move on.