Ha oh fair enough. I would have Pardew higher aswell. I thought he did ok in the circumstances. In fact when he finished 5th he did well. But then Ashley pulled the rug.
Don't disagree but I'd say he took over a team that had finished mid-table for a number of years and had them finish mid-table. Was fine but only here for 20 games, not blaming him for that (obviously Ashley is 100% to blame for it) but not putting him above those above him in the list for it either. Just my opinion.
Probably safe under Keegan, not sure with Pardew. We had amassed less than a point a game for the previous year (something like 30 points from 38 games) and whilst I'm glad we had Pardew overall my main issue when he was here was that I never felt like he had a good idea of how to control games and results, we would go on runs of amazing results and then runs where we couldn't buy a win. I think he left at the right time.
Pardew was on the crest of a slump from memory. He was a streaky manager who never knew how to get out of a slump. Didn’t we have the least number of points in a 12 month period when he was in charge?
100%! I feel for Kevin Keegan, particularly after knowing what we know now. KK's main target was Luka Modric. Ashley stooge Tony Jimenez point blank refused, saying that the player was too small for the Premiership. KK also had his other targets, such as Bastian Schweinsteiger, who was rejected via a ridiculous bid by Ashley and Llambias. KK had to deal with (and report to) cretins, who should be nowhere near a football club.
Keegan was obviously ****ed over in the transfers, but at the end of the day he did have players like Owen, Martins, Butt, Viduka, Barton, Jonas etc at his disposal. You can never put his second stint above Howe.
Souness was obviously dire, but did have Owen and Luque thrust upon him when he didn't want them... although his signings were mainly dreadful and he did rip the club apart. For me Allardyce is worse than Souness, how can anyone forget how bad the football was under Allardyce? Also we were falling like a lead balloon, with results like losing 1-4 at home to Pompey, and let's not forget us under Allardyce we're the only team that Derby in 08 - officially the worst premier league team ever - managed to beat. Plus also he had free reign on signings and spent a fortune on dross like Cacapa, Rozenhal, Smith, Viduka, Geremi etc. And Carver doesn't even qualify as a manager, so he's indesputably bottom.
I didn't intend to rank KK against Howe, but moreso against Bruce. For KK to be ranked lower than Bruce is IMO is both incomprehensible and rather disrespectful.
