Alan '48 points' Pardew

[Dave]

Very active transfer windows? I can think of two at best.

[healthyaddiction]

I think maybe three.  January in Championship, Summer where we signed Cabaye et al and then January with Sissoko et al.

[Happy Face]

The day that Alan Pardew took the manager's job at Newcastle this was the respective Premier League record for him and Chris Hughton, the man he was replacing.

 

http://oi60.tinypic.com/2zyfv4z.jpg

 

The difference between the two was imperceptible in terms of results, which made the decision bizarre.  There were other factors that took it to the realms of concerning though.  In terms of character, the gulf between the two men was huge.  Pardew arrived with a history of "dodgy" moments in his past which Reading Chairman John Madejski, Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger, Ian Ashbee, West Ham fans and the entire MOTD audience can attest too. Pardew has since gone on to commit further indiscressions against match officials, opposition managers and players, while Hughton's respect and popularity in the game remain undiminished, despite his less than successful stint at Norwich.

 

It seemed to me like Mike Ashley was bringing in the Frank Spencer of the football world to replace Gus Fring.  Someone who demanded no respect from anybody whatsoever, a derided individual who would put their foot in it at any and every opportunity in place of someone cool and collected who may not have ultimately succeeded, but ran a tight ship and inspired 100% effort and respect from every one of his employees.  And has black and white hair.

 

As you will guess, like most, I was not keen on the appointment.

 

Then came the 2011/2012 season.  With new signings Cabaye, Ba and Santon in the team Newcastle went undefeated for the first eleven games, winning seven of them on the way to sitting pretty in third place by November.  Pardew’s stock was on the rise.  To paraphrase Paul Simon, pundits can gather all the news they need from the Premier League table.  For those of us that actually paid money to watch it week in and week out though, it wasn't so simple.  The football was awful even in that early run which remains Pardew’s best.  We were scraping wins on individual moments of skill, by one goal, against relegation bait like Wigan, Wolves and Sunderland.  We were taken to extra time in the cup by lowly Scunthorpe and Nottingham Forest.

 

While the laziest observers  (Redknapp, Lawrenson) were waxing lyrical about the job Pardew was doing, I looked at the quality  of opposition each Premier League team had faced in the opening ten games.  The result showed Newcastle had had one of the easiest starts possible.

 

http://i61.tinypic.com/120kmm1.jpg

 

It was clear to me Pardew had landed on his feet, but his good fortune couldn't last.  And so it proved.  After those initial eleven games Newcastle went on a run of eight games with just one solitary win against (ultimately relegated) Bolton.  Only five points. While you might suppose that new players bedding into a team should see the performances improve over time, as players learn about the system and each other, the opposite seemed to be true at Newcastle.  Players were not gelling over time.  They were becoming more disjointed.

 

Then Papiss Cisse arrived. From his debut, when he scored a peach of a volley against Aston Villa, Cisse scored in every single game we won from then on, up to his unbelievable strike, from the dugout if I remember correctly, in our last win of the season at Chelsea.  Everything he swung a foot at seemed to fly into the back of the net.

 

Mike Ashley had loosened the purse strings and papered over the cracks for Pardew on what had been starting to look like a downward spiral. For the remainder of the season Newcastle never dropped below 7th and ultimately finished 5th, securing a UEFA cup place for the following season.  Pardew won the LMA Manager of the year award and the likes of Redknapp and Lawrenson had an ever so pleased look on their ill-informed, stupid, smug, melty faces.

Begrudgingly I had to accept the man was staying, not enthusiastically.

 

The way 2012/2013 went, it should have been vindication for those of us opposed to Pardew, but a strange thing happened.  He started to gain some of my sympathy.  On the transfer front, Vurnon Anita was little (in every sense) reward for having achieved UEFA qualification, in whatever style.  With over a dozen extra fixtures in the calendar Pardew was being forced to make do.  The relegation scrap that ensued was one that Ashley took the blame for almost entirely.  The club went on a dreadful pre-christmas run (again) of thirteen games with just two victories (against lowly Wigan and QPR), but criticism of Pardew was muted and always caveated by the fact the threadbare squad had not been strengthened to any great degree.

 

In January, Pardew went cap in hand to Ashley and once again would have been grateful as five signings dug him out of the hole he found himself in.  Five wins in the following nine games were largely attributable to the new blood and only just ensured survival for the club and for Pardew.

 

Whatever the failings of Ashley in the transfer market, a pattern was emerging of results worsening consistently under Pardew until new players came in.  He has never been able to maintain the performance of those new players or the team further than their initial honeymoon.  It was a pattern that would continue into the current season.

 

http://i62.tinypic.com/4gt660.jpg

 

Once again at the beginning of the season we saw small shoots of success.  Loic Remy arrived on loan and singlehandedly fired us up the league while the Cisse that we had known and loved continued to go AWOL.  The long balls we had been lumping up to Ba and Shola previously were less prevalent as we instead capitalised on Remy’s speed and skill to score goals on the break.  It’s at times like these, in the moment, you are tempted to take the positives.  I found myself defending Pardew based on Ashley’s dereliction of duty on the transfer front.  The justification that we flirted with relegation as a cost of Europa league qualification without squad improvement seemed logical, and here we were back in the top six and passing it about much better.  The form we’ve shown since Christmas has disavowed anyone of that notion though.  It’s been relegation form without any Europa excuses whatsoever.

 

Few Newcastle fans will make the mistake of listening to the excuses again.  The pattern has become too recognisable.  With the benefit of hindsight any minimal success Pardew has had can be put into context showing that he’s always been the problem, new players coming in to offer a temporary lift are the only solution he has.

 

Under Mike Ashley, a man not keen to be signing expensive players to come straight into the first team, it’s not a sustainable approach.  Ashley has two options in the summer.  Keep bailing Pardew out, bring in another four or five players to ensure a good start, but watch them quickly fall off in form too, or he could bring in a manager who can maintain enthusiasm and effort enough to avoid relegation form from a squad which is better paid and cost more to build than over half of the other squads in the league.

 

I’d say Chris Hughton is available, but Ashley has had problems with re-instating old Newcastle managers in the past.

[Guest firetotheworks]

Can you summarise that in a sound please?

[mrmojorisin75]

i think you go extremely easy on pardew in your assessment of last season HF, much of that was his doing imho and i said so at the time

 

otherwise pretty much on the mark about the cunt aye

[Happy Face]

Can you summarise that in a sound please?

 

"Cunt"

[Pilko]

Can you summarise that in a sound please?

 

[TaylorJ_01]

Can you summarise that in a sound please?

 

[colinmk]

Agree with pretty much all of that article HF although also agree with Mojo that last season could and would have been avoided with any semi-decent manager.

[Cclay]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/15/alan-pardew-dangerous-blame-game-newcastle-united

[Lenny]

Good write-up, that

 

Not much we don't know or suspect given what we've seen over the 3 years, but it's nice to see some facts that back it up.

[mrmojorisin75]

Agree with pretty much all of that article HF although also agree with Mojo that last season could and would have been avoided with any semi-decent manager.

 

aye, he utterly fucked it from start to finish like...i'm not having any excuses on his part for that fuckfest, none of it

[Happy Face]

Agree with pretty much all of that article HF although also agree with Mojo that last season could and would have been avoided with any semi-decent manager.

 

Aye, some of it is more about explaining where i was coming from earlier in the season.  Up to then Pardew either had a canny season or mitigating circumstances to excuse the poor form.  I thought at that time there was a debate to be had about that and whether Pardew deserved all the stick he was getting.

 

As we all know, correlation isn't causation though.  This season has been the one to prove beyond any doubt Pardew's failings. No-one can legitimately defend him in any way now.

[mrmojorisin75]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/15/alan-pardew-dangerous-blame-game-newcastle-united

 

"A new word has entered the Geordie vocabulary: Pardewed. To be Pardewed involves having all the creativity crushed out of you. "

 

what a start

[AlanSkÃrare]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/15/alan-pardew-dangerous-blame-game-newcastle-united

 

"A new word has entered the Geordie vocabulary: Pardewed. To be Pardewed involves having all the creativity crushed out of you. Increasing numbers of Newcastle United fans believe its victims include several members of the club's first-team squad.

 

Moussa Sissoko, Yoan Gouffran and Sylvain Marveaux are seen as good examples of a process that Hatem Ben Arfa is, rather forlornly, rebelling against."

 

Get in. One of the few times she's done something good.

[AlanSkÃrare]

Is it only me, or do people on here feel strange about the opinions many of us on here have been arguing for the past 12 months  are hitting home NOW? (his philosophy and negativity being the main reasons for last season, technical and dynamic players being Pardewed etc.)

 

It's been incredibly obvious for more than a year. I know many on here were done with him after Reading at SJP. He lost me for good by the derby. His ideas and true footballing mentality has been painfully transparent even when we've had good spells. He always reverts to it.

 

How f***ing hard is it to see? They needed banners at Stoke to admit to this?

[Happy Face]

Is it only me, or do people on here feel strange about the opinions many of us on here have been arguing for the past 12 months (his philosophy and negativity being the main reasons for last season, technical and dynamic players being Pardewed etc.) are hitting home NOW?

 

It's been incredibly obvious for more than a year. I know many on here were done with him after Reading at SJP. He lost me for good by the derby. His ideas and true footballing mentality has been painfully transparent even when we've had good spells. He always reverts to it.

 

How fucking hard is it to see? They needed banners at Stoke to admit to this?

 

I don't think anyone has ever doubted his inability.  That's why I referred back to his first full season when I thought we were generally awful.

 

Fans only vary in the degree of their pragmatism and how long it's held out.

[KaKa]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/15/alan-pardew-dangerous-blame-game-newcastle-united

 

"A new word has entered the Geordie vocabulary: Pardewed. To be Pardewed involves having all the creativity crushed out of you. Increasing numbers of Newcastle United fans believe its victims include several members of the club's first-team squad.

 

Moussa Sissoko, Yoan Gouffran and Sylvain Marveaux are seen as good examples of a process that Hatem Ben Arfa is, rather forlornly, rebelling against."

 

Get in. One of the few times she's done something good.

 

WOW! 

 

Actually put in the full definition of Pardewed with examples of players who have ben affected.

 

That is glorious. Absolutely glorious.

 

[Hanshithispantz]

Is it only me, or do people on here feel strange about the opinions many of us on here have been arguing for the past 12 months  are hitting home NOW? (his philosophy and negativity being the main reasons for last season, technical and dynamic players being Pardewed etc.)

 

It's been incredibly obvious for more than a year. I know many on here were done with him after Reading at SJP. He lost me for good by the derby. His ideas and true footballing mentality has been painfully transparent even when we've had good spells. He always reverts to it.

 

How f***ing hard is it to see? They needed banners at Stoke to admit to this?

Yeah, without trying to sound like a prat, although it is difficult when saying this, it's just entirely obvious to me (or "us"). I see no reason to read or write anything in any great detail anymore that tries to analyse Pardew's performance or explain why he shouldn't be managing the club. I'm just happy the media have finally decided to inform everyone else.

[ponsaelius]

Decent write up that from statz man. Pardew has built his entire NUFC career on the individual talents of players and the bounce they give when they join, before gradually dragging them down to the shitty disorganised malaise that he has the balls to refer to as a style of play. Unless we pull 3-4 Remy/Cabaye level players out of nowhere in the summer we will be relegated next season.

[Happy Face]

Is it only me, or do people on here feel strange about the opinions many of us on here have been arguing for the past 12 months  are hitting home NOW? (his philosophy and negativity being the main reasons for last season, technical and dynamic players being Pardewed etc.)

 

It's been incredibly obvious for more than a year. I know many on here were done with him after Reading at SJP. He lost me for good by the derby. His ideas and true footballing mentality has been painfully transparent even when we've had good spells. He always reverts to it.

 

How f***ing hard is it to see? They needed banners at Stoke to admit to this?

Yeah, without trying to sound like a prat, although it is difficult when saying this, it's just entirely obvious to me (or "us"). I see no reason to read or write anything in any great detail anymore that tries to analyse Pardew's performance or explain why he shouldn't be managing the club. I'm just happy the media have finally decided to inform everyone else.

 

Surely when we're in the worst run of form andthe press are noticing, it's exactly the right time to heap criticism on him as much as possible if you want him out.

 

Criticism while we're chasing Europe is never going to catch fire and mount any significant pressure.  It certainly won't resonate in the national (international) press.

[ponsaelius]

Comment on that Guardian article posted 2:12pm is the worst thing I've ever seen

[Interpolic]

I don't see the wisdom of blaming the failure that was last season 100% on lack of investment or 100% on Pardew or 100% on anything else for that matter.  Far too many times I looked at our lineup last season and thought we should have far too much for the opposition on paper, then we got beat.  That's the manager's responsibility, along with the coaching staff and the players.

 

Near-relegation was obviously due to a combination of factors and it was obvious at the time, just as it is now, that the manager should take his share of the blame.  Only now is that happening widely, 12 months later.

[Hanshithispantz]

Is it only me, or do people on here feel strange about the opinions many of us on here have been arguing for the past 12 months  are hitting home NOW? (his philosophy and negativity being the main reasons for last season, technical and dynamic players being Pardewed etc.)

 

It's been incredibly obvious for more than a year. I know many on here were done with him after Reading at SJP. He lost me for good by the derby. His ideas and true footballing mentality has been painfully transparent even when we've had good spells. He always reverts to it.

 

How f***ing hard is it to see? They needed banners at Stoke to admit to this?

Yeah, without trying to sound like a prat, although it is difficult when saying this, it's just entirely obvious to me (or "us"). I see no reason to read or write anything in any great detail anymore that tries to analyse Pardew's performance or explain why he shouldn't be managing the club. I'm just happy the media have finally decided to inform everyone else.

 

Surely when we're in the worst run of form andthe press are noticing, it's exactly the right time to heap criticism on him as much as possible if you want him out.

 

Criticism while we're chasing Europe is never going to catch fire and mount any significant pressure.  It certainly won't resonate in the national (international) press.

Nah I agree, sorry it probably didn't read as I meant it too tbh.

 

I'm happy that there's a lot of negative press surrounding him at the minute, I just personally cannot really be arsed to read it. The more there is the better though, and hopefully anyone still trying to defend him at this point reads stuff like this and gets on board, whether it be in the media, on sites such as TrueFaith and The Mag or on one of the various blogs.

[Happy Face]

I don't see the wisdom of blaming the failure that was last season 100% on lack of investment or 100% on Pardew or 100% on anything else for that matter.  Far too many times I looked at our lineup last season and thought we should have far too much for the opposition on paper, then we got beat.  That's the manager's responsibility, along with the coaching staff and the players.

 

Near-relegation was obviously due to a combination of factors and it was obvious at the time, just as it is now, that the manager should take his share of the blame.  Only now is that happening widely, 12 months later.

 

Absolutely.

 

I was trying to get across that whether we've finished top 5(11/12) or bottom 5 (12/13) or somewhere in between (13/14), the performances throughout have been standard Pardew, and ALWAYS offered diminishing returns.  For better or worse, due to finishing 5th the year before and not having been backed in the summer, he got off light with criticism last year, Ashley took the brunt of criticism from most media and many of the more pragmatic (without any positive or negative connotation on that word) fans.