Pardew blames crowd, West Ham tactics and not scoring for defeat

Posted on November 12th, 2012 | 68 Comments |

Alan Pardew - Newcastle United.
Pardew: Explains reasons for West Ham defeat.
Newcastle United’s Silver Supremo, Alan “Pardiola” Pardew has been explaining the reasons for the Magpies’ somewhat disappointing performance against West Ham on Sunday, giving several reasons for the team’s capitulation to the visitors.

Speaking to Lee Ryder for today’s Chronic, he began by blaming the failure to get the crowd behind them in the first twenty minutes of the game, and West Ham’s ex Magpie captain, Kevin Nolan, for scoring a goal saying:

“The first 20 minutes we were not at our best. We need to get the crowd behind us and get them involved and we did not. We kicked ourselves for going behind.”

Moving on, he then put the spotlight on his own teams failure to get a goal, something which football experts such as Pardew know is an essential ingredient when it comes to winning football matches. Also making a passing reference to a headed Demba Ba effort in the 47th minute of the game, which was clawed away from the goal line by Jussi Jaaskelainen, he continued:

“Unfortunately in the second half we just could not get a goal, although one of the decisions looks very tight.”

Once again stressing the crucial importance of scoring goals in football games, this time at home, he then went on:

“We have to score one or two goals in every home game. It was disappointing.”

Finally, he also blamed the fact that his opposite number at West Ham, “Fat” Sam Allardyce used something which Ryder referred to as “abject tactics” to actually make it difficult for Pardew’s men, and even try and win the game for the visitors. On this the Grey Gaffer remarked:

“That is what they are going to do. They have been doing that all season. They make it difficult for you.”

Unfortunately for Newcastle United, it could well be the case that our next opponents, Swansea City, may also use “tactics” of some sort in an attempt to make it as difficult as possible for Newcastle United to win the game, as it has become quite a common thing in both the Premiership and other football leagues around the world. Here’s hoping that Swansea City manager, Michael Laudrup, hasn’t heard of this new craze which is sweeping the game just yet.

Harry Enfield’s football expert, a major influence on Pardew’s interview style, tells it like it is on the BBC’s “Match of the Day.”

Newcastle United vs West Ham extended match highlights and post match interviews.

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68 Responses

  2. LOL worky!

    I couldn’t sit through 90 minutes of what was served up at SJP yesterday, so I left before the end to get drunk and try to forget what I’d just seen. I never do that usually but it was just so frustrating to watch. Whatever the “Pardiola” says worky, you got it right again the other day when you said

    ‘In case you are one of those who have successfully deceived yourselves that our manager’s real name is Alan Pardiola, and today’s fixture will be a match between a cultured, elegant passing side of fancy foreigners against big, “long ball” Sam, well think again!’

    It was like Sam had never left or worse! the thought of 8 more years of this gives me a migraine

  3. Dave says:

    The big mistake did not invest in the summer transfer market

    Dave you’re right, as a team competing in europe we should have added to our squad depth more. Yesterday though he put out a rested team for the Premiership which should have been better than theirs, but Pardew was like a poor mans fat sam again with his long ball tactics and he was beaten at his own game by the master

  4. Worky: I am sure you guessed I might post this clip in response to your Pardew mauling. It really hasn’t occurred to him that we have started slowly in every f*cking game this season?

  5. Yea, noticed that, gotta watch out for teams playing tactics (or whatever abject tactics are)
    Why cant we just all play route one hoofball ffs.

  7. UTD111 says:
    November 12, 2012 at 9:32 pm

    “Brilliant Worky – laughed my socks off!

    Best analysis I’ve read”

    Thanks UTD. I’ve just put in the video of Harry Enfield’s “football expert” GS linked to above. He does it better than either Pardew or myself!

  9. Worky: you know I don’t set myself up as any tactical expert, but I think West Ham were there for the taking yesterday.

    It looked to me that Ben Arfa had three men on him anytime he got the ball on the right and so he was given a free role. This meant he often shifted to the left and crowded out two other attack minded players in Fergie and Santon and left us exposed on the right. He has done this before, but Jonas would move over.

    It is now obvious even to me that Cisse and Ba cannot play together (I know, I was told this ages ago) When Cisse scores, Ba doesn’t and vice versa. Cisse is getting into offside positions because he doesn’t want to occupy the same space as Ba and is probably overanxious.

    And having to sub off a player for tactical reasons at half time AGAIN is an admission of tactical failure.

    I am really mad about that game because it was Pardew “what” lost it.

  10. Check your stats lads NUFC played a higher percentage of long balls then WHUFC. Also we had the player with most successful pass rate.

    You were poor as you were against Liverpool, sometimes youve got to admit you werent good enough and your opponents were better

  11. Sam says:
    November 12, 2012 at 11:13 pm

    “Check your stats lads NUFC played a higher percentage of long balls then WHUFC.”

    I have and we did Sam, we did yesterday anyway. However, as I pointed out in my match preview for the game, West Ham are about the only team who beat us in terms of long balls as a proportion of overall passes this season so far:

    “As we go into this game Newcastle and West Ham are currently the two biggest “route one” sides in the Premiership. Looking at my OPTA stats, which defines long balls as passes of over 25 yards, Newcastle United and West Ham are the two biggest long ball merchants, with 17.5% of Newcastle’s total passes being long balls, and 17.9% of West Ham’s.

    “To put this into some kind of perspective, the percentage for Swansea City (our next opponents incidentally) is 9.7%, which is even bigger gulf than it sounds.”

  12. GS says:
    November 12, 2012 at 10:39 pm

    “Worky: you know I don’t set myself up as any tactical expert, but I think West Ham were there for the taking yesterday.”

    Aye, I’ll mull that over as I’m having my bangers and mash in Madeira gravy. Perhaps you’re more of an expert than you think!

  13. GS,

    Benny ALWAYS drifts in from the right, and yesterday, he was in the same kind of position he plays upfront in a 4-3-3 / 4-3-2-1 formation. He’s usually a marked man for obvious reasons too. Ba’s much the same when there’s a three at the front and he’s put on the other side. He, Cisse and Benny are shoulder to shoulder but that’s how it was on the few occaisions when we were great in patches towards the end of last season so it’s not necessarily a bad thing on it’s own. It’s a question of context and how the rest of the team is set up.

    Although the team was marked up as another 4-4-2, it was actually a 4-4-1-1 in practice, kind of. Ba was way back behind Cisse for much of the game and Benny was actually way upfront alongside Cisse, hence the “kind of” bit about the 4-4-1-1. So, position wise, Ba was actually more of midfielder and Benny was more of a right sided forward.

    If anyone was leaving us a bit exposed on the right it was Santon. For much of the game, he was cutting in alongside Guti in central midfield. Having written that though he didn’t have a bad game at all really. Both wings can be a soft spot for us due to our frequent skinnyness and West Ham, when they aren’t humping long balls down the middle can play with the wingers a bit, they aren’t totally one dimensional.

    Despite what the idiots say, if Ba isn’t scoring, it doesn’t necessarily follow that he is playing “badly”, he can often contribute in other ways as he can more than a mere hitman and that’s a good thing. He was pur best player yesterday, even though he was way back in the midfield somewhere. On the other hand, Cisse IS more of a pure hitman, but he really is a good hitman when he’s in form which he certainly wasn’t yesterday. He had a stinker. I think your overanxiousness hypothesis is probably more like it than the other thing. Of course, pure hitmen rely on service to a great degree too, so when he isn’t getting the service etc…

    Tugboat, that big Geordie lad and Jaaskelainen in goal were probably their best players overall, but another important one for them was Diame. He was a bit like Tiote on a good day for them so if I was Graham Carr I’d have been taking notes in case in case Jabba sold Mr.T. I think he’s only mid twenties?

  14. Workey @ 8#
    Absolutely the goals scored reminded me of how Nat Lofthouse bundled goalies into the net.
    Plus the ball playing guy reminded me of Stanley Mathews, both of which i remember playing @ St Jamese’s
    Park in the day.

  15. Point is we should have never been beaten by W/Ham, as we are a much more talented side.
    Which begs the question, how much influence have managerial tactical decissions have on the game?
    For instance why did we go head to head with a direct tactical plan, whith a team that plays nothing but, who in fact thrive on hoofball.
    Look i can’t continue in this vein, as it should be apparent what i’m saying is Pardew has made it clear he has’nt a clue, and it’s about time Ashley realised it.
    This guy is not gonna take us to the promised land and should be replaced.
    My choice would be Jol.

  16. chuck says:
    November 13, 2012 at 3:32 am

    Workey @ 8#
    Absolutely the goals scored reminded me of how Nat Lofthouse bundled goalies into the net.

    LOL Chuck.

    Don’t you mean Nat “mind your legs please” Nuthouse?

    “Plus the ball playing guy reminded me of Stanley Mathews, both of which i remember playing @ St Jamese’s Park in the day.”

    If you meant “right wing demon, Wilf ‘adapted for speed’ Finney”, I thought that he’d fit right into a Brendan Rodgers team from the way he was was passing the ball to himself.

  17. Worky @13: I see your points and as I said I am not really that tactically minded. What I do know is what I see, and that is people getting in each others way, there being big gaps left for the other team to exploit and Cisse getting caught offside, or being offside and therefore not available for a pass.

    And I will say this for probably the 10th time, this team is less than the sum of its parts.

    I wish that Ben Arfa corner had gone in. That would have made my day whatever the result.

    Hey, and sorry you are plowing a lone furrow at the moment.

  18. Yeah, Tom Finney, was a right winger who could and did play on the left, he was’nt going to displace wor Stan when it came to play on the national side.
    Actually i was amazed to see how small and frail Mathews was, then again i never saw him in his prime.
    On saying that Finney was no physical specimen, another skinny guy.
    But when we talk about wor Nat, there was a guy without fear, he couldda fitted in well with any of BSA’s Bolton sides, the quintessential English center forward, big tough and a great nutter of the ball, feared by defenders and goalies alike.

  19. “I have and we did Sam, we did yesterday anyway. However, as I pointed out in my match preview for the game, West Ham are about the only team who beat us in terms of long balls as a proportion of overall passes this season so far:

    “As we go into this game Newcastle and West Ham are currently the two biggest “route one” sides in the Premiership. Looking at my OPTA stats, which defines long balls as passes of over 25 yards, Newcastle United and West Ham are the two biggest long ball merchants, with 17.5% of Newcastle’s total passes being long balls, and 17.9% of West Ham’s.

    “To put this into some kind of perspective, the percentage for Swansea City (our next opponents incidentally) is 9.7%, which is even bigger gulf than it sounds.” ”

    But now after this game, we actually have worse than the hammers. The stats I have from this game are 20% for us and 11% for the hammers, which if my maths is right, means for the season we are now 17.7% and they are 17.3%. Think we might have to admit our style is horrific.

  20. Well fancy West Ham trying to win the game eh mind you thought the crowd was abit quiet although it always seems to be these days.Agree with you Dave should have invested in the summer but how many times have we seen with the Toon when in a decent position we sit back and idiots pulling the strings think they can just wing it.Think we will be lucky to finish in the top half of the table saying as the likes of Fulham and West Brom are looking stronger now hopefully in the january window we can get 2-3 new faces in Carroll Nolan and Diame maybe.

  21. this is more or less the same sort of stuff he was saying, in his sky sports interview.
    it reminded me of the pardew of old, who blames everyone, apart from himself.

    sandybaz, i think the so called masterplan for january, will involve dracula, trying to get douglas, for a knocked down price.
    i cannot see anyone else coming in, unless they sell krul, or demba ba.
    even then they’ll probably conspire to f**k it up, by being themselves.
    then we’ll get the usual crap, “negotiations were protacted”, being spun by lee ryder, for the chronic.

    ryer has been getting a bit of stick, from some of the natives, in the comments section.
    he reckons he has a chuckle to himself, when he is accused of being a stooge, or being on ashley’s payroll.

  24. TROJAN RECORDS 73 says:
    November 13, 2012 at 1:38 pm

    “then we’ll get the usual crap, “negotiations were protacted”, being spun by lee ryder, for the chronic.”

    And Mark Douglas in the other one and Luke Edwards in the Torygraph. Edwards is still cranking out the lie about how Lille moved the goalposts over Debuchy again in one of his latest stories and he’s saying they wanted £8 million now, not €8 million.

    I’ve just been heckling him in the comments. I couldn’t help myself! :-)

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/newcastle-united/9673220/Newcastle-United-to-make-move-for-Lille-defender-Mathieu-Debuchy-in-effort-to-keep-Yohan-Cabaye.html

  25. TROJAN RECORDS 73 says:
    November 13, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    “another typo, i think this keyboard is knacked.”

    We all start to say things like that once we get to a certain age Trojan. ;-)

  26. sandybaz says:
    November 13, 2012 at 9:44 am

    “Well fancy West Ham trying to win the game eh mind you thought the crowd was abit quiet although it always seems to be these days.”

    Aye sandybaz, because Ashley split up all the noisy buggers for singing songs about him.

  27. Pardew can only spin excuses for so long. I am sure he knows this as he wriggles for time. However, if results and performances continue in the same vein as they have begun (and we we have been lucky with several of our points so far), the spotlight will inevitably turn more and more upon his own inadequacies. He will then learn for himself “how horrible” his employers can actually be.

  28. sandybaz says:

    mind you thought the crowd was abit quiet although it always seems to be these days.

    sandy, I still don’t think the attendances are quite what they used to be before Ashley came here and we were relegated. I don’t know what the figures are but I still notice a few more spaces now when I look around on a match day.

  30. I agree that the crowd did seem quiet, but what did they have to cheer? It was grim out there!

  31. toontony says:
    November 13, 2012 at 4:08 pm

    “sandy, I still don’t think the attendances are quite what they used to be before Ashley came here and we were relegated. I don’t know what the figures are but I still notice a few more spaces now when I look around on a match day.”

    Toontony, you piqued my curiosity so I checked it out!

    Newcastle United average Premiership attendances

    2000/2001 – 51,309
    2001/2002 – 51,373
    2002/2003 – 51,923
    2003/2004 – 51,440
    2004/2005 – 51,844
    2005/2006 – 52,032
    2006/2007 – 50,686
    2007/2008 – 51,321
    2008/2009 – 48.750
    2009/2010 – 43,383 (Championship)
    2010/2011 – 47.718
    2011/2012 – 49.936

    2012/2013 so far – 50,637

    So it’s catching up again after a fairly big dip (even in the Premiership). It’s still about a thousand down on what it used to be though, which is enough room to fit a huge Sports Direct banner or two!

    http://www.worldfootball.net/zuschauer/eng-premier-league-2012-2013/1/

  32. Paul in Hollywood says:
    November 13, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    “I agree that the crowd did seem quiet, but what did they have to cheer? It was grim out there!”

    Well I’m in London and this blog and other things has stopped me going to so many games for a while, but lots of fans are saying it’s been quieter in general since the anti Jabba dissidents were broken up in the singing section and the family section was enlarged.

  33. A few positives gents. It was a tough game to watch; especially as WHU were dropping and breaking up any momentum we picked up.

    However, I saw great determination, character and skill from HBA, Demba Ba, and Santon. Also while Anita did get pushed off once, he did fit in generally and did OK for a new player, in the key role. Fergi looked pretty good too.

    A sure penalty, one off the line, and a peppering of the goal from inside the box…

    On another day we would have stuffed them.

    The only concern is Cisse and DembaBa sorting the combos out… friends?? or competitors . They are missing the easy give for each other 3 or 4 times each game.

    I m looking forward to Swansea

  35. Hey guys,

    This ain’t related to the post put a request for support from the TOON faithful for The Percy Hedley Foundation. A local charity who are in with a chance of winning 15k from the PostCode Trust. But to do so they need votes, so I’m asking you if you’ll vote for this amazing charity? It is free and takes no time at all.

    http://votethatcounts.org/charity/percy-hedley-foundation Thanks guys

  36. Toonfreak, Have voted twice and tweeted it on the nufcblog Twitter page (got a second vote for tweeting). Hope it helps.

    I will also copy your message and put it on our facebook page as well so hopefully that will get a few more in.

  37. Jon says:

    November 13, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    “A few positives gents. It was a tough game to watch; especially as WHU were dropping and breaking up any momentum we picked up.”

    I don’t understand what you mean Jon. Are other teams supposed to just stand there and let us win because we’re Newcastle United? ALL teams try and break up the other team’s momentum, that’s the whole point. ;-)

  39. tunyc says:
    November 14, 2012 at 6:32 pm

    “Worky-is it just me or have they removed the comments from that Torygraph article?”

    I checked when you mentioned it and they still seem to be there. I refreshed the page too.

    My comments used to get deleted from Lee Ryder stories in the Chronic, then I was banned.

  42. Worky: I read your comments to Luke Edwards and you were very restrained. And if you are banned from the Chronic why don’t you just set up another e-mail address. Can’t be bothered? I understand :)

    You know what I think anyway. Anyone trained by Alan Oliver and John Gibson are always going to suck at their job. You seem to do more research for one article than they do in a year.

    It is all so obviously PR. The have their formulaic piece that they repeat day after day and just switch out a few names and numbers.

    I don’t get why Luke Edwards is still doing it though. He is no longer in the pocket of the NUFC paymasters. It must be the training and the sense of habit from old leatherfaces at the Chronic.

  43. toontony says:
    November 14, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    “Where is everybody today?”

    Buggered if I know Tony. Quite a few are still reading this piece, but all the usual gobshites like Chuck and GS are quiet today.

    I’m busy probing Pardew’s long balls ATM. I was going to put that out today but it’s taken longer than I thought to do it as there are so many of them!

    We make Stoke look like Barcelona, and we made Big Sam’s West Ham look like Spain the other day.

  45. GS says:
    November 14, 2012 at 7:33 pm

    “It is all so obviously PR. The have their formulaic piece that they repeat day after day and just switch out a few names and numbers.”

    GS, I did when I wanted to make a few comments the other week.

    They’ll be getting “on message” PR messages where all they have to do is dot the “i”s and cross the “t”s for much of the drivel. When Ashley reached his nadir with the fans, he brought in a big team of PR reinforcements to mould the opinions of malleable Geordies. Not many people noticed it at the time.

  46. workyticket says:
    November 14, 2012 at 7:39 pm

    I’m busy probing Pardew’s long balls ATM.

    :lol: Rather you than me worky!

  48. toontony says:
    November 14, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    “Sorry I double posted there”

    Nee botha Tony. I’ve just deleted the first one for you.

    GS says:
    November 14, 2012 at 7:33 pm

    “I don’t get why Luke Edwards is still doing it though. He is no longer in the pocket of the NUFC paymasters. It must be the training and the sense of habit from old leatherfaces at the Chronic.”

    I don’t see why moving to the Torygraph should make any difference GS?

  49. Worky: I know the Torygraph is mostly establishment but they do allow some journalistic integrity. Ambrose Evans Pritchard seems to say whatever he wants.

    I just thought that maybe once the shackles of Tyneside were off Edwards he may write a few more interesting, insightful, cutting, researched, not-drivel pieces. Instead, he shows that the Chronicle is in his blood and he aspires to no more than pathetic puff pieces.

  50. I am watching this military scandal over here and it is now being referred to as “The Real Housewives of Miami”.

    They are rolling out the same old sycophants to defend the Generals, but there is also Michael Hastings who wrote the Rolling Stone article that got McCrystal sacked. They won’t let him say anything though when he has a different opinion and talk over him or go to commercial. It makes me want to read his book “The Operators”.

    The funny thing is that this Kelley woman has had her identical twin sister move in with her and her husband. I think that would be a strange situation where you are f@cking one of them and wake up and have breakfast with the other.

  51. I can understand the doldrums. That match and result last weekend took the wind out of my sails too.

    On the other hand, Colo looked good against KSA today. And the Argies should have won-foul on Aguero at the end was CLEARLY inside the box.

  52. GS-don’t buy the spin. Petraeus needed to be gotten out to avoid him rolling over in an embarassing way under questioning. The manufactured sex scandal (what’s so scandalous anyway?) is a distraction.

  53. GS says:
    November 14, 2012 at 8:50 pm

    “I am watching this military scandal over here and it is now being referred to as “The Real Housewives of Miami”.”

    I guess that following the sentiments of the expression “make love, not war” is frowned upon when you’re a major figure in the US military then?

  54. GS says:
    November 14, 2012 at 8:50 pm

    “The funny thing is that this Kelley woman has had her identical twin sister move in with her and her husband. I think that would be a strange situation where you are f@cking one of them and wake up and have breakfast with the other.”

    In the feculent cesspit that is the average male mind, I would imagine that the thought “Mmmmm identical twin lesbianism” might crop up at some stage?

  56. all i can say is, there must be a lot of gullible geordies, if they haven’t the sense to see through the, at times amateur mind games, and pseudo propaganda, that oozes from barrack road.
    the trouble is, they are absolutely crap at it, and trip themselves up, constantly.
    the one thing in their favour, is a newspaper is tomorrow’s fish & chip wrapper.

    with inventions like the internet though, you can go back, and look at the guff, which is uttered, and go months back, if needs be, and pull apart their statements.
    the majority of the time, they will say one thing, then contradict themselves, months later.
    to the point that you come to the realisation, that they couldn’t lie straight, in bed.

    most people came to that way of thinking pretty early into their tacky stewardship, of the club.
    it still makes me laugh, that you will get some people, who will take a leap of faith, with abbot and costello.
    words like, “i’m not judging, until the window closes”, i wish i had a tenner for everytime that naivity, is uttered.
    “the club wouldn’t have survived, without mike ashley”,
    it’s like some low rent, “school of frankfurt, subversion technique”.
    and still they utter the same drivel, window upon window, and he kicks them squarely in the hydraulics, every time.

  57. It is the strangest club isn’t it. We have done nowt this year, spent nowt, net anyway, and yet 5,000 fans go to Bruge, and a lot without tickets.

  58. Workie. @ 54#

    Sez, the feculent cesspit that is the average male mind, I would would imagine that the thught Mmmmm ! “identical twin lesbianism” might crop up at some stage

    Erm ! is this a personal preference of yours?
    The twin lesbianism, that is?

    Sounds a bit Jimmy S. to me!
    Shure you want to go there ?

  59. chuck says:
    November 15, 2012 at 3:20 am

    “Shure you want to go there ?”

    Just an observation Chuck. I’ve already been there, not with twins but they were both nurses, which notches it back up the male fantasy scale somewhat :-). I went pretty much everywhere back in the old days, but I listen to Radio Four and drink Cocoa now.

  60. The only fear for most clubs is, relegation and who in there right mind would have predicted it would happen to us two seasons ago ?
    The PL it’s where the money’s at, right ?
    With more on the way next year, from the big US networks.
    Now having got a lucky last minute goal, to not exactly earn , but get all three points, week before last, against a mediocre side, was nothing but luck.
    But to then get beat at home by West Ham ?
    Really does’nt say anything positive about us, does it ?
    Especially when we got beat by a quintisential long ball
    side, which strangely enough, showed we played more long balls than they did.
    With the players we have, how come we are still playing 50’s style hoofball ?
    It’s conceivable we could once again face relegation, if the right steps are not taken, believe it this time!
    Nah ! how could we, we finished in 5th. place last season.
    Beause most sides have improved, either by spending on players or hiring managers who are tactically aware and understand the modern game as it’s played.
    Look at West Brom, who have Clarke as manager.
    A perinnial elevator side moving between the PL and the second tier, over the last few years.
    Well they are around sixth place right now, with a no name side.
    Why ?
    Possibly it has something to do with their manager and how they play?
    I touted this guy when he left Chelsea, to coach West Ham, as a future mannager we should look at, and probably get for nowt.
    It’s in the archives.
    Nufc are but a few signings from being a competitive side in both the EPL and European competition, but first we have to hire a manager who undestands the demands of the modern game.
    Of course, what do i know about any of this ?

  61. Radio four and cocoa, thats about the saddest thing i ever heard!
    From what i gather, i’m a much older geezer than you, but i aint succumbing to anything so final as that.
    Had you said radio four and coke, then ok, but then they dont really go to-gether, do they?
    Though i don’t really know, whats on radio 4. these days?
    What i do know is i am and have been aware of my mortality for a while, therefore enjoying the hell outta whats left, face it we are a long time dead!

  62. chuck says:
    November 15, 2012 at 4:43 am

    “Radio four and cocoa, thats about the saddest thing i ever heard!
    From what i gather, i’m a much older geezer than you, but i aint succumbing to anything so final as that.
    Had you said radio four and coke, then ok, but then they dont really go to-gether, do they?”

    Chuck, this bit from from presenter Jim Naughtie (a very appropriate surname in the circumstances) on Radio Four’s “Today” programme is about as racy as it gets. The “corpsing” afterwards is quite amusing, and also considering what a “Jeremy Hunt” Jeremy Hunt (an ex Government Culture Secretary who got a little too close to Rupert Murdoch in a famous controversy over here) really is. Of course, you’ve probably never heard of him though.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JpNravrwZc

    I remember that me and some of my friends once watched Sheepdog trials on the TV in the course of getting coked up to the eyeballs once. After a few minutes, it was like it was the World Cup final with the score at 5-5. We were all rising to our feet shouting stuff like “GO ON, GERRIN! YESSSS!” as the Border Collies finally managed to manoevre the Sheep into the pen. So I suppose it could go with anything! ;-)

  63. I’ve only just found this blog, fashionably late.

    I can’t tell you the relief I’m feeling at finding some sanity among the unbridled idiocy that has apparently descended on the collective psyche of those who have bought the spin from Barrack Road.

    I won’t address anything that has been mentioned above but my position is this:

    Pardew is the luckiest manager we’ve ever had. There is no way we were the 5th best team in the league last season. The stuttering performances of this season aren’t that dissimilar to those of last season, only the results are different.

    I’ve said from the day he stepped through the door that I believe Pardew to be completely tactically inept and I saw nothing last season to change my mind and feel my point of view is now being vindicated.

    The greatest myth propagated in the press is this mysterious scouting network that regularly uncovers gems. Aside from Tiote (pre-Pardew) who have they actually come up with? Cabaye, Cisse a Senegalese international… why do we have a paper-thin squad when we knew we’d have extra games this season and why wasn’t Graham Carr earning his money accordingly in the summer.

    “We need a goal-scoring centre half” remember that? And who did we buy? And how many goals have our defenders contributed this season… or last?

    Phantom bids for Debuchy, De Jong and Carroll were laughable and yet the fans bought the spin “it was more important to keep the group together”.

    Apologies for the rant. I’ll try to be succinct in future.

    Cheers,

    Stew

  64. Welcome aboard Stewpot!

    In response to your comment, I would say that we definitely had one of the best teams last season, some of players were phenomenal. However we certainly didn’t have one of the best managers no matter how many “Manager of the Year” awards he won. Thankfully luck made up for that, and the fact that his predecessor laid some very good foundations at the club, not least by sorting out the scouting by bringing in Graham Carr to replace Dennis Wise and the other two before he was sacked. Luck doesn’t last forever though, and much of Carr’s hard work has been undermined by the odious Llambias and Ashley and Llambias.

    Pardew is what he is, a Reading manager, and he’s trying to turn cows into ham. What I mean is he’s trying to turn a group of sophisticated players who are very good with the ball into a battling “route one” side like his original managerial “Alma Mater.”

    You don’t have to be too succinct if you don’t want to be. ;-)

  65. Erm, sure i know who Hunt is, Paxman etc.
    I catch them and followed the Murdoch saga on the Beeb during the summer, when i was on your side of the pond.
    There’s a certain similarity between our Charlie Rose (of PBS TV) and Paxman.
    But sorry it’s (the humor) the difference between doing “The times”
    and the “New York Times” crosswords, kna what a mean like?
    Cryptic and direct,
    And though never a great fan of “The Times” god what happened to it ?
    I know actually Murdoch, sad really.

  66. Chuck, Paxman is awful. He mistakes tough adverserial questioning for being a boorish arsehole. He did make Kissinger blow a gasket once and walk out of the studio though, which is in his favour I suppose!

  67. chuck says:
    November 16, 2012 at 12:24 am

    “And though never a great fan of “The Times” god what happened to it ?
    I know actually Murdoch, sad really.”

    Chuck, a very good documentary by ex Daily Mirror journalist, John Pilger, about how the UK press was “Murdoched” though I would say that much of what is in it also holds true over there too?

    John Pilger – Breaking the Mirror: The Murdoch Effect (1998)

  68. @worky

    I agree we had/have a good team but a paper-thin squad. That was obvious last season (remember Norwich away) and the source of my anger this season is that the club managed to hoodwink a large proportion of the fans into thinking that just holding onto the crown jewels was mission accomplished.

    The lads I go to the match with fell for it and couldn’t understand my attitude on the opening day of the season.

    I’m currently taking no pleasure in telling them ‘I told you so’ as reality is beginning to sink in.

    PS. I enjoyed your Record Sleeves blog :)