Sounds logical but Ashley would probably get richer by sacking him, letting a good manager develop the players and letting Pardew work off his debt in a Sports Direct store.
Maybe so, but if his previous two club managers and the last two France managers couldn't get him to perform then I can't see how that can be levelled at Pardew. Pardew has his faults, but the Ben Arfa situation just isn't one of them.
Tiote was brilliant for us last year, especially during his spell as captain so I'd say he's still a 10m-15m player (as much as the Sunderland fans on here slate him). Judging Pardew purely during his time at Newcastle (as I didn't pay much attention to him at his previous clubs) he finished 12th after taking over from Hughton, having to play half a season with Ameobi, Best and Lovenkrands as his strike force following Carroll's sale. He followed that up with a 5th placed finish, winning both manager of the year awards in the process. We then finished 16th which was poor, but only Anita arrived as a permanent signing, we lost Ba so operated only with Cisse and Shola as our strike force again. He also got us within touching distance within a semi final spot in the Europa league. And last season we were 6th, sold Cabaye with no replacement, Remy got injured for most of the second half of the season, as did Cisse leaving just Shola and De Jong up front and we finished 10th. On paper, purely based on results, the money available to him to improve the squad, the constant affect of having to sell his best player every year etc he's actually done a decent job. He let's himself down with his media interviews & off field behaviour which is the main reason for the fans dislike of him. Also last season didn't help, a 10th placed finish was a good achievement (especially having not made a permanent signing for 18 months) but it was the manner it was achieved in. For every win against Man Utd, Spurs, Chelsea etc there was a hammering against Sunderland, Spurs (home), Southampton. If we'd been mid table all year I doubt anyone would have complained all that much, it's more the fact we showed top 6 form for 4/5 months and then bottom 6 form for the last 4/5 months. In terms of Ashley, he has a manager that achieves his goals with limited resources (he's done this in every season bar when we finished 16th), doesn't complain about lack of squad depth etc and also relays the boardroom messages to the media without complaint. I'd actually rate the job Pardew has done with us as 6/10. If the derby results had been more even i'd give him a 7/10. My biggest gripe with him is he's a bad loser, which isn't always a bad thing but at times (especially after a heavy defeat) he just puts his fingers in his ears and pretends it didn't happen instead of explaining why we lost to the fans. If he did a bit more explaining we'd at least feel he'd be addressing the reasons for the defeat in training the following week. But as I say, on the whole, especially results wise he's done a solid (but far from spectacular) job.
Fair do's. He's never going to improve the situation though is he which is my point., evident by making him train with the reserves. I do believe Ben Arfa was Pardews first signing turning his loan permanent(you'll correct me if I'm wrong). 4 years later both are still at the club and a player with World Class Ability and an attitude problem instead of leaving for millions is now worth peanuts. I see your point fella, but I'd call that failure on Pardew and his management team's part, maybe getting the best out of him was impossible for Pardew, but his way of dealing with it was keeping him at the club and letting his value dwindle. He should have got rid ages ago surely? A 5m signing which you could have got double, possibly triple the amount. The fact that such a good player is available for just 3m say's enough on it's own. Just can't see it all being Arfa's fault. I know you may refer me back to the other managers but they got shot and got better money, at 27 this should be his biggest fee.
So we've established that you're reasonably pleased with his performance. You went an entire season wasn't it without a goal from a set play? Who doesn't address that type of problem at this level? Teams went to St James' Park last season and barely had to play for a win, even Moyes probably had his best day there. You lot had given up after Cabaye got sold and Pardew had nothing in him to motivate the squad, it's like he said "Cabaye's gone so you lot are ****, let's all go on holiday now". Forget his antics as a manager, without players like Cabaye and Remy he's struggled to get anything out of his squad, whilst the likes of Pulis are getting players like Puncheon into red-hot form. Not a single player has developed under Pardew as far as I can see, not one. The fact that he blamed the fans after one of your humiliating 3< goals defeats last season says it all for me, if I was a Newcastle fan I wouldn't go anywhere near the club until he was sacked. Pardew should have broken that MOTY award up and given a piece each to Ben Arfa, Cisse, Ba and Cabaye, because it was those guys individual talents that ripped teams to shreds. That team picked itself and he stumbled across a formation that worked well, yet ironically never revisited despite him drowning ever since. I'll accept he's been on a bit of a **** budget for new players, and that he's had clowns working alongside him, so it's not all his fault. I'm sure some ****er like Joey Barton will stick it in an autobiography soon enough, it doesn't add up to me.
I get what you're saying regarding the motivation of the team after Cabaye was sold, but eliminate Pardew from the equation and if you're a Debuchy, Sissoko or Krul etc and you've an outside chance of making the top 4/top 6 if you add an extra player or two in the window, but instead you sell your best player then you're bound to lose motivation regardless of manager. To be fair to Pardew, he turned Cabaye from a 4.5m player to a 19m player so must be doing something right. I'm not just talking about Cabaye's transfer value here either, when he was at Lille he was only a squad player for France, under Pardew he became integral for them. You also have to take in to account that he's constantly championed the idea of signing more British players which has been ignored. As I've said, for me he's done an okay job. He's a mid table manager working for what is currently a mid table club. A mid table club that for the last two season has had a championship budget. Show me a team that goes from 16th to 10th with without making a single permanent signing? I bet no club has ever jumped 6 places without spending a penny in the close season before. It just doesn't happen. He's far from a likeable bloke, but on paper, when looking purely at results, budget and league finishes (which is what a manager should be judged on) he's above the curve.
Sorry mate but I don't agree with that bit, Cabaye was top drawer at Lille and has always been naturally talented. He's a player that I'd have taken all day at MUFC for £20m, all Newcastle done in my opinion is a shrewd bit of business and gave him a platform to prove he can do it on a bigger stage than L1. Cabaye had played for France a lot before joining Newcastle, maybe he was being kept out by M'Vila, Diarra, Nasri etc but I'd give the turnaround in Cabaye's international fortunes to Deschamps and Blanc and the fact that their Euro team acted like idiots rather than Pardew developing him. You didn't make a single permanent signing but you made a signing on loan that, had you not made you'd have probably finished in the bottom 3. Remy probably cost you about £5m all in for the season in wages, bonuses and loan fees. That's obviously not his (Pardew's) fault, but if a sad sack of **** like Pulis can pull up rugs with Palace I think you're giving Pardew too much credit for a poor return on a talented group of lads.
Make HBA the centre of your team and tell him he doesn't need to do defensive work, like we did with Robert a few years back, and you have a world class player on your hands. He is genuinely a sensational footballer, ruined by a manager far more interested in defensive solidity that flair or excitement. Nothing has upset me more in my NUFC supporting time than seeing how much his talent has been wasted.
I wonder what happened to all those French berets ......... in drawers with Spiderman masks and curly perm wigs I expect
The stupid thing is, as a number 10 he'd probably link up brilliantly with Cisse who's an instinctive finisher. Instead, Pardew forces him to play as almost a wingback alongside whoever they're playing at RB, then puts Cisse further up the wing as a winger, instead of a striker, so they've got 3 on the right side and Ben Arfa's forced to cut inside where he's usually crowded out. Get a proper winger, buy a proper RB that's not a tuss and can actually defend instead of being an attacker like Johnson for Liverpool, stick Ben Arfa in behind Cisse and you'd not be far off having a decent set up. Obviously Pardew wouldn't realise that because it wouldn't be in his 'management for dickheads' book.
