Just reading an interview there and it's actually disgraceful how much nufc fans went after him considering he finished 5th without the kind of money Howes had. Pardew did really well at Newcastle all things considered... Still speaks well of nufc. Discuss.
Did really well to get 5th and then he got Ashley’d the season after with only one signing in a midget purchase. Little Vern.
One good season, which was clearly a flash in the pan, then a whole heap of dogshit. A few weeks after he'd arrived, we'd gone out the FC cup to Stevenage, losing 0-6 at home to Liverpool, headbutting players, shoving refs, calling a manager an old ****, nearly getting us relegated straight after the one good season. The man was an absolute clown. He was out of work when we got him, and we gave his career a good 10 years extra that he didn't deserve. No thanks from here. Before rejoicing that we finished 5th, maybe also consider that this was the guy who nearly got us relegated with Cabaye, Ba, Cisse, Ben Arfa, Krul, Colo, Tiote, Santon etc.
And let's just add that he also wasn't just **** for us - sacked from West Ham for shagging numerous players wives, at Crystal Palace he managed to have the worst record there of all 92 clubs in a calendar year, and took over a solid West Brom team who had been in the Prem comfortably for years, and turned them to dogshit and got them relegated.
Who gives a crap about about Pardew and Ashley now? Those days are behind us. I'm only looking forwards.
Munson apparently, who likes to keep us grounded and humble by remembering that Pardew finished 5th, and that Bruce deserves honouring for a 13th place finish. No mention of Bruce sending us hurtling towards the championship before we he sacked, or Pardew nearly getting us relegated, headbutting players and losing to Stevenage. We need to respect these guys, the Joe Kinnear, John Carver and Steve McClaren appreciation threads to follow.
Pardew and Bruce both got their unfair share of abuse. We were under an owner who didn't give a **** about investing and taking the club forward. Finishing 5th was a fantastic achievement.
And they were both a pair of useless clowns who got a job that was far too good for them because no one wanted to work with Ashley. Pardew had an outstanding team in the form of their lives when we finished 5th, but still managed to nearly relegate them the next season.
We finished 16th the season after, and that could be because we had to play Europa League with a squad that bought one player to strengthen for the extra games - Vurnon Anita. We didn't have the squad depth to make anything out of that season.
Squad stretched by Europe somewhat, but that doesn't excuse it - we were playing Vuckic, Gosling, Bigarimana, Tavenier, Abied and Ferguson in the Europa League, we just played out second string and waltzed through to the quarters cos it's a piss easy competition. The Europe argument doesn't excuse that league season at all.
Pardew was the best manager of the Ashley era. I know the canned response is "that's not saying much" But under Mike Ashley, Pardew achieved consistent safety, a 5th place finish, a Europa League quarter final, we played some amazing stuff for a season under him. Our fans never ever wanted him and even when he was doing well it was a disgruntled appreciation. Our players, like Barton, admitted that they never wanted Pardew but were surprised by how tactically aware he was upon arrival.
Yes it does. Europa League campaigns involve more games than the CL. If you don't have a squad built for Europe you need to make a good 3-5 additions to your squad to allow it to handle the extra games. It did have an effect on us. I'm not saying Pardew was a great manager, but if you're only able to add one bang average player to your squad the season you go into Europe, which cost us about 6m, that about says it all about the support you were going to get. We had an owner that saw anything above maintaining survival as a surplus to requirements.
Europa League games usually sit at more awkward times of the week too. Europa League is a season killer if you don't have players
Look at the teams we were playing in the early rounds of the Europa - hardly any first team players were in the time. Instead of using that as an excuse as to why our league form was so bad, instead maybe think how bad that competition was and that we should have won it....we would probably had won it had Demba Ba not ****ed off to Chelsea, so props to Colo for booting the **** in the nose.
Does it excuse dropping down to 16th? Probably not, but it's still a contributing factor. We still had to play our best players some times, and also it takes the mind of the manager off the league games for a significant period of time, which is not just the squads fault, but it's not Pardew's fault he's never had any European experience before, maybe it was too much for him. That doesn't make him a bad manager though. Pardew was out of his depth dealing with a European campaign, but I do believe strengthening our squad would have been helpful, not just to aid our European campaign in the latter stages, but also to help solidify our top 5 spot. Even if finishing top 5 didn't get us Europa League qualification, any reasonable enough owner would invest to try and maintain that position. Pardew got no such investment. It's not just excuses, it's just the facts that maybe with more backing and support we could have done better. Europa League definitely impacted our season, and without it we probably would have finished higher.
Pardew had European experience before after taking West Ham to the FA cup final, when he went crashing out in the first round. West Ham had a dreadful league season that season (with no European football to concentrate on cos they'd gone out in the first round remember), and Pardew got sacked. What makes Pardew a bad manager is the fact he's a bad manager, ie: - nearly getting us relegated with Cabaye, Cisse, Ba, Colo, Santon and Tiote - giving Crystal Palace the worst calendar league record of any of the 92 league clubs in 2016 - getting a comfortable Premier league West Brom team relegated - getting Charlton relegated from the Prem, then nearly getting them relegated again from the Championship before he was sacked. - overseeing us go out the FA Cup to Stevenage and West Ham go out the League Cup to Chesterfield. - headbutting players, shoving refs, calling managers ****s and shagging players wives.
