The Chronicle's Final Word on Pardew

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/alan-pardew---final-word-8413517?

Ask most Geordie punters why it all went wrong for Alan Pardew at Newcastle and they may tell you a different story to the Londoner’s own version of events during an at times turbulent four years at St James’ Park.

Pardew claims difficulties with the local media, a tight budget and a public perception that he was Mike Ashley’s buddy contributed to an exit on Tyneside.

The fans might beg to differ.

Poor results, a shocking derby record, an appalling record in domestic cups and inept tactics could be offered up in their eyes.

Some performances left United supporters mortified by the end.

The 6-0 hammering at the hands of Liverpool, the two 3-0s against Sunderland and the two 4-0 batterings at Southampton spring to mind.

And those cup defeats at Brighton were right up there with the worst of them asNewcastle wandered around the field like lost souls.

By the end he’d lost more games than he won, and the argument – kicked off by pundit Paul Merson – that Newcastle won’t know how good the Pardew era actually was until later in the season is weak.

In Pardew’s defence, he was left to manage a team in which he had very little transfer control over and he had to put up with a stormy political background which included appointments like Joe Kinnear as director of football, stadium renaming and some high-profile sales, such as Yohan Cabaye and Andy Carroll.

Pardew appeared at his first full Press conference at Crystal Palace and put in a straight-bat performance.

However, he has since spoken to Radio Newcastle in an interview that some might say contains a few parting shots from Tyneside.

One of his main gripes seems to be his relationship with the three local newspapers the Chronicle, the Journal and the Sunday Sun.

He feels that it was difficult for him to work with all three titles banned from the club, but his name, along with Kinnear’s, appeared on a letter to the Chronicle that he agreed to the ban.

please log in to view this image

Alan Pardew salutes the Crystal Palace fans and, inset, our P45 front page


My own personal take on the situation is that the ban didn’t just crop up overnight.

There were a few incidents during Pardew’s tenure when the club were irked over certain articles.

Letting the cat out of the bag on details of Vurnon Anita’s transfer was one of the conversations I had with Pardew during his time here.

He maintained in the summer of 2012 he never wanted to see a newspaper banned, but still put up with it for 14 months.

Pardew said he approached his board to get the ban lifted as the pressure was cranked up on him from supporters.

However, he didn’t always make life easy for himself during the ban.

The tour of New Zealand was the greatest example of that, in my opinion.

Despite being banned, the Chronicle still travelled 11,000 miles to provide coverage of the two games in Dunedin and Wellington – the only local media outlet to do so.

On both of those nights, Pardew snubbed the chance to discuss the games in the main Press conference auditoriums put up by the organisers.

He didn’t only snub the Chronicle, he snubbed the New Zealand Press after those two games – and it didn’t look good.

One New Zealand journalist, who had even baked a cake for the Press room, said when told Pardew had snubbed the chance to visit the media room said: “Pass on our regards next time you see Alan Pardew would ya?”

It made little impact on coverage of the New Zealand tour as the local organisers really bought into the Chronicle’s presence down under.

Our Wellington hotel host told me: “When you are here we’ll treat you like the All Blacks or the Wallabies.”

Pardew’s cold attitude to the media who he felt had let him down left the friendly locals a little baffled.

But he was fighting a losing battle on that score because the local titles still provided page after page of coverage in New Zealand during that time.

It wasn’t the only time he proved to be a no-show at Press conferences.

At Southampton, fans on social media accused him of “bottling it” after a 4-0 loss.

Pardew’s failure to show for what would have been his final Press conference means that he left Newcastle on muted terms with all of the Tyneside written media.

He now hopes that the new man is treated with more respect.

He said: “I hope the next manager that the local Press look at the glass half full rather than half empty which I think happened with me a lot of the time and there is a better relationship between the club and the Press and the fans.”

Pardew has a short memory if that genuinely is his opinion.

He won plenty of plaudits when he guided the team to fifth place and the fans chanted his name.

The season after when he almost took the club down, the Chronicle ran with a “Back United” campaign to help lift the crowd and avoid relegation.

And when Pardew won his manager of the month awards he was given back page presence.

For any journalist to sit on the fence after some of the woeful performances at times would have been Pardew asking for a huge favour.

When it comes to Newcastle United Football Club you need to win more games than you lose.

In a city where fans graft all week and want to see something entertaining on the field you have to put your own work in around here.

Sadly Pardew never grasped that.

 

They are so bitter. I knew there would be a response to his interview where they got an dishonorable mention. The Chronicle is just garbage and gutter press.

 

I love that they think they speak for the masses too. **** off, you're not fit to speak for my mother in laws *****l dog you bunch of backward ****s. Nice to see him referred to as the "Londoner" as opposed to former manager or such like. You could argue that he is from London but they are just preying on what they know is an easy win with a certain group of fans.

They'd do well to take on board some of his comments rather than fighting their corner with little cheap shots. Why don't they start by sacking this useless set of clowns they have working for them, find some journos with a bit of knowledge and integrity, then get back to supporting the club and reporting on it in a more accurate fashion.

 

Pardew's version of events is a lot more believable than the **** the chronicle churn out

 

Pardew has always blamed everyone else. The bottom line is his record over the 4 years wasn't that good at all. I read somewhere he lost more than he won.

 

Not 100% sure, but I believe his win percentage was only 38%

 

I find win percentages to be little deceiving. Sir Alex Ferguson only had a WP of 60% during his time at Man Utd.

A points percentage, on the other hand, would give a far more accurate portrayal of a manager's performance.

 

Win percentages etc mean **** all. Why do people go on about this? If you are mid to lower table squad, guess what? You'll lose more than you win It is literally the most stupid reference point unless you are looking at top sides with consistent budgets. KK's win percentage 2nd time round was low too. A 38% win percentage probably gets you 50 points in the PL. About or just above our level, and certainly above our outlay.

The only things that matter are where you finish against the resources available and the football you play along the way. We have the least amount of resources in the league, we have to turn a profit. That is incredibly difficult. Where you finish in the league moreorless directly correlates with what you spend on transfer/wages. Obviously you get some who **** it up, they spend wildly then don't achieve. We are the anomaly in that we spend the least but achieve mid table.

He finished 5th, 16th, 10th, and has 10th again at the halfway stage. So he largely achieved very well. We had average squads throughout his reign. Our football has been very up and down (some would say literally at times ) We have certainly progressed in terms of our football under him, and we have a lot better youth system now.

He has done a decent job football wise. No wonder people outside the club are damning of how our anger is directed at times.

Where he hasn't done such a good job is his behaviour and ability to court controversy. That is certainly a stick to beat him with.

 

Yeah. Real low slanting him off the second hes out the door. His conduct was poor at times, even shocking. But for how he managed the team, results wise... my verdict is "decent".

Remember, he did have all his best players sold. Starting with Carroll, Nolan, Ba, Cabaye, Debuchy

 

With Pardew some things never change. A goal scored against his team immediately after kick off for 2nd half. Spurs carried on that theme by scoring against Palace within 3 mins of 2nd half commencing.

 

Good substitutions, gets the most from his team, and does not know how to be below the mackems in the table!

 

80% of the Chronicle's articles turn out utter **** almost 2 days following there publishing. They're embarrassing.

 

Pardew 3 - 0 Newcastle this weekend!

 

Yep some things never change, only Palace won by coming from behind.

 

One game lads. Give it a few more games before we all blow the deviant.

 

I get the impression that you think Pardew is good looking

 

BG has a fluffy picture frame (in pink) by his bedside with a picture of Pards in

 

New managers usually start well in there first couple of games. Tottenham have been looking at all of Palaces old games with no idea how they will line up in Pardew's first one. Tactically for a managers first game you're going in blind, you can't use the managers old system because you know he has different players, and you can't just stare at the old team lineup or playing style because he will have changed that! Specifically you have no idea what he will change in the second half and true to form, they changed it in the second half and Tottenham couldn't break through.

Pardew is a plan A manager, just like Gus Poyet and most other managers in the prem. When they figure out this plan A, Palace will struggle, then Pardew will have to get them fighting for it. In reference I will use Pardew's time at Charlton Athletic where they smashed West Ham at home, dragging them out of the relegation zone only to find themselves 15th in the championship the same time next season.

EDIT: I also strongly believed that Pulis would struggle with Palace this year, Warnock or not, they would have struggled this year.

 

I get the impression you are ever so slightly ******ed

 

I reckon Pards will probably do enough. I still think he has took on one hell of a job, as there doesn't appear to be a lot of finance there. 99 times out of hundred that means a relegation fight in the PL. So even if he scrapes through this season, he'll have another hard time next season. That being the case, he'll be under pressure, Palace legend or not.