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Time For Alan Pardew To Go?

11 years ago
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Back in December 2010, I was angered by the way Chris Hughton was treated. The former Tottenham player and coach, who was appointed by previous manager Kevin Keegan in March 2008, led us to the Championship title in the 2009-2010 season and at the same time brought respectability and dignity back to the club.

Rumours were rife as to who would replace Chris. Martin Jol was linked but it was Alan Pardew, the former West Ham, Charlton and Southampton coach that took over from Chris. His first game was an impressive 3-1 win over Liverpool which many put down to the team spirit of the players and wanting to thank Chris for all he done for the club.

(To feature like Gary, send in your letters/articles for the magazine/website to contribute@themag.co.uk – write about anything NUFC related – past, present or future)

The rest of the season brought with it a fight to ensure Premier League survival after Andy Carroll was sold to Liverpool in January 2011 without any new striker lined up. A last ditch attempt to sign Charles N’Zogbia seemed inane considering the way in which he departed two years ago after Kinnear mispronounced his name in a post-match interview.

After an impressive 2011-2012 season which saw us get back into Europe having bought Cisse, Cabaye, Ben Arfa on a permanent deal along with Ba, Marveaux and Obertan amongst others, hopes were high that we could do well this year also.

The failure by the board to recruit well in the Summer left us in a precarious position going into the new year with then an influx of new players in January.

An indifferent run of form in November, December and March this year has left us with a real fight against relegation with an embarrassing and appalling 3-0 defeat to Sunderland leaving us having to get 9 points from our next 5 games to ensure Premier League football next season.

The problem with Pardew this year has been his overreliance on the long ball tactic and more worryingly is our players’ inability to create chances from corners.

In games where we have lost heavily, we have not adapted our formation to at least try and get something from the game. Our passing has been poor as has our tempo in games. It seems an effort for our players to return the ball to each other. Ba’s sale has not helped matters as Cisse has been entrusted with the task of scoring the goals to keep us up.

It is agonising to see us from being a club wowing everyone last year with compliments from the team at Sky likewise on ESPN, to inquests into what is going wrong by fans and critics alike. Message boards are divided over whether he should stay, highlighting stability as the key. But do you stay with a manager whose plan continually fails and he never seems to do nothing to put things right?

Mike and Derek have to sit down and if they care about the club, and/or want a return on their investment, they need someone at the helm that can inspire and cajole the team and get the best out of them. On paper, our team is a top 10 squad with Ben Arfa, Tiote, Cabaye, Krul and Cisse coveted by some of the top teams in Europe. However, Pardew does not seem to be getting the best out of them either, at times  playing Cisse out of position.

These last 5 games could shape the future of Newcastle and more importantly Pardew and his management team.

Finish comfortably and Alan will be given one more chance to strengthen. Struggle and stay up by the skin of our teeth and Mike will be making another managerial change.

Over to you Alan.

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