He's nothing but a lightning rod to take the heat of Pardew and Ashley. A rodeo clown for the fans and media to focus on.
Utterly pointless blaming anything on him. Just a drink sodden embarrassment pretending to do this job.
8. We're in a world of shit.
Best chance is binning Pardew (unlikely) and hitting the reset with a manager more suited to our squad (also unlikely) who can motivate and bring back some harmony and work ethic. But even if both of these things happen, I think the individual talent is a bit overrated.
Bright start, injury and/or bad refereeing decision for Pardew to focus on, go behind, wheels off, collapse. Camera pans to Kinnear sitting next to Ashley. Shola scores a late goal that nobody could fairly call a consolation.