I'd save your money mate. Chairmen and managers are never on exactly the same wavelength, especially when it comes to forking out for signings. Men as prudent with money as NC take a lot of convincing. Lose Adkins and who comes in? We're not big enough to pinch another PL manager, so we'd either go for some 'name' who can't hold down a job, go abroad or take a punt on someone unproven. Cortese will know that we have to keep Adkins for the plan to stay on track.
Yeah I think that was pretty clear. It came after a thumping away win as well. I remember Cortese praising NA for something like his "human" approach or something. I don't remember but he commented on Adkins personality, not just his managerial credentials at Scunthorpe
Yeah, but he was under pressure results wise before that. The pass at Fonte's wife may have been the straw that broke the camels back.
You just want some stories to be true, but I suspect that Pardew just didn't share Cortese's dream and there was probably a personality clash. Nicola did remark that Adkins was an honourable man (after he wouldn't walk out on Scun thorpe). Be interesting when Pards comes to SMS, but I'm sure he'll get a good reception from the home fans because of the JPT and his initial work with the team.
There was talk that Pardew applied for the Villa job without even telling Cortese, this sounds more plausible. I'll give Pardew a good reception though.
11-1 are far from bad odds, but I'm not going to put money on something which I don't believe will happen - because personally, my choice is Steve Clarke. No direct mangerial experience in the past, so if WBA have a bad start then I can see the crowd very quickly turning on him and the board. If not Clarke though, then Pulis would be worth a shout imo. I wouldn't be shocked if either Pardew (failure to live up to last season) or Laudrup (wrong fit) left during, or at the end of, the season, however I don't see either leaving early on.
IIRC NC sacked Pardew because he wasn't a "yes man". He also said that he wanted someone who would be here for years to come and to be part of the vision. Pardew was too big a name to manage in League One IMO so would have been tempted by offers from bigger clubs, like Villa. He hasn't done too bad for himself since he left us though!
Doubt that Adkins is a yes man, but he shares the same ideas as Nicola and probably 'manages' Cortese rather than tackle him head on.
Describing Adkins as a yes man is harsh. Nigel Adkins does things his way and his way presumably appeals to Cortese, which is why we hired him in the first place. Pardew's face just didn't fit and we found that out the hard way because at the time, we didn't have the time to do a rigourous search. If we had, we'd probably have brought Adkins in sooner. Pardew had an issue with the way Cortese delegated responsibility and Adkins being an incoming manager will have been fine with it.
