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Alan Pardew Stars In Groundhog Day

11 years ago
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‘Groundhog Day’ is one of my favourite films; for those of you that haven’t seen it yet it’s a story about a miserable TV reporter (Bill Murray of Ghostbusters fame) who goes out to a place in the mid-west in America at the start of winter to report on the actions of a groundhog (a large species of squirrel) that apparently will then determine how good or bad the winter is going to be.

A lame story I know but the plot then develops wonderfully well as Bill Murray wakes up the following morning and is reliving the previous day. No matter what he does in an attempt to change the outcome of the day or to break out of the loop so he can get on with his life, poor old Bill keeps on waking up the following day and is always back to square one, reliving the previous day over and over and over again.

Back in the real world, Alan Pardew is now experiencing his own little groundhog day hell as history repeats itself again and again and again. Every single managerial appointment Pardew has held has started in the same vein; he makes a decent immediate impact, he starts to build and then bang…for whatever reason the wheels start to fall off. It all starts to go a bit pear-shaped and for some strange reason (maybe because he’s simply just not good enough) he’s never been able to stop the downward spiral that repeats itself again and again and again -Mr Ashley please take note!

Here’s a little synopsis of his managerial career to date…

Appointed Reading Manager in 1999 in the third tier of the English football league system after a period of time as caretaker manager.

Kept the club up in the 1999 /2000 season. Not a bad start

Got to the division 2 play-off final in 2000/2001but lost to Walsall…showing some promise

Gained automatic promotion to Division 1 (now the Championship) in the 2001/2002 season. Well done Pards…found your level.

Got to the Division 1 play-offs but lost to Wolves.

Left Reading to go to West Ham in the early part of the 2003/4 season and lost again in another play-off final but again showing he can make an immediate impact on a club as West Ham were admittedly struggling when he was first appointed.

2004/5 season he got his first taste of real success by guiding West Ham to promotion into the Premier league. Well done Pards, showing some signs there might be a half decent manager in there somewhere.

2005/6 finished 9th in the premier league with a team featuring 8 internationals and got to the final of the FA cup but lost to Liverpool.

2006/7 Guided West Ham to their worst run of defeats in 70 years with a team featuring Mascherano, Tevez and 10 other internationals, the wheels had fallen off and was not able to stop the rot (Mr Ashley please take note!). Sacked in December 2006.

Two weeks later gets the Charlton Athletic gig.

Charlton were 19th in the league when he took over and was unable to stop them going down (Please take note Mr Ashley and please see the comparisons to our current plight!!!!).

2007/8 season having just relegated the club, he only gets them to 11th position in the Championship (doesn’t bode well if we get relegated does it!)

2008/9 After a miserable run of 8 games without a win, (Ashley’s obviously a lot more patient than the Charlton owners..), he’s sacked again with the official version being ‘parted company by mutual consent’.

After being out of work for nine months (not in great demand there then!) he gets the Southampton gig in July 2009.

With the club having had 10 points deducted he just misses out on the play-offs so again not a bad effort but as way of a consolation wins the Johnstone’s paint trophy, showing yet again he’s definitely capable of making an immediate impact on a new club.

2010/11 Gets sacked in October 2010 amidst reports of low player morale and a falling out with the owner.

December 2010 Somehow gets the toon gig.

2010/11 With Newcastle not in danger, or playing that badly, Ashley sacks Houghton and Pardew steers us to a respectable 12th.

2011/12 Pardew steers us to a miraculous 5th place finish and wins LMA manager of the year award, yet again proving he’s capable of making a good immediate short-term impact at any club he manages.

2012/13 Jan 2013 and groundhog day plays itself out again as the toon now only 2 points off a relegation place with only 1 win in the last 14 games and having been dumped out of the FA cup by Brighton for the second time in two years,. We’ve been on the slide for 4 months now and he’s shown yet again he’s not capable of reversing a downward spiral.

I don’t give a damn about Pardew having to go through his own personal groundhog day hell all over again but one thing’s for sure, I don’t want to see the club go through another groundhog day hell and see them get relegated again.

I don’t know about you lads but with that kind of track record behind your manager, would you stick with him in the position we’re in????

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