Derek confirms cash will be there in the Summer... who do you want?

People look for a scapegoat, and when they can't find one they go to the end of the chain. All told, everything about us has been poor for large parts of this season and that cannot all be Pardew's fault.

 

I certainly don't blame all setbacks on him. Injuries, suspensions etc have restricted him from being able to fully do what he wants. Lack of investment meant he had to juggle things around too much, which would have contributed to the downturn in form.

But as for playing style, the buck surely has to stop at Pardew?

Look at the latter part of last season and we played some quality football (remember West Brom away and Liverpool at home?).

My doubts come from the fact that for the whole of this season (from the start, before any injuries), he ditched that system. We haven't come anywhere near replicating that style, even when players have been available.

We've been worryingly predictable. That has to come down to the manager. It's not about making a scapegoat of anyone.

 

Are there any bargains from Reading or QPR you can think of...?
The kind of fire sale Mikey likes.

 

Bargains from QPR?
That sounds like going to Emporio Armani looking for cheap goods to me.

 

That simply isn't true. Gouffran played on the left a fair bit. He'd often switch during games also. He has done very well for us there, particularly when you consider he is new to the league. He will be used in the same way he was for Bordeaux, rotated round the forward roles.

We've played some good stuff since the introduction of new players. At times some of our football has been great to watch. The long ball stuff has gone. A large part is down to Pardew. The players were in a state of panic earlier in the season. Pardew was not asking them to play direct but they were. Nobody wanted the ball. Its common when you lack confidence and have players like Willo playing who aren't comfortable with a football. Pardew has to take his share of the blame for that because it is his job to mentally prepare the team. The same goes for our approach to games with the big sides at times, and some away games this season. He hasn't had a great season as I say.

However if you are never going to allow a manager time to build up knowledge and learn from his mistakes, then you'll never get stability. We are not the Chelsea's etc of this world. We are not going to pay astronomical wages to some proven world class coach. It guarantees **** all anyway. Look at the coaches who have come and gone at these big clubs. We are trying to build something over the long term as others have. To do that you need a chairman with a set of nuts and some patience from fans. We will have to learn (fans, manager, coaching staff, players, board) as we go.

As I say you are looking at this season in isolation. It has been poor, there is no hiding from it. The board let us down early doors, the manager hsn't had a good season, the fans have been a bit moany again, and the players have seriously underperformed. You can't just sack the manager every time you hit a rough patch in your history though or you'll get nowhere. We have to learn from our past mistakes in terms of continually changing managers.