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Hatem Ben Arfa (still a free agent)

Dave

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PineBarrens

PineBarrens

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Posted

Pardew lost the dressing room

By NEIL ASHTON

Last updated at 08:39 12 December 2006

 

When Alan Pardew left West Ham's players scratching their heads before they boarded the team bus to Bolton last Friday, some of the squad began to openly question how much longer he could remain in charge of the club.

They were stunned when he announced before training that the inexperienced left-back George McCartney and rookie defender James Collins would be marking Bolton's muscular strikeforce of El Hadji Diouf and Kevin Davies, their fate was sealed before they even arrived at the Reebok.

 

With Javier Mashcerano left behind in London with a mysterious ankle injury, their experienced centre half Christian Dailly was told he would be playing alongside captain Nigel Reo-Coker and Hayden Mullins as the holding midfielder.

It was a disaster waiting to happen and after nine defeats on the road, the team rolled over and it made it ten.

All three of Bolton's forwards scored - Diouf, Davies and Anelka - in their 4-0 victory, but some of West Ham's senior players confided in friends that "it could easily have been seven or eight".

The manner of that defeat was certainly alien to a club that rolled their sleeves up, finished ninth in the Premiership and came within a whisker of winning the FA Cup final against Liverpool last year.

Those were the days when Pardew's planning was meticulous, but senior players noticed a change in the manager when they reported back for pre-season training.

Flushed with success, some of the squad felt that he was operating the team by remote control.

He earned a basic salary of £1m last season, but that was inflated - along with his ego - to £1.6m after their extraordinary success story.

At the time, the former Reading manager was the man with the midas touch, but when results on the pitch took a turn for the worse, the power struggle in the boardroom provided Pardew with an alibi for their failings on the field.

He was hounded on his mobile phone by their prospective new owner Kia Joorabchian, a man whose disastrous business ventures have already been highlighted in this newspaper, but to his credit, Pardew kept his cool.

After hailing Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez as "world class players" when they signed, he told friends he "wasn't sure if they are for us" within days of their full debuts in the 1-0 defeat against Palermo in the UEFA Cup.

Pardew has undoubtedly missed the injured Dean Ashton, the focal point of his attack last season, but the players must also shoulder some of the blame for his demise.

When the results did not go their way, the backbiting started. The players were upset that Marlon Harewood, the club's leading goalscorer last season, had been forced to make way for Tevez and Mullins, who is the most dependable player at the club, had been axed in favour of Mascherano.

Reo-Coker, the club's captain, threw his shirt at the bench after he was substituted against Liverpool, but Pardew never once carried out his private threat to drop him.

The influential members of the team - captain Nigel Reo-Coker, Anton Ferdinand, Bobby Zamora and Harewood - strongly lobbied assistant manager Peter Grant, who has since left for Norwich, for their return to the team.

After they were beaten 2-0 at home by Newcastle, the players felt Pardew had made the lines of demarcation clear. Some of the players were still squabbling among themselves in the dressing room when the manager walked in and told them to "Shut up and listen to what I have to say".

Pardew told them that he was already a millionaire and didn't need to work, but told the players that they "earned £30,000 a week and were only in it for the money".

He meant that he was only in football because he loved the game, but his comments were misinterpreted and taken by some of the influential players as a sign of arrogance.

A week later, Pardew axed Tevez before their 2-0 defeat at Manchester City and he was clinging on to his job when they lost 2-1 at Chesterfield in the Carling Cup.

After the game, chairman Terrence Brown stormed down to the dressing room and claimed that their performance had been worse than a Sunday pub side, but they staged a mini-revival the following weekend.

Pardew vowed to go back to basics the following weekend against Blackburn and it was Teddy Sheringham, who had waited to patiently for his chance on the sidelines, who inspired their first victory since they beat Charlton on the opening day of the season.

A week later, Pardew appeared to have turned the corner when they beat Arsenal with a last minute winner, but three successive defeats - against Everton, Wigan and Bolton - were the final nails in the coffin.

With new owners to impress, Pardew appeared to have lost his motivational skills with the team and behind the scenes, he was already losing credit with the new chairman Eggert Magnusson.

He explained that the arrival of Tevez and Mascherano had upset the club's rhythm and also told the board that he was disappointed that the previous regime had not backed him in the transfer market in the summer.

Although the move for the Argentinians was done without Pardew's knowledge, he personally sanctioned the transfers on August 31 and he also bought England keeper Robert Green, signed Lee Bowyer from Newcastle and Chelsea striker Carlton Cole during the summer.

Magnusson pledged to make significant investment in the team in the January transfer window, but that will be someone else's responsibility after that battering at Bolton.

The Icelandic business tycoon felt the team had folded and after that, Pardew was finished.

 

 

 

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Willow

Willow

Posted
Posted

"Why can we not say we could be champions? Anything is possible. We can challenge for it. We have good players, a good stadium and great supporters. We have to have confidence. I believe we can do what I say." - Hatem Ben Arfa

 

"I do think clubs are thinking twice about Europe. The Europa League is a massive problem to Premier League teams, Swansea and Tottenham are both feeling that like we did last season." -  Alan Pardew

 

'People will think I’m crazy, but I still dream of winning the Ballon d’Or. I’m sure it’s still possible. In 20 or 30 years, I want my name to be mentioned alongside those of Platini, Zidane, Pele or Maradona.' - HBA

 

“I don’t care if we finish one from bottom, I really don’t. If we can get over the line, our fans know that we have a good group of players,” - Pardle

 

http://i.imgur.com/0tr41pW.gif

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r0cafella

r0cafella

Posted
Posted

As soon as Alan PR Pardew gets a hold of this the media will soon spin it in his favour.

 

I really hope our fans finally see through the bullshit and realise that Pardew is a lying bastard.

 

I can see it now, Pardew saying HBA isn't available for selection as he's announced his intention to dissolve his contract.

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Guest neesy111

Guest neesy111

Posted
Posted

Chronicle are running the story on FB;

 

https://www.facebook.com/eveningchronicle?fref=nf

 

Sadly, some are backing Pardew on this. :( I've already done my bit.

 

#teamHatem

 

This comment :anguish:

 

http://i.imgur.com/PNOokxd.png

 

I generally believe a few of our fans would rather have a team of geordies grafting than actual decent players who would win us games.

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Guest firetotheworks

Guest firetotheworks

Posted
Posted

Chronicle are running the story on FB;

 

https://www.facebook.com/eveningchronicle?fref=nf

 

Sadly, some are backing Pardew on this. :( I've already done my bit.

 

#teamHatem

 

This comment :anguish:

 

http://i.imgur.com/PNOokxd.png

 

I generally believe a few of our fans would rather have a team of geordies grafting than actual decent players who would win us games.

 

They would and they're retards.

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Minhosa

Minhosa

Posted
Posted

Chronicle are running the story on FB;

 

https://www.facebook.com/eveningchronicle?fref=nf

 

Sadly, some are backing Pardew on this. :( I've already done my bit.

 

#teamHatem

 

This comment :anguish:

 

http://i.imgur.com/PNOokxd.png

 

I generally believe a few of our fans would rather have a team of geordies grafting than actual decent players who would win us games.

 

That daft cunt Gordon wants to stick to baseball, basketball or some other shit. His daft fucking cap knows more about football than him.

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TheHoob

TheHoob

Posted
Posted

At 5 a side last night there were a few people saying they are glad he's not in the team.  The same people were all saying that they don't want Pardew gone because it's all Ashleys fault so I'm not sure their opinion counts.

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