I think Pardew has had the team glue together for maintaining this fantastic run. There was a split between players and the hierarchy of the club, and it was clear the players were frustrated. He sorted that out with the board.
Under Hughton, I always thought the players had more influence over than the man himself with picking the style of play and formation, etc. There were clear unnecessary statements made public to the board from the players. (Enrique, Barton, Nolan...)
Pardew did the right thing by shipping these players out! The players disagreed with our transfer policy, and overall operations of running the club. How many of you disagree with it now, after 10 games in and 3rd in the league?
Pardew deserves the majority of praise. He has dealt with the wedge between the fans / players / board superbly and the wound is healing, we are a stable club on the field and becoming stable financially.
After many mistakes, I think Ashley has the right set-up in place, gradually showing the business plan will begin to pay dividends sooner rather than later, as we are already seeing it pay off on the pitch.
I do think as a whole, the success we've had so far is a joint contribution from Pardew, Ashley, Llambias and the players.
The future looks bright, the future looks black n' white!
