Some sympathy for Alan Pardew?
Posted on September 12th, 2011 | 25 Comments |
How about a bit of sympathy for Alan Pardew? Yes, I know he blabs rubbish a lot of the time and he doesn’t always seem to engage his brain before doing so, but he’s been let down in the transfer window as much as we have and the pressure is now on him to come up with some good results.
A bad run now would just add to that air of depression a lot of fans are currently feeling and Pardew will know that.
On the weekend, Pardew was lamenting the relationship between Mike Ashley and the fans and intimating that it doesn’t really help him do his job. Pardew said:
“It’s difficult at Newcastle and I don’t think the owner’s relationship with the fans helps. That’s obvious. I don’t think there’s anything I can say or do that will improve that.
“Hopefully over the next three or four years, if I bring some success to the club, maybe that can be looked at in a different light. But certainly not in the short term.“
Some people see Pardew as part of ‘the hierarchy’ but I don’t happen to believe that’s true. I don’t think he has all that much more control over transfers than we do to be honest. It is true that he was appointed by ‘the hierarchy’ and I’m prepared to bet that part of the reason they appointed him was because, as a manager out of a job and seemingly unwanted by other clubs, he’d be grateful for the chance and thusly much more ‘pliable’ than, say, Chris Hughton.
But how pliable is he really? I believe he stressed the need for a striker in the last transfer window as much as he could and I’m prepared to bet he vented his fury at Ashley and Llambias for not getting one. What more could he do?
Some would say that if he had any pride he’d quit, but what happens then? Decent managers are unlikely to come to Newcastle and I can’t imagine we’d be any better off with the sort of manager Ashley would try to hire to replace him.
On the pitch he has us in sixth place and kind results on the weekend mean that we’ll still be sixth after tonight’s game, no matter what the result. You can argue all you like about the standard of the opposition (or lack of) but Pardew doesn’t write up the fixture list and merely has to play whichever team we’re scheduled to play.
Pardew’s job is to go out with whatever players he has at his disposal and get points, and he’s done that pretty well so far this season.
At this early stage in the season a poor run can quickly dump us at the foot of the table, so I’m well aware things can change, but for now he’s done okay and I hope for his sake – as well as mine – that we get a good result tonight.
I have no sympathy for Yes men…he is a front brought in to appease the anger of the fans that is building week on week.
No manager would stand to have his top players sold and not replaced especially after 7 months of promises and assurances from the board that he relayed to fans since the AC sale.
No sympathy for him,sorry but if he is to be taken seriously he may need to “Nudge” his friend Mike Ashley just a little bit harder next time.