Crystal Palace manager

[Incognito]

If he wanted us to challenge again after the 5th season, he would've signed more players than Anita that summer. He would've signed the lads we ended up buying in January - in August if he wanted to kick on.

 

After that 5th season he realised if we where to sustain our good form - he couldn't sell a purple in January. In fact, he would probably have to buy one. He's not in that game.

 

Ashley's a gambling man. I think he learnt it's  better to gamble that you can sell your best asset in Janaury and be okay after a good start than try and push on for the CL. You'll still most likely miss the CL and the squad will need bolstering until it was genuinely European strength. We aren't trying to run the same type of club as a Spurs.

 

I'm not going to place the entire blame on the employee rather than the owner. That's silly. The buck starts and stops with him. He has the most influence in the club. Being an idiot isn't an excuse.

Or Pardle could've declared to Ashley that he was happy with what he had, as he did publicly.

[themanupstairs]

Pardew failed here primarily because the club were signing talented technical footballers from the continent for him - the type of player he doesn't want, appreciate, trust, or know how to use. The lack of investment in terms of total spend, or the timing of players sold/brought in, has far less to do with Pardew's failings and miserable records and more to do with his inability to adapt to having a different type of player to manager than what he's used to. By the end of his tenure here he had driven out practically all of the talented footballers, having misused them or benched them with no justification, or the few he did well with were held back by his tactics (doing well in spite of the limitations he brought to the team). Every one of these players couldn't wait to get away from Pardew and his horrendous approach to games, make no mistake about that, and we're now suffering for having Pardew here as we have the remains of a decent squad filled which is now filled with mediocre players who shouldn't be anywhere near a Premiership first team.

 

When we finished 5th under Pardew, we did so because at a time when results and performances were starting to dip Pardew stumbled onto a formation and lineup that "clicked" and had our best players playing in their best positions. By the end of that season he switched away from that formation/lineup for no good reason and then never went back to it, not once, out of pure pride/arrogance. His cockiness the following season as the Manager of the Year award got to his head resulted in the team playing "his way", and we ended up with the same team that finished 5th nearly getting relegated by playing some of the most ugly, cowardly, negative hoofball I've ever witnessed an NUFC team play.

 

Pardew is, imo, the person ultimately responsible for Mike Ashley's policy of wanting to be mid table and no higher. I think the original intention was to finish mid table as a minimum - now it's mid table and no higher, and that's a seemingly subtle but actually massive difference. In some ways I can understand not bothering about the cups, as they're firmly second tier competitions and getting into the CL is far more important to the growth of the club than winning the FA Cup (even if a trophy is what most of our fans want). But not wanting to finish as high as possible is insanity (in addition to not bothering with the cups) - and I don't think Mike Ashley ever started out with that intention. When we finished 5th the club seemed to be delighted with both the high finish and the European qualification, even releasing a statement iirc saying so and rewarding Pardew with an 8 year contract - if Ashley had already decided that Europe was bad, we'd have thrown a number of games and rested/benched key players to avoid qualification. We didn't because Mike Ashley, who knows little about football, had no policy about it yet. Fast forward 12 months and the club slowly transitioned from "yay we're in Europe" to "f***ing Europe, it's a curse" - why? Because that's what Pardew sold to anyone and every who would listen, including no doubt an irate Ashley who would not have been happy at the team going from 5th to near relegation in successive seasons. Pardew, being a pretty decent spin doctor and looking to save his own skin, is the one who used the challenges associated with continental football as an excuse for awful form/performances domestically (which were in turn down to his hoofball instructions and stubborn refusal to pick the best team in the best formation with the best players in their best position). He's the one who kept on bemoaning the additional games and the affect it had on domestic form (even if he was lying about players being tired given that we often played the B team in the league format of the games). He's the one who kept referring to stats about teams in Europe don't do well in domestic competitions.

 

As much as I hate Ashley, I hate Pardew more. I feel as though Ashley, as disgusting a human being as he is, would not logically have been dead set against European qualification give the considerable additional income it generates (especially the CL), and the fact that it'd mean more international coverage for Craps Direct. He was at a crossroad, and Pardew made sure Ashley went down a path of misinformation that now ensures we never qualify for Europe as long as he owns the club. That is Pardew's legacy at NUFC.

 

Sorry for quoting this lads but it deserves to be on every page of an al pards thread.

 

Excellent post tmonkey man :clap:

[Cronky]

Points that have been made before, but here goes -

 

Every club in the Premiership, and many in the Championship, prioritise the League over the cups and field weakened sides. We're just the ones who have admitted it.

 

There is evidence from other clubs that playing in the Europa League can affect your league form (Spurs, Swansea, Everton). Overall, yes, it is a mixed blessing.

 

What I'm not convinced about though is this idea that there's some policy not to finish higher than 10th, to avoid European qualification. The limit to our team building is finance, and this regime has made it clear right from the start that they will run a tight ship.

 

Having said that, we do have an interesting window coming up. Unusually for a businessman, Ashley has tended to run things with a piggy-bank mentality, spending what we have in hand, rather than go into debt on the promise of future earnings. It now looks like we have a genuine profit in hand to play with. There is talk of more spending this summer and of course we have to wait and see if that's genuine.

[Wilson]

Anyone who tries to argue with me about this c*** in the future, is getting that first paragraph of tmonkeys post slapped in their face.

 

 

Brilliant.

[Wullie]

Spurs have really been hit hard by the Europa League, that's why they've qualified for it for the last four seasons running.

[Hanshithispantz]

I cannot believe "summer is the real test imo" is actually a real thing.

[cubaricho]

Fair points TCD, and yeah you're right, I should hate Ashley more.

 

I guess my hatred for Ashley is placated somewhat by accepting third party comments that (a) he doesn't understand football, (b) is surrounded by poor people who advise him badly, and © probably only knows the Sports Direct business model, which is to run things as cheaply as possible and look to get the best margins. Additionally, I don't think many will agree here but for me despite everything he's done wrong, as long as he gives his manager a decent squad with talented players with the potential to form a side that becomes a dark horse/outside contender for a CL spot (i.e. the type of squad Pardew has had till he ripped it apart recently), then I'm willing to park his mistakes to the side for the time being as I think that's the "bottom line" for an owner of a mid table club.

 

And conversely, my hatred for Pardew is elevated because on top of all of his excuses and lies ("science is against me"), on top of him completely ripping away technical ability from the squad by freezing players out for inexplicable reasons whilst his locker room Championship standard "mates" got constant Premiership game time and thereby setting a precedent for putting faith in a type of player who doesn't deserve it, despite all the cowardly tactics, the horrendous results, the clear intent to play hoofball with players completely unsuited, the disgusting personality he clearly has, the hanging the youngsters out to dry, despite all of this Pardew did the one thing that has effectively given NUFC fans a death sentance - he persuaded the owner that Europe is a bad thing which can cause relegation (and this is within the context of point (a) above).

 

Hence why I hate Pardew more. He's achieved the one thing that can kill a football club like ours more than anything else - removed the basic ambition to do well in the league and ensuring it's an actual policy to not do "too well" (something that could still be done on a budget, so mentioning not spending enough to actively push forward is irrelevant to an extent). Again, I don't for a second believe Ashley would otherwise say "No" to European qualification if it wasn't because of Pardew's incompetence nearly getting us relegated as he spouted lie after lie to cover his own back. It's more money, it's increased advertising, why wouldn't he want that? Because we nearly got relegated and Pardew told him the reason for it, that's why.

 

Just think of Pardew's legacy now, all because of his lies. Now our season will finish in December/January every year if we're lucky enough to get 30 points on the board by then because Ashley will actively tell whoever the manager is to stop winning too many points. We'll have players who will be desperate to leave as soon as they show a bit of good form because they know there's zero ambition here and that everyone will give up come February (in turn making themselves all look bad, hence why they'll need to push for a transfer in January). Decent managers would probably still want to manage at NUFC (there's not alot of options and this is still the PL so will be highly attractive to many abroad especially in countries where a mere "head coach" is the norm), but now Ashley won't want them because he'll be terrified that with more Carr bargain basement signings they might suddenly push for Europe.

 

I guess you can call it hatred within context.

 

This goes a bit way-ward in the last paragraph but fuck me, this is just about how I feel.

[Dan Gleebals]

Spurs have really been hit hard by the Europa League, that's why they've qualified for it for the last four seasons running.

 

Agree entirely although they (Spurs) do have better resources to cope with it.  Us, along with the likes of Everton and Swansea are more reliant on a good "first team" over a squad that can accommodate both domestic cups and European football.

 

The asset stripping and inability to get the best out of the better players we have had under Pardew has moved us further and further away from a squad let alone a decent "first team".

 

We are now in a position where even decent investment and an overhaul of the squad will merely keep us standing still - i.e. a mid table team at best. The days of a cup run or the dizzy heights of Europa are so far off now, it does not bear thinking about.

 

Anyone that cannot recognise Pardew's role in almost all of this, along side the cretins at the top are blind to the obvious.

[Dan Gleebals]

Pardew failed here primarily because the club were signing talented technical footballers from the continent for him - the type of player he doesn't want, appreciate, trust, or know how to use. The lack of investment in terms of total spend, or the timing of players sold/brought in, has far less to do with Pardew's failings and miserable records and more to do with his inability to adapt to having a different type of player to manager than what he's used to. By the end of his tenure here he had driven out practically all of the talented footballers, having misused them or benched them with no justification, or the few he did well with were held back by his tactics (doing well in spite of the limitations he brought to the team). Every one of these players couldn't wait to get away from Pardew and his horrendous approach to games, make no mistake about that, and we're now suffering for having Pardew here as we have the remains of a decent squad filled which is now filled with mediocre players who shouldn't be anywhere near a Premiership first team.

 

When we finished 5th under Pardew, we did so because at a time when results and performances were starting to dip Pardew stumbled onto a formation and lineup that "clicked" and had our best players playing in their best positions. By the end of that season he switched away from that formation/lineup for no good reason and then never went back to it, not once, out of pure pride/arrogance. His cockiness the following season as the Manager of the Year award got to his head resulted in the team playing "his way", and we ended up with the same team that finished 5th nearly getting relegated by playing some of the most ugly, cowardly, negative hoofball I've ever witnessed an NUFC team play.

 

Pardew is, imo, the person ultimately responsible for Mike Ashley's policy of wanting to be mid table and no higher. I think the original intention was to finish mid table as a minimum - now it's mid table and no higher, and that's a seemingly subtle but actually massive difference. In some ways I can understand not bothering about the cups, as they're firmly second tier competitions and getting into the CL is far more important to the growth of the club than winning the FA Cup (even if a trophy is what most of our fans want). But not wanting to finish as high as possible is insanity (in addition to not bothering with the cups) - and I don't think Mike Ashley ever started out with that intention. When we finished 5th the club seemed to be delighted with both the high finish and the European qualification, even releasing a statement iirc saying so and rewarding Pardew with an 8 year contract - if Ashley had already decided that Europe was bad, we'd have thrown a number of games and rested/benched key players to avoid qualification. We didn't because Mike Ashley, who knows little about football, had no policy about it yet. Fast forward 12 months and the club slowly transitioned from "yay we're in Europe" to "f***ing Europe, it's a curse" - why? Because that's what Pardew sold to anyone and every who would listen, including no doubt an irate Ashley who would not have been happy at the team going from 5th to near relegation in successive seasons. Pardew, being a pretty decent spin doctor and looking to save his own skin, is the one who used the challenges associated with continental football as an excuse for awful form/performances domestically (which were in turn down to his hoofball instructions and stubborn refusal to pick the best team in the best formation with the best players in their best position). He's the one who kept on bemoaning the additional games and the affect it had on domestic form (even if he was lying about players being tired given that we often played the B team in the league format of the games). He's the one who kept referring to stats about teams in Europe don't do well in domestic competitions.

 

As much as I hate Ashley, I hate Pardew more. I feel as though Ashley, as disgusting a human being as he is, would not logically have been dead set against European qualification give the considerable additional income it generates (especially the CL), and the fact that it'd mean more international coverage for Craps Direct. He was at a crossroad, and Pardew made sure Ashley went down a path of misinformation that now ensures we never qualify for Europe as long as he owns the club. That is Pardew's legacy at NUFC.

 

Sorry for quoting this lads but it deserves to be on every page of an al pards thread.

 

Excellent post tmonkey man :clap:

 

Brilliant post indeed - can this not be the last comment on the subject and just lock it?

[AlanSkÃrare]

Superb post tmonkey

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I'm not sure Pardew could be responsible for the whole ambition of the club, although I agree his inability to get the most out of his players might have led Ashley (who already didn't really care) to accept lower finishes even more easily.

 

Did Pardew have some amazing mind control over Ashley? If Ashley really wanted to finish as high as possible he could just have fired Pardew and got a decent manager.

[AlanSkÃrare]

I'm not sure Pardew could be responsible for the whole ambition of the club, although I agree his inability to get the most out of his players might have led Ashley (who already didn't really care) to accept lower finishes even more easily.

 

Did Pardew have some amazing mind control over Ashley? If Ashley really wanted to finish as high as possible he could just have fired Pardew and got a decent manager.

 

Don't doubt for one second that Ashley listened to Pardew. He listened to Kinnear. Pardew kept everything in order for him, the four years he was at the club are probably Ashley's favourite period of owning us.

[The College Dropout]

Spurs have really been hit hard by the Europa League, that's why they've qualified for it for the last four seasons running.

 

We aren't trying to be like Spurs. They are the only side outside the top 5 with a squad that can cope. Every player in their first team squad is a full international apart from Dier I believe. They have Brazilian, Spanish & Argentinian internationals who struggle to make the bench. Adebayor would be our best player. You would have to be serious about commercial an match-day revenue to be run like Spurs.

 

We are in the Everton & Swansea bracket. Those teams actually brought in bodies for Europe and still suffered.

 

I'm not sure Pardew could be responsible for the whole ambition of the club, although I agree his inability to get the most out of his players might have led Ashley (who already didn't really care) to accept lower finishes even more easily.

 

Did Pardew have some amazing mind control over Ashley? If Ashley really wanted to finish as high as possible he could just have fired Pardew and got a decent manager.

 

Agreed. This idea Pardew is responsible for our lack of ambition is fanciful. I'm certain selling a Purple a year is a long-term strategy for Ashley. You can't maintain that Spurs/Everton position if you sell your best players every year. Spurs genuinely try and resist and they did a great job of improving/maintaining their push for a number of years but they've never recovered from selling 2 genuinely world class talents.

 

 

Pardew's guilty of being complicit to all Ashley's evils for me. And when it suited him he was an advocate. I genuinely believe a lack of reinforcement & Europe played a big part in Pardew's incapability of having a decent season in the 16th year. A good manager would've coped better but we would ahve taken a step back in the league regardless.

 

I also doubt the validity of Pardew forcing out the "technical" players. Some like Anita, aren't good enough for the division. MYM has "aerial duels" listed as a weakness on Whoscored - he was never going to succeed in this division imo. HBA is a difficult character. Which just leaves Marveaux who was unreasonably dealt with. However, the shocking hoofball is all Pardewism. Pardew is also a coward.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Nah, MYM, Anita, Santon, HBA and possibly Marveux should all be turning out regularly for Newcastle. They were handled appallingly by Pardew.

[The College Dropout]

Santon? Santon started 90% of the matches he was available for until his phantom injury. Even during really poor spells of form.

MYM is not suited to the Premiership. I can't find where they have the stats from but he must lose a significant portion of aerial duals.

Anita is no better than Jack Colback.

That leaves HBA & Marveaux. HBA's a proven difficult character in the dressing room. From what I've gathered the "leaders" of the dressing room wanted him out more than Pardew.

 

Like I say Marveaux and perhaps Cabella are the only genuine gripes.

[Hanshithispantz]

I would hesitate to say that without Pardew we would be an ambitious club (far from it), but it was during his reign that we transitioned into a worthless husk, and it's pretty likely he had more to do with it than what was plainly visible.

[AlanSkÃrare]

Nah, MYM, Anita, Santon, HBA and possibly Marveux should all be turning out regularly for Newcastle. They were handled appallingly by Pardew.

 

Cissé was horrible for most of Pardew's tenure, Tioté deteriorated in spectacular fashion, Sissoko limited to robust winger for long spells.

 

There's also the Obertan for Routledge wreckage and never understanding how to use Anita.

[Tiotes Witch Doctor]

If fucking Mike Williamson is suited to the premier league then MYM was too, regardless of what the stats say I saw him improving game on game (when he was actually given a chance)

 

If the HBA rumours are true it was indeed Pardew who kicked off the feud after the Man Utd game.

 

Anita seems shite, but had he been given a proper run and role in the team from the off he might have had a chance to adapt and stake a claim.

[cubaricho]

MYM is not suited to the Premiership.

Anita is no better than Jack Colback.

 

You are just so, so wrong, like always.

[ads]

Santon? Santon started 90% of the matches he was available for until his phantom injury. Even during really poor spells of form.

MYM is not suited to the Premiership. I can't find where they have the stats from but he must lose a significant portion of aerial duals.

Anita is no better than Jack Colback.

That leaves HBA & Marveaux. HBA's a proven difficult character in the dressing room. From what I've gathered the "leaders" of the dressing room wanted him out more than Pardew.

 

Like I say Marveaux and perhaps Cabella are the only genuine gripes.

 

MYM isn't suited to the Premiership? Why? Because to succeed in it you have to be a big, clumsy cunt like Williamson? MYM could have been an incredible player for us if given time to adapt rather than being the scapegoat the majority of the time.

[St1pe]

Pardew failed here primarily because the club were signing talented technical footballers from the continent for him - the type of player he doesn't want, appreciate, trust, or know how to use. The lack of investment in terms of total spend, or the timing of players sold/brought in, has far less to do with Pardew's failings and miserable records and more to do with his inability to adapt to having a different type of player to manager than what he's used to. By the end of his tenure here he had driven out practically all of the talented footballers, having misused them or benched them with no justification, or the few he did well with were held back by his tactics (doing well in spite of the limitations he brought to the team). Every one of these players couldn't wait to get away from Pardew and his horrendous approach to games, make no mistake about that, and we're now suffering for having Pardew here as we have the remains of a decent squad filled which is now filled with mediocre players who shouldn't be anywhere near a Premiership first team.

 

When we finished 5th under Pardew, we did so because at a time when results and performances were starting to dip Pardew stumbled onto a formation and lineup that "clicked" and had our best players playing in their best positions. By the end of that season he switched away from that formation/lineup for no good reason and then never went back to it, not once, out of pure pride/arrogance. His cockiness the following season as the Manager of the Year award got to his head resulted in the team playing "his way", and we ended up with the same team that finished 5th nearly getting relegated by playing some of the most ugly, cowardly, negative hoofball I've ever witnessed an NUFC team play.

 

Pardew is, imo, the person ultimately responsible for Mike Ashley's policy of wanting to be mid table and no higher. I think the original intention was to finish mid table as a minimum - now it's mid table and no higher, and that's a seemingly subtle but actually massive difference. In some ways I can understand not bothering about the cups, as they're firmly second tier competitions and getting into the CL is far more important to the growth of the club than winning the FA Cup (even if a trophy is what most of our fans want). But not wanting to finish as high as possible is insanity (in addition to not bothering with the cups) - and I don't think Mike Ashley ever started out with that intention. When we finished 5th the club seemed to be delighted with both the high finish and the European qualification, even releasing a statement iirc saying so and rewarding Pardew with an 8 year contract - if Ashley had already decided that Europe was bad, we'd have thrown a number of games and rested/benched key players to avoid qualification. We didn't because Mike Ashley, who knows little about football, had no policy about it yet. Fast forward 12 months and the club slowly transitioned from "yay we're in Europe" to "f***ing Europe, it's a curse" - why? Because that's what Pardew sold to anyone and every who would listen, including no doubt an irate Ashley who would not have been happy at the team going from 5th to near relegation in successive seasons. Pardew, being a pretty decent spin doctor and looking to save his own skin, is the one who used the challenges associated with continental football as an excuse for awful form/performances domestically (which were in turn down to his hoofball instructions and stubborn refusal to pick the best team in the best formation with the best players in their best position). He's the one who kept on bemoaning the additional games and the affect it had on domestic form (even if he was lying about players being tired given that we often played the B team in the league format of the games). He's the one who kept referring to stats about teams in Europe don't do well in domestic competitions.

 

As much as I hate Ashley, I hate Pardew more. I feel as though Ashley, as disgusting a human being as he is, would not logically have been dead set against European qualification give the considerable additional income it generates (especially the CL), and the fact that it'd mean more international coverage for Craps Direct. He was at a crossroad, and Pardew made sure Ashley went down a path of misinformation that now ensures we never qualify for Europe as long as he owns the club. That is Pardew's legacy at NUFC.

 

Deserves to be quoted again.

 

I find this particularly comforting when so many people seem to now be claiming we were wrong to sack him.

[The College Dropout]

I would hesitate to say that without Pardew we would be an ambitious club (far from it), but it was during his reign that we transitioned into a worthless husk, and it's pretty likely he had more to do with it than what was plainly visible.

Agreed on the first part. But I believe that's why he was brought in.  To be a puppet.  If he had his way we would've signed a target man and a bullish CB. His influence was minimal but I guess we'll never know for sure. 

 

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Anita could be ticking over nicely in a functioning team who know how to pass and move.

 

MYM is quality and definitely should be playing. He was never given a fair chance so any stats about aerial duels etc are completely meaningless. Colo was appalling in the air when he first arrived, I remember Alan Smith having to stand in front of him and head the ball away.

 

Anyway, we've done these arguments to death, I love technical and intelligent players so I will admit I'm a bit biased towards those two.

 

I'm not saying our squad was perfect but the talent we have wasted is absolutely criminal.

[The College Dropout]

Colo's still awful in the air and we continue to suffer as a result. I would've preferred MYM replaced Colo but i've shed no tears to see him leave. Janmaat looks more suited to that position in the PL than MYM.

 

MYM won 43% of his aerial duels which is somehow less than Colo last season. You won't find a genuinely quality CB losing the majority of his aerial duels.

[Cronky]

Pardew failed here primarily because the club were signing talented technical footballers from the continent for him - the type of player he doesn't want, appreciate, trust, or know how to use. The lack of investment in terms of total spend, or the timing of players sold/brought in, has far less to do with Pardew's failings and miserable records and more to do with his inability to adapt to having a different type of player to manager than what he's used to. By the end of his tenure here he had driven out practically all of the talented footballers, having misused them or benched them with no justification, or the few he did well with were held back by his tactics (doing well in spite of the limitations he brought to the team). Every one of these players couldn't wait to get away from Pardew and his horrendous approach to games, make no mistake about that, and we're now suffering for having Pardew here as we have the remains of a decent squad filled which is now filled with mediocre players who shouldn't be anywhere near a Premiership first team.

 

When we finished 5th under Pardew, we did so because at a time when results and performances were starting to dip Pardew stumbled onto a formation and lineup that "clicked" and had our best players playing in their best positions. By the end of that season he switched away from that formation/lineup for no good reason and then never went back to it, not once, out of pure pride/arrogance. His cockiness the following season as the Manager of the Year award got to his head resulted in the team playing "his way", and we ended up with the same team that finished 5th nearly getting relegated by playing some of the most ugly, cowardly, negative hoofball I've ever witnessed an NUFC team play.

 

Pardew is, imo, the person ultimately responsible for Mike Ashley's policy of wanting to be mid table and no higher. I think the original intention was to finish mid table as a minimum - now it's mid table and no higher, and that's a seemingly subtle but actually massive difference. In some ways I can understand not bothering about the cups, as they're firmly second tier competitions and getting into the CL is far more important to the growth of the club than winning the FA Cup (even if a trophy is what most of our fans want). But not wanting to finish as high as possible is insanity (in addition to not bothering with the cups) - and I don't think Mike Ashley ever started out with that intention. When we finished 5th the club seemed to be delighted with both the high finish and the European qualification, even releasing a statement iirc saying so and rewarding Pardew with an 8 year contract - if Ashley had already decided that Europe was bad, we'd have thrown a number of games and rested/benched key players to avoid qualification. We didn't because Mike Ashley, who knows little about football, had no policy about it yet. Fast forward 12 months and the club slowly transitioned from "yay we're in Europe" to "f***ing Europe, it's a curse" - why? Because that's what Pardew sold to anyone and every who would listen, including no doubt an irate Ashley who would not have been happy at the team going from 5th to near relegation in successive seasons. Pardew, being a pretty decent spin doctor and looking to save his own skin, is the one who used the challenges associated with continental football as an excuse for awful form/performances domestically (which were in turn down to his hoofball instructions and stubborn refusal to pick the best team in the best formation with the best players in their best position). He's the one who kept on bemoaning the additional games and the affect it had on domestic form (even if he was lying about players being tired given that we often played the B team in the league format of the games). He's the one who kept referring to stats about teams in Europe don't do well in domestic competitions.

 

As much as I hate Ashley, I hate Pardew more. I feel as though Ashley, as disgusting a human being as he is, would not logically have been dead set against European qualification give the considerable additional income it generates (especially the CL), and the fact that it'd mean more international coverage for Craps Direct. He was at a crossroad, and Pardew made sure Ashley went down a path of misinformation that now ensures we never qualify for Europe as long as he owns the club. That is Pardew's legacy at NUFC.

 

Sorry for quoting this lads but it deserves to be on every page of an al pards thread.

 

Excellent post tmonkey man :clap:

 

Brilliant post indeed - can this not be the last comment on the subject and just lock it?

 

Free speech, yay!