Another case of good Pardew man management?

Pardew can get the best from his players.
It looks like Hatem Ben Arfa will be fine to resume pre-season when it all kicks off again in July going by what Alan Pardew has said today.

Expectations were raised over an end of season return to match fitness for Ben Arfa but unfortunately that never materialised. In truth I never really expected it to materialise either and always preferred the idea of holding him back a bit and giving him the extra time to recover, but some people wanted to see him play right away and spat the dummy when he wasn’t returned, shiny and good as new on the date stated by Pardew.

It turns out that talk of that late season return was nothing more than a morale booster for Ben Arfa according to Pardew.

“I know we made noises that he might play in those last three games but realistically, I never gave him a chance,” Pardew told the Sunday Sun. “I was trying to keep the boy’s head up to be honest. I don’t want him to see negative press so I said he might play in those three games.”

“I thought I was doing the right thing for Hatem, so that he genuinely felt he had a chance because he was quite low about his training, his workrate and everything. Once he knew he wasn’t going to make the games he probably accepted that and now he is aiming to be ready for July 4.”

Now I don’t want this to turn into an article purely on Ben Arfa, but I like what Pardew did there with the Frenchman. He’s been out a long time and if there was no end in sight it would be easy to let your head drop, so Pardew gave him an end, something to aim for, and the result was that his spirits picked up. Some will say it was just Pardew lying again, but I would counter that and say that it is good man management.

It’s not the first time that Pardew has managed to talk a good game into a player either – just look at Steven Taylor as a prime example of that!

People laughed when Pards mentioned Taylor for England, in fact I think I cringed a little bit, but it’s hard to argue with the results that those kind words have gained. Taylor finished the season by scoring in the final three games and was the stand-out performer in two of them for me, and that is coming from someone who berates Taylor on a fairly frequent basis.

Leon Best is another player who Pardew instilled belief into. Granted Best probably wanted to prove a few doubters wrong himself, but it was the manager who gave him the nod instead of sticking with the tried and relatively tested Shola Ameobi. The result – six goals in ten league games.

I’ve said it before and I maintain my belief that Pardew is of a similar mould to Kevin Keegan in the sense that he knows what buttons to press to get the best out of certain players. He has the key to unlock hidden potential, and if he can keep doing that it’s fine by me as it will benefit Newcastle in the long run.

Keep it up Alan!

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.

110 thoughts on “Another case of good Pardew man management?

  1. ‘But if you are to believe the Sunday Sun today Newcastle are after better players than Sebastian, and will not pursue their interest.

    That sounds like PR to us, and Seb was a good player and a great crosser of the ball.’

    Ed, holding back the tears. 😆

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  2. Joey7Barton Joseph Barton
    Finished playing golf, 72 not bad. Came in to questions about joining Everton??? I don’t want to leave Newcastle but thanks anyways……..
    14 minutes ago

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  3. We are delighted that Larsson will not be joing the famous Newcastle United Club 😆 😆
    Bet you Ed Isn’t 😉

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  4. Wasn’t Best picked after Shola cracked his face in? Rather than Pards actually prefering him? can’t fault the end result though. With this, i’m not sure whether it was another excuse from the owners not to bring bodies in in January. When the injury happened initially february was touted as a return, then march, then april, then the last three games, I’m not sure whether it was man management or just excuses to be honest, and I don’t really care now. I like Pardew, and would still say he’s the better manager than hoots, but I get tired of this partisan pro-whoever stuff.

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  5. Jay Jay agreed 😕 Not only is he ****, he’s one of my most hated footballers alongside people like clattermole..

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  6. jay jay

    They may aswell make up that we are after Henry the striker again. But Karl Henry 😕 who makes this stuff up, a 7 year old kid. ❓

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  7. tell us more jay jay.

    It was on sky this morning that the bindippers are looking at paying 12 million for cattermole. are they really that stupid after having been raped for Judas

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  8. The barman told me to take it easy after buying 4 pints in 15 minutes and some man utd “fans” tried starting on me for singing keano he wanks his dog! And just calling them plastic tossers with no soul, standard stuff really 🙂

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  9. That’s no getting into bother jay jay just a normal night oot on the lash for you

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  10. My terriers mate reckons Clarke will be out of a job next season, picked wrong side and tactics apparently

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  11. Yeah I’m used to it, usually only get in trouble when I’m with toonsy though 🙂

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  12. Nop hes agreed a deal and after the match he will be close to being signed. How good is he? 😉 😈 😯 😳 😮 😀 👿 ➡

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  13. Not convinced it’s the real Joey Barton. Can’t imagine him bitching in such a juvenile fashion on Twitter.

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  14. THIS JUST IN FROM BARTON:

    I will tell all when the time is right, basically they want a younger, better, cheaper player…………cant blame Mike and Derek can you?

    Is he walking a thin line discussing the situation? Fair enough getting a younger better cheaper player but why can’t we have both FFS? That’s how teams improve, a decent squad with more than one quality player for every position!

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  15. Joey7Barton Joseph Barton
    I will tell all when the time is right, basically they want a younger, better, cheaper player…………cant blame Mike and Derek can you?
    3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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  16. shearer’s receding hairline it is without question the real Joey, been confirmed by various sources and he’s uploaded pics of him with his horses and stuff. If you’ve actually followed him he’s conducted himself with a lot of dignity, been gracious and not risen to any of the vast amounts of provocation he’s received. Top bloke, seems to have really turned a corner. Want him to finish his career with us 🙁

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  17. this is what barton has just said on twitter
    Joey7Barton Joseph Barton
    I will tell all when the time is right, basically they want a younger, better, cheaper player…………cant blame Mike and Derek can you?

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  18. “…….slight problem is, they dont want to spend any money or pay any wages. Its genius really ha ha”

    If the last comment wasn’t controversial this one certainly was. He’ll be sold this summer for sure 👿

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  19. oey7Barton Joseph Barton
    I am an employee so have to be careful here. Everyone knows i’d love to stay, i get on with Pardew fine and are dressing room is 1st class..
    2 minutes ago

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  20. rectifying it a little here:

    “I am an employee so have to be careful here. Everyone knows i’d love to stay, i get on with Pardew fine and are dressing room is 1st class..”

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  21. cant sell anyone if they dont want to gan,contract till next year,joey might just be the guy to say,get lost not ganning anywhere 😉

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  22. Joey7Barton Joseph Barton
    if am not offered a new contract, my hands are tied. I will continue to do everything in my power to bring a trophy to St James next season
    1 minute ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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  23. bloody hell Batts are you keeping up with this mate? He’s going for it is wor joey!

    “if am not offered a new contract, my hands are tied. I will continue to do everything in my power to bring a trophy to St James next season”

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  24. reckon he’ll tell the board to f*ck off and run down his contract. It is his right, the contract is mutually binding. Reckon the board will give in next year and offer him one to stop him leaving for free. The power really is entirely with the players these days.

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  25. Basically it looks like JB will refuse to sign for anyone else and just run his contract down and leave for nowt in a year
    He obviously gets on ok with pardew and everyone else, shame fat ash / llambias think otherwise but 4 year contract is prob to long given his age, we’ll just have to wait till JB tells all

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  26. See Pboro have beaten Huddersfield in the play off final , Shame i would have liked to see Clarkie get promotion and see what he could do in the fizzy pop league . He is a possible future Toon manager .

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  27. AXEL thing that i hate aboot that result is its red noses son is not who is p/boro manager 👿 👿

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  28. I dunno Toons, reckon he’ll do everything in his power to run down the contract. He’s got great craic though mind, absolutely first class banter!

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  29. Joey’s causing some ructions isn’t he?

    I suppose there’s two sides of every story, but when one side constantly refuse to make any comment you end up only believing the loudest side.

    Might watch the Lille game tonight, what times it start?

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  30. Whether he’s standing on the moral high ground, for once, or not…

    Very unprofessional of Barton. You don’t talk in public about your employers like that. Is it any wonder they don’t want to offer him a new contract.

    Someone made a good point the other day…if you slag your superiors off in public you will cop it at some point, in any business or organisation in the world.

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  31. workyticket says:
    May 29, 2011 at 4:48 pm
    TARTAN TOON says:
    May 29, 2011 at 9:32 am

    “BORING. Seriously, why do u even bother putting up last weeks news for the second time”

    TARTAN TOON, how come you are using the same IP number as Toonsy and Army69?

    Do you all live together?

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  32. Pedro has always defended and had confidence in Ashley when talking to the media. Is it any wonder he’s got a nice little job at the academy.

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  33. Batty/Hitman – It would be impressive as I was at work until half ten this morning. Last time I checked I had a steering wheel in front of me and not a computer 😯

    Let the little fella crack on. If a little ***** makes him happy then it’s fine by me 🙂

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  34. Batty – That’s the best way to deal with it bud. Just ignore it. I’ve been on and clarified that I was at work. In fact I drove the 5:50 M16 from Leeds to Plymouth via Manchester and Birmingham where I got off and got the train home.

    I can’t imagine the punters would be happy with me being on a phone whilst driving. Besides, it’s got CCTV all over it so there is no way you can get on a phon/computer when your’e driving without being spotted.

    I do find it funny however that whenever something gets said I always go on there as Toonsy yet apparently I’m all these weird and wonderful people….

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  35. Love Joey, love how he talks the truth but he’s talked himself out of getting a new contract now… 🙁

    If he wanted to stay he would have kept his mouth shut, everyone knows you cant call your own boss. I’ll wish him luck where ever he ends up, because he wont be here much longer- you dont take Mike on and win.

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  36. toonsy,

    The funniest thing is, as you run a blog you know it takes about 3 seconds to do a check on that, as if you’d actually be daft enough.

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  37. Took a nice little nap in the cool quiet comfort of this sand my heed’s burried in. What did I miss? 😛

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  38. I’ve never seen the point in multiple names. If other ise them then fair enough to a point as it’s their call. The only time I’ve used them is when I got banned from there 😆

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  39. ‘you dont take Mike on and win.’

    I think the club were unwilling to give out another big payday to McKay aswell. If I was Barton the first thing I would have done was ditch that sleazy rat agent and represented myself; the second thing I would have done is keep my mouth shut. Then if the club point blank refuse to negotiated, run down the contract and look for another club in Jan.

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  40. To be brutally honest.

    If he’s younger, cheaper and indeed better.. that’ll do me Tommy. 😀

    😆

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  41. wehey…the gloves are off…at least Joeys are…..and as usual …..queue tumbleweed from the club….nowt…

    I’m looking forward to Pardew’s take on this all on Monday !….

    ****…can’t seem to get that sand out of my lugs…terrible stuff.. 😆

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