I know we Sunderland fans are supposed to laugh at anything or anyone to do with Newcastle, and visa versa, but Chris Hughton always seemed and still seems one of footballs good guys. When many seemed ready to desert the sinking ship at Newcastle he not only stayed but made them a team that walked the Championship. When many thought his team would struggle with no real sinnings in the Premiership and his one very big singing out injured, he, IMHO, was doing a cracking job and many, including me, think he would certainly have done no worse than Pardew. He was then sacked and kept a quiet dignity, no crying, moaning or calling the club. He then bided his time until a door opened at Birmingham. A team that had just been relegated but still a Premier team with the chance of bouncing straight back. Then the **** hit the fan for their owner and it seems financial meltdown is taking place. The spine of his team is gone and every day more bones are being picked, none of it his fault. It appears that in life in general and football in particular the good guys seldom win. I just think the man deserves better. Yes I hear you say but he is earning a fortune so we cant have a lot of sympathy, well yes he is but I for one do.
I think Ashley thought he was going to be another yes man. But the team spirit and fight Hughton put into what was a distinctly average squad frightened the life out of him. He got too popular and gained too much influence and so Ashley got rid. I hope he does well in his new job.
Swings and roundabouts. He did a fantastic job for us and didn't deserve the sack. On the other hand, he was hired as a coach and left as a respected manager - - someone who could take a club in turmoil and turn it back into a winning side. If we had been any less of a basket case, he would have never got his chance, which frankly had to be throust upon him. He is now in the middle of a **** storm at Birmingham. If he can steady the ship there and get them even close to being promotedhe will have established himself as one of the most valuable managers in English Football, outside of those managing the top few clubs.
The guy was a gentleman. He won the Newcastle fans over and helped build bridges between the club and the fans. That all stopped when Ashley sacked him and now under Pardew those bridges are collapsing. I have a dislike for Birmingham but i'm hoping Hughton does a good job there, although i can't see it being as 'easy' as it was when he was at Newcastle.
Agree with this .. Don't agree with this though .. see some movement on the transfer market, and some contracts running down, Twitter comments etc but no bridges collapsing under Pardew .. he's done ok so far and will be held to account when he has a run with his own team that he's putting together now .. Also hope Hughton does well ..
In what way? Pardew has been fairly open with the fans, people have levelled accusations of the club about not being open and not communicating with the fans, Pardew has done his best to change that, not really his fault that at the moment there isn't a lot to say. We didn't have a bad 2nd half of the season under Pardew, the test will be this season with a full pre-season etc under his belt. As for Chris Hughton he seems to be out of the frying pan and into the fire. Hopefully Yeung sells Brum to raise some cash and Hughton gets a decent chairman to work under, good manager and a true gent by all accounts.
In the way that many fans, in my opinion and myself included, feel that Pardew is simply Mike Ashleys puppet.
Some fans feel that Alan Pardew is a puppet. It is not a majority opinion. I think the majority view is that Pardew has done adequately so far and will be judged on the results of this season, including the transfer windows
This. He is a classic puppet. His whole appointment stinks. Him, Ashley amd Llambias go way back. Its all very fishy.
Back to Syd and his original comments, Chris Hughton deserves success, he did well for us and was treated badly by the establishment that run our club. This is not Pardews fault, Hughton was not sacked because of the relationship Pardew has with Ashley I think he was only ever going to be a stop gap, he was sacked quite early in the season when we were doing well. Had Hughtons success continued it would have raised more of an outcry than it did, but looking back I don't think they ever planned to keep him long term a very sad fact in deed. I hope Hughton can come out of all this trouble at Birmingham ok, yet another club and their SUPPORTERS being let down.
I don't think anyone with anything to do with football would have a bad word to say about Chris, top bloke and a good manager as well. I hope things work out for him with Birmingham, the way things are going anywhere in the top half will be a job well done, hopefully his boss (whoever that may be) will realise this. Also, I feel this article on 606 shows what us fans thought of him, and what a fantastic person CH was. As for Pardew, I think most fans have taken to him. The tossers running the club make his life incredibly difficult, but he deals with it and he's doing a good job.
