I think the Toon Army would have been happier watching a team like Wigan than the NUFC trotted out by Pardew. What we fans have always responded to best has been equal measure of humility, ambition, application. KK, SBR two of the most successful managers any of us will ever see, understood that the fans forgive a lack of tangible success simply by the team looking like they give a damn, looking like they wanted to at least fcking try. Neither won any trophy but both were legendary, because their teams had that look. They wanted to play football for their manager more often than not. The fans neither expected nor demanded a win every week, but there was believe there that everyone within the club was pulling in the right direction.
Pardew mistakenly thinks that by uttering a few empathetic lines every week that this somehow endears him to the club, that his failings are covered up because the people above him are that much more hated. For me he just doesn't get the ethos of this club. Actually, I dont know any club that would accept such a lack of effort from its' players, so consistently. That it happened so often last season and wasn't addressed in the Summer, if the personnel were at fault, seems staggering even for Ashley. If they were so crap, we could have sold any one of them at a profit, apart from maybe Debuchy.