Congratulations Alan Pardew – From zero to hero!

Manager of the Season
The decision to replace outbound Chris Hughton with Alan Pardew was greeted with extreme caution, even disdain.

The management had got rid of a man who had served us so well in helping us gain promotion from the Championship and had made a decent start to life in the Premier League, but a poor run of results (which wasn’t actually that poor) saw Hughton disposed of.

The replacement was eyed with suspicion. Seen as a puppet, a yes man, to front the board and give them an extra barrier of security, love and anticipation was in short supply. He was not exactly first name to come rolling the from the lips of anyone asked who Hughton’s successor should be, but 17 months on and any shred of doubt has been removed over whether the appointment was the correct decision or not.

Alan Pardew is this seasons Barclays Manager of the Season!

From 37 games we’ve won 19, lost 10 and the other 8. We’ve qualified for Europe for the first time in five years and we’ve done it through league position rather than cup results. We’re also in with a shout of qualifying for the Champions League and could well finish as high as third should results go our way, reaching our second highest Premier League points tally to boot!

It’s all a far cry from the start of the season though. All at St James’ Park was not well, or so it seemed, and players who had been so integral to ensuring our Premier League safety soon followed Andy Carroll out of the door. Joey Barton and Jose Enrique were quick to air their frustrations and used Twitter to do so. Kevin Nolan wasn’t as public as those two, not until after he completed his move to West Ham anyway.

Just how would we cope without those stalwarts?

Well the answer is, rather well. Brilliantly in fact.

Those brought in to replace the departed have added to our team and made it better. Virtually all of them arrived with some form of issue, ranging from knobbly knees to confidence issues to just plain being unknown to the majority of Premier League fans, but all of them have come in, performed brilliantly and have removed a whole host of questions surrounding them, including the question of whether our scouting network could deliver the goods.

All of this combined has contributed to the season we’ve had. From manager to players to coaching staff and even the canteen chef, it’s all been a team effort. It hasn’t always worked out and we’ve hit bumps in the road, although none of those bumps have made the wheels fall of, but overall I can’t knock the award of this and feel it is thoroughly deserved.

Now, have we played anyone yet?

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

20 thoughts on “Congratulations Alan Pardew – From zero to hero!

  1. “From 37 games we’ve won 19, lost 10 and the other 8.”

    * drawn ?

    Other than that, very good read.

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  2. Well win , lose or draw tomorrow Pardew and his backroom staff have built and prepared a side that has shut all the doubters up . The bloke deserves his manager of the year award and the future is looking bright .That 3rd or 4th place would make Pardew’s job easier in the summer in terms of signings and keeping players at the club ,but i don’t really think too many of our best will leave . i think only Demba Ba and Simpson will be gone from our first 11 and they can be replaced although i hope we can hang onto Demba Ba . Well done Pardew and the boys , they have put a smile back on the faces of the Toon army and gave us a season too enjoy and a season too look forward too .Thanks one and all .

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  3. I am more than happy to admit I was devestated when I heard Pardew was gonna be our manager last season, all I could think of was ‘S**t, here we go, back to the fizzy pop league!’
    I never thought in a million years we would be in a position where we could be playing for a CL spot in the last game of the season.
    Well here we are, and all I can say is well done Alan Pardew, you have made countless people eat their words and you have done it with style. I for one thoroughly enjoyed my humble pie, chips and peas!!!
    Whatever happens tomorrow NOBODY IN THE COUNTRY can say we don’t deserve to be where we are, and it’s all down to you, Sir Alan of Pardew, honourary Geordie extraordinairre

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  4. I was angry that Hughton was treated badly and I had no real idea of what Pardew was like as a manager. Now, I’ve seen a manager who can and will change things up tacitcally–not always for the best–but he’s not hidebound to any formation. Kudos to him. He’s done extremely well so far. Now let’s see him continue it. Where will fans be on him in a year if we’re NOT in the CL?

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  5. FSOTC
    I think so long as Pardew has us playing at the right end of the table and challenging , then the fans will stay on side . If were realistic it was beyond our wildest dreams to even get into Europe never mind challenging for the CL and it will take a few more season’s before we can expect to be a permanent top 4 side . We will never have the spending power of the 2 Manchester’s and Chelsea as long as their owners stay with them , so we are mixing it with Arsenal and the Spurs financially and we would need to get CL 2or 3 seasons running to be overtaking them .

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  6. I wish Pardew would stop banging on about selling players. Now he is suggesting Cabaye would be a good replacement for Scholes. The fans don’t want to hear that and god knows what the players think, will they start doubting the clubs ambition. Isn’t this what happened with Enrique.

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  7. Hands up , I was spitting nails when they sacked Chris ,after all he’d done for us it was a real smack in the chops to him and us fans . When Pards was bought in to replace him I didn’t know what to think .I wasn’t that angry just a bit confused as to what more he could do than Chris really , I knew he was well thought of as a manager but in later years had seemed to of slipped off the radar a bit. Fast forward to now and it’s fair to say he’s done a brilliant job .To be honest I think he saw this as much as a chance to rehabilitate his reputation as a top flight manager again having been away for a while . Was it an act of genius appointing him ? ,did Mike and co see something the rest of us couldn’t ?,probably not ,but it sure as hell worked out well for everyone in the end. As for the future ,only time will tell .Next season we are fighting on many fronts with the league ,Europe and cups ,it will be a much tougher task to do so well in the league ,more so if we lose key personel or don’t recruit wisely or enough of . The key will be in good preperation and planning as Pards pointed out in yesterdays interview .Will they have the turn around time for it ,who knows ,lets hope so, it would be a shame if he turned out to be a one season wonder.

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  8. some people have had alot of negativity towards pardew throughout the season. slating his tactical nouse etc. i know someone who drinks with john carver and shearer (he’s really close to shearer… so close he calls him ‘alan’)
    He reckons they think pardew is an unbelievable manager, every player before they start a game knows exactly, in fine detail, what their job is going to be that day and he’s meticulous in training with exceptional motivational skills. very tactically minded.

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  9. Great stuff. Results this season have put United back in the limelight for all the right reasons, and that’s a welcome change in itself. It was good to see Alan quickly give credit to all the other folk involved with the club who have contributed to this success. Hope we can keep hold of some of the players who have got us there, and that he can build on this success next season.

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  10. Sorry to hijack the topic Toonsy ,but I see Dempsey not playing for Fulham on sunday , That’s gonna blunt Fulhams knife somewhat ,which in turn is bad luck for us 🙄 👿

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  11. Meticulous preparation + exceptional motivational skills is a happy combo indeed 😀

    I remember when he was appointed, being surprised that all the West Ham fans had nothing but good to say about him (I live in east London)…. I guess they were right!

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  12. its one of those- will he, wont he, scenarios concerning houghton and pardew.

    would houghton have been able to keep us in the prem last season? i believe he would of.
    would houghton have got us into this european place as quick?? i doubt it, but believe, in time with the right resourses he could well of!!

    would houghton of bought the type of players that pardew brought in?? i doubt it. (yes i know it was houghton who brought HBA in)

    i hope pardew stays our manager for a good few years, as he seems to handle the players brilliantly, and in return, it looks like they all respect him, as a manager, and as a person. (apart from ranger).

    if pardew wants to named, manager of the season again next year , he’s going to have to pull his finger out and win us the league 😉 😉 😉 😉 😉

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  13. Pardew has been the best thing to happen to this football club since Bobby without doubt after a succession of poor managerial choices, although Hughton did well. And it was Pardew who brought in Carver and Woodman. Credit is due to the terrible two as well, they brought in Pardew when it was a very unpopular decision with the fans. Also it was their idea to have an improved scouting network and 2 or 3 players on standby for every position to bring in should we sell someone. I don’t think we had anything like this under Shep, it is an Ashley innovation. In the past we would have lost a player and been knackered the next season but not now.

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  14. I know the award has gone to Pardew and much deserved in my opinion, but I think credit must also go to his coaching staff and dare I say it – Mike Ashley. He recognised that Hughton had taken us as far as he could (as well as he did for us). Pardew has worked miracles for Newcastle in relatively difficult circumstances.
    The new transfer policy has certainly helped him build a team, but I wish we could adopt a complete silence policy into it, rather than “come on top teams, come make some big bids for our best players!!”.

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  15. Well I think AP’s honesty regarding the transfer market is refreshing and to the point.
    Last season he made the mistake of saying judas was going nowhere, and it came back to bite him on the ***.
    Its quite nice to know that we have most players tied down to long contracts, and if a) another club wants one of our players and b) he wants away, then it is going to cost them alot of wonga. So at least the club will be in a position to find a replacement.
    Of course this always assumes we dont find ourselves in a similar position we were when selling AC. ie the dying seconds of the t/f window.
    I dont think we will do that kind of business again tho, especially if the fat controller has any ambition to keep us in euro football, now that we have arrived there. He clearly isnt as stupid as he looks. 😉

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  16. No one credited derek llambias for him who was the one who find Pardew as the next manager after CH. 🙄

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  17. AoD – No, he gets no credit for anything. I still dont like him 😯

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