The thing is, what we really need is a younger manager who's shown the promise of making the step up to the PL. What Ashley would get us is one of the decrepit, recycled, relics who's been everywhere but done nothing.
Dodgy Google translation, but see the bold bit:
http://www.26noticias.com.ar/san-lorenzo-volvio-al-trabajo-a-la-espera-del-burrito-pero-con-coloccini-casi-descartado-164202.html
Last year, then, was just the case of having enough good players who were able to stay healthy long enough and were played in comfortable enough positions to paper over Pardew's faults? That what it seems like now. I can only hope that we get enough good players in this window to pull off a similar trick to keep us up.