Newcastle providing the perfect setting to showcase his abilities
Pardew must avoid complacency following Newcastle's ubeaten start
One of the toughest managerial jobs in Europe; in my opinion; has got to be at Newcastle United, with the fans extremely hard to please and an owner that seems solely worried about his wallet, anyone who goes there has got a lot to think about before accepting the job.
After popular manager Chris Hughton was sacked in December last year, Alan Pardew was controversially appointed as his replacement on a five-and-a-half-year deal to the bemusement of the Geordie faithful. After a successful year in charge of Southampton, where he won an impressive 53% of his games at a side starting bottom of the league due to administration, Mike Ashley felt he was the man to lead Newcastle United to the next level.
Main striker Andy Carroll was sold to Liverpool and not replaced in January, but this did not prevent the Magpies from scoring goals and winning games with a strong team spirit and work rate appearing throughout their game. A summer of ins and outs caused even more turmoil at St James Park (The Sports Direct Arena) than usual and for once they have come out of it positively. The overachievers of the Premier League so far with 25 points from 11 games, they sit third in the league going into the international break and are already 16 points clear of the relegation zone and we are not even in December.
A lot of people have suggested that their form will not last and they will fall down the league, but whether that happens or not, surely Pardew must be praised for the work he has done so far to win over the Toon army and the board in equal measure.
Newcastle are considered one of the biggest clubs in the country that have constantly underachieved, a similar tag that was put on Pardew’s previous success, West Ham. After breaking into management at Reading, he became West Ham’s number one target as manager after they were relegated from the Premier League. After a rough departure from The Royals, Pardew spent just over three years in charge at Upton Park, becoming a local legend getting the side promoted back to the top flight, finishing in the top half in their first season back in the Premier League, reaching the FA Cup final and booking their place in Europe for the following season.
A similar trend has occurred between both clubs under Alan Pardew, with hard working, talented teams that rely on shrewd transfer deals and unbeatable support from the fans. While at West Ham Pardew signed Nigel Reo-Coker for £500,000 from Wimbledon, who went on to captain the side to success and then when his form dipped, was sold to Aston Villa for £8.5million. A huge profit that was mirrored in similar dealings including Bobby Zamora, Mathew Etherington, Marlon Harewood and James Collins.
Similarly at Newcastle, in his short time there, Pardew has shown his ability in the transfer market, selling Andy Carroll to Liverpool for £35million and bringing in Demba Ba on a free transfer. Carroll has scored four goals in 10 months at Anfield and Ba has scored 8 goals in 11 games for Newcastle, fantastic business for the North East club. Other summer arrivals such as Gabriel Obertan and Yohan Cabaye have been a success and a crucial reason as to why the club are flying in the Champions League places.
Yes there are some tough games ahead for Newcastle in the next month, but with Pardew now settled at the Magpies and the fans and board in unison with the fantastic job he is doing, it appears Pardew has now found another club that appreciates what he does and how he does it. Don’t get carried away Geordies but I feel you are in very safe hands.
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My only criticism of the article is classifying all Newcastle Fans as Hard to please, If you look back the last 5-6 years its been a soap opera to the Premiere league now that the ‘Series’ has finished, you ask any Newcastle fan where would they like to finish between 6-10th place. They know there football up there and they appreciate hard work and true ethic.
Its more of a sly remark or a dig @ Newcastle Fans to state that their hard to please.
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I completely agree with the post by Kilkenny. Us Newcastle fans have been to hell and back every season since Fat Freddie disgracefully sacked Sir Bobby Robson. To say were hard to please really shows you don’t understand us and just stereotype. We have been really unfortunate on stacks of things throughout the years and we still support and cheer on our warriors. True passion is nothing to be ashamed of and very hard to find in football these days and we at Newcastle show much more than most teams therefore it pains us more when things go against us. To say we’re hard to please is slightly lacking respect. Many teams suffer but by the amount of drama Newcastle go through I think we all need a medal for still being without a threatening heart condition and that also includes young fans. I don’t know if you’ve heard but the historic St James’ Park name is to be replaced with some comercial brand. Yet another kick in loyal fans teeth, but we’ll still be there in over the 50,000 mark to cheer our team on. Need not I remind you we were still averaging attendances past 45,000 in the Championship.
You got that line wrong it’s not that we’re ‘hard to please’ it should be ‘we’re hardly given the chance to be pleased with all the sh*t we’ve been through’.
Ps. I trust that our great fans won’t distract the players performing well while showing their understandable disgust at Ashley’s latest shocking error in opting for a stadium name change.
HWTL
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Not a bad article to be honest, yes it was regarded as a bit of a poison chalice and yet two managers that apparently know how to handle their own ego’s have come through with flying colours, Chris Houghton managed the club admirably and Alan Pardew has taken the club on another level since.
On the surface the fans in some ways were a little hard to please, but in reality it was simple go on the park give everything you have and leave it all on the park and the fans will love you.
Parasites like Owens and Viduka and several other of that ilk that came to the club just because they were paying big money were much to blame for the fans title of “hard to please”.
I think I can speak for most of the fans when I say all we ever want is to be entertained, play open attacking football and you will have us behind you play defensive mind numbing negative tactics and we want you out. Why is that so hard to understand??
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