AyeDubbleYoo Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 We've had a ridiculous amount of dumb luck since relegation last year. Ashley failed to re-sign Shearer, turns out that Hughton guy was actually the right man for the job. Ashley fails to make significant signings in the summer, turns out "this group of lads" were actually awesome. Ashley sacks Hughton, turns out that Pardew guy who we all thought would fail miserably wasn't too bad after all. By all indications he's been engaging in his usual idiocy, it's just that things have turned out okay for us somehow. Selling Carroll only starts to qualify as a good decision if the money is aggressively re-invested this summer. Agree with all that. Me too, but you could equally argue that those decisions just seemed bad to us fans, when in fact the man in charge predicted it would turn out OK! Not saying I endorse that point of view, but it also seems harsh to admit some of his decisions have worked out well while denying the possibility that any of those results were intentional. Particularly with regard to not signing Shearer and replacing Hughton with Pardew. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UV Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 I give credit to Ashley here. He took bold gambles in replacing Hughton and cashing in on Carroll half way through the season. Both decisions seem to have paid off, however unpopular they were at the time. I think Ashley has got to grips with the job now. Things are looking up again. I really don't understand why anyone is even talking about replacing Hughton at this stage, it's absolute madness. He's built a dressing room of players that are all pulling together to keep us up. We might not agree with all of his selections, but he's very limited by the pool of players he has to work with. By all accounts, his signings have been pretty good and addressed some of our weaknesses. It's criminal to be thinking of changing our manager at this point... do we want to go back to the circus of recent years? I agree with you. I find this a bit embarrassing, considering Hughton's overall record since he's been in charge. If fans of another club were doing this, we'd be laughing at them and saying how weak and fickle they are. The club has to hold its nerve through the difficult times. Unless Hughton has lost the support of the dressing room - and there's absolutely no indication of that - then the club should be fully behind him. bobyule's opinion changing to suit whatever Ashley does shocker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 The decision to sack Hughton seemed ludicrous at the time...but then the decision to hire him in the first place was also considered daft. Ashley bashing aside (because that really is a whole other subject) Pardew has done well to this point. He might well wreck all of that with a bad summer's buying but then that hasn't happened yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronky Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 We've had a ridiculous amount of dumb luck since relegation last year. Ashley failed to re-sign Shearer, turns out that Hughton guy was actually the right man for the job. Ashley fails to make significant signings in the summer, turns out "this group of lads" were actually awesome. Ashley sacks Hughton, turns out that Pardew guy who we all thought would fail miserably wasn't too bad after all. By all indications he's been engaging in his usual idiocy, it's just that things have turned out okay for us somehow. Selling Carroll only starts to qualify as a good decision if the money is aggressively re-invested this summer. This sounds like he gets all the blame when things go wrong, and none of the credit when things go right. That's not a rational position. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronky Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 I give credit to Ashley here. He took bold gambles in replacing Hughton and cashing in on Carroll half way through the season. Both decisions seem to have paid off, however unpopular they were at the time. I think Ashley has got to grips with the job now. Things are looking up again. I really don't understand why anyone is even talking about replacing Hughton at this stage, it's absolute madness. He's built a dressing room of players that are all pulling together to keep us up. We might not agree with all of his selections, but he's very limited by the pool of players he has to work with. By all accounts, his signings have been pretty good and addressed some of our weaknesses. It's criminal to be thinking of changing our manager at this point... do we want to go back to the circus of recent years? I agree with you. I find this a bit embarrassing, considering Hughton's overall record since he's been in charge. If fans of another club were doing this, we'd be laughing at them and saying how weak and fickle they are. The club has to hold its nerve through the difficult times. Unless Hughton has lost the support of the dressing room - and there's absolutely no indication of that - then the club should be fully behind him. bobyule's opinion changing to suit whatever Ashley does shocker. For sure, I was dead against Hughton being sacked and was shocked when it happened. However, I will credit Ashley for having the guts to make the decision, because it was never going to be a popular one, and if it had not worked out, there would be hell to pay. He was prepared to back his own opinion and take that responsibility, whereas previously his regime had been floundering from one crisis to another, rather than acting pro-actively. I'd also say that the decision has worked out far better than I was expecting. I feared an outbreak of disunity, inside and outside the club, but Pardew has held the ship together. Whether Hughton would have been the better choice for the long-term role we'll never know, but Ashley's judgement of Pardew's ability now looks sound. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Flash Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Pardew's consistency worries me slightly. He's basically doing what Hughton did by getting a good result then getting a bad result. This is something he needs to address next season or we'll go no further than we are now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 The gamble to sell Carroll has only paid off in that we didn't go down. If the money isn't reinvested in the squad - particularly on replacement goalscorers - we'll be struggling again next year. Without at least one proven goalscorer, we're doomed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Pardew's consistency worries me slightly. He's basically doing what Hughton did by getting a good result then getting a bad result. This is something he needs to address next season or we'll go no further than we are now. How many bad results have we actually got under Pardew? Can't think of many. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JH Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 The gamble to sell Carroll has only paid off in that we didn't go down. If the money isn't reinvested in the squad - particularly on replacement goalscorers - we'll be struggling again next year. Without at least one proven goalscorer, we're doomed. http://www.nufcblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/shola-ameobi-nigeria.jpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Knock it off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JH Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Pardew's consistency worries me slightly. He's basically doing what Hughton did by getting a good result then getting a bad result. This is something he needs to address next season or we'll go no further than we are now. How many bad results have we actually got under Pardew? Can't think of many. Stoke, Fulham and Villa are the only ones that come to my mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
80 Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 However, I will credit Ashley for having the guts to make the decision, because it was never going to be a popular one, and if it had not worked out, there would be hell to pay. He was prepared to back his own opinion and take that responsibility, whereas previously his regime had been floundering from one crisis to another, rather than acting pro-actively. I disagree about this, I think indecisiveness has never been a problem for Ashley. I've taken most of his disastrous actions as being born of his boldness - claiming until medical science made it impossible that Joe Kinnear was the right choice and that he was sticking by him, for example. Chucking Allardyce out of the blue and appointing Keegan even more out of the blue was another. He portrayed those and many other things as being active and constant choices as opposed to situations that he was just thrust into and didn't know whether to change. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Pardew's consistency worries me slightly. He's basically doing what Hughton did by getting a good result then getting a bad result. This is something he needs to address next season or we'll go no further than we are now. How many bad results have we actually got under Pardew? Can't think of many. Stoke, Fulham and Villa are the only ones that come to my mind. You could put Stevenage in too, of course 4 out of 22. Shoot him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Flash Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Pardew's consistency worries me slightly. He's basically doing what Hughton did by getting a good result then getting a bad result. This is something he needs to address next season or we'll go no further than we are now. How many bad results have we actually got under Pardew? Can't think of many. Liverpool, Blackpool, Villa, Stoke, Everton, Bolton (maybe), Blackburn, Fulham and Stevenage for one reason or another could be classed as bad/disappointing results. On the flipside, we've had roughly the same amount of good results/performances. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 We always get beat at Anfield. Our terrific side under Bobby got hammered 3-0 there in 2002. How on earth draws at Ewood and Bloomfield Road can be bad results - especially considering the players at our disposal - is completely beyond me, like. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BooBoo Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Losing at places like Fulham and Villa can only really be seen as a bad result for the top 6 clubs IMO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Flash Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 We always lose at Stamford Bridge yet we drew with Chelsea with a far worse team than the one who played Liverpool. The players at our disposal have picked up plenty of good results (against much better teams than Blackpool and Blackburn) so you can't blame them as much as you'd like. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Yep. They're only bad results if we were expecting top 5 or whatever. We were always going to be inconsistent. Every club from 7th down generally is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
80 Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Always had Arsenal at home down as a dodgy game, myself. Maybe the romantic in me is dead or something but the comeback didn't wipe out what had already happened for me - I expect us to do something like what happened in the second half when we're in those situations, whereas the first half was an unacceptable embarrassment. Anything less than a close run end to the game would have been potentially sack worthy. That said, as I always have, I recognise Pardew himself was working in difficult circumstances at the time. He's played his hand here pretty well by his standards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WisconsinMagpie Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Pardew's consistency worries me slightly. He's basically doing what Hughton did by getting a good result then getting a bad result. True. But he's doing what Hughton did without the team Hughton had. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Flash Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Losing at places like Fulham and Villa can only really be seen as a bad result for the top 6 clubs IMO. Villa were at their lowest point for years when we GAVE them 3 points. The performance against Fulham was more painful than the score in all honesty. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
80 Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Yep. They're only bad results if we were expecting top 5 or whatever. We were always going to be inconsistent. Every club from 7th down generally is. Every club from around 2nd down, this year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 We always lose at Stamford Bridge yet we drew with Chelsea with a far worse team than the one who played Liverpool. The players at our disposal have picked up plenty of good results (against much better teams than Blackpool and Blackburn) so you can't blame them as much as you'd like. Blaming them for what? Pardew's got the best out of them, and you just don't want to admit it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Flash Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 We always lose at Stamford Bridge yet we drew with Chelsea with a far worse team than the one who played Liverpool. The players at our disposal have picked up plenty of good results (against much better teams than Blackpool and Blackburn) so you can't blame them as much as you'd like. Blaming them for what? Pardew's got the best out of them, and you just don't want to admit it. Miss the second line of my post? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Clearly not, that's primarily what I was responding to. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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