One Alan Pardew?

Pardew: All smiles at the minute
I haven’t read the word “puppet” or “stooge” or anything like that when people have been referring to Alan Pardew for a while.

Of course there is still the odd sly dig about the man who replaced Chris Hughton, but in general he seems to be winning the Geordie public around.

Being on a run of 13 competitive games without defeat is probably a large part of the reason why people are starting to warm to him, but there are other strings to his bow such as his media chatter and the fact that over the summer he too looked disappointed with the lack of a new striker at St James’ Park. The fact that he was openly annoyed with the failure from the board seemed to endear him to a large bulk of the fans.

As far as the team goes, we are a team that is hard to beat and who never gives up. We’ve only lost at home twice under Pardew (Man City and Everton) and we’ve only lost eight games out of the 33 he has taken charge of which isn’t bad at all. We try to play the game the right way and when things click it’s great to watch. With more time hopefully these players will click a bit more and we can see yet more football that is pleasing on the eye. In short, he is doing a good job.

I never thought he would when he was first hired. He wasn’t my first choice to replace Chris Hughton, in fact I don’t even think he made my list of choices as he was that far off the radar, but I decided to give him time right from the start rather than be angry about it.

I had been angry about the appointment of Chris Hughton and he proved me wrong which is why I decided to back Pardew from the start. Call it learning from your mistakes. For some fans it’s taken much longer to warm to him, and some of them still haven’t, but I’ve certainly noticed a huge swing in support of Pardew recently.

Is that swing large enough for us to see some vocal support from the stand for the manager? I’m not so sure but if he carries on guiding us to results then I don’t think it will be too long before we start to see, or hear perhaps I should say, some vocal backing for Pardew.

Is he perfect? No, of course not. He, like everyone, has faults. However he does seem to relish the job of being Newcastle United manager. Perhaps he feels he is fortunate to be in such a position? Perhaps he is? As long as he keeps getting the results he, like any manager, will be fine.

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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.

36 thoughts on “One Alan Pardew?

  1. He’s definitely defying all the people who were saying at the start of the season that he’s “just a coach”.

    To me CH was the coach. AP is doing a terrific job for the club in terms of getting players signed up on new contracts (Taylor, Jonas, Barfa, Tiote were all signed up on long term deals under Pardew). There’s a lot more media communication from him and he’s clearly got a handle on all the players (bar one Nile Ranger).

    Of course, all of that credit has to be shared with JC and the rest of the coaching staff but it just goes to show how good AP is that he’s acknowledging that.

    So is someone going to whip out the stats for AP vs CH in the Prem as it stands right now?

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  2. Thad – Problem is that Hughton only had 19 or whatever it was games so it would be pointless trying to compare them. I think maybe after 19 games this season v 19 games from last season would be fairer?

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  3. Still relatively early days .. but .. i voted yes and would add that i still havent heard a single interview or quote from him that i have been unhappy/disappointed with .. he makes a lot of sense and i agree with you Toonsy in thinking that he relishes the job and thinks hes fortunate being boss of NUFC …. very impressed.

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  4. I was impressed with CH, he quietly managed to form a team from the shambles that went down. He never (appeared) to panic, in front of the crowd or the cameras.

    I was disappointed with the way CH was ‘got rid off’ ; and I believe it could have been done better, but then what do I know

    I knew (virtually) nothing about AP, apart from what he did with WestHam, which on the whole was possible less publicised

    If (IF) this is his team, and this is the way he envisaged us playing I for one have no beef with AP; at the time of his appointment I wasnt really bothered. Im a firm believer that you shouldnt really know the manager, who cares who it is, so long as the team play.

    Well done AP.

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  5. I do think that pardew lambsarse and fatty are all working together ,but never slagged the job he is doing as manager,way better than clueless long may it continue 😉

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  6. Yeah not saying that CH didn’t get us out of a massive hole. He saved the club from the fate of the Leeds and the Sheffield Wednesdays of this world, no question.

    Just don’t think that he was a Premier League standard manager. I think the board knew that as well, so that’s why they never gave him a long term contract but of course found it difficult to let him go after the Championship winning season.

    Have to say that this is now Pardew’s team, in terms of both the players signed and the way they’re playing. No more lumping it up the pitch and hoping, thank goodness.

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  7. @Batty

    Too right, you can only do a job with what you’ve got. In that regard AP has done wonders.

    Maybe down the track this will persuade the board to open up the kitty a bit more and spend it on more than just undersoil heating and signs.

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  8. Chalky – Agree completely about Hughton and being treat better, and i think a lot of people associate that with Pardew when it was Ashley and Co doing what they do best again.

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  9. Batty said: I do think that pardew lambsarse and fatty are all working together

    I should bloody hope so

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  10. Hoots – nice bloke .. did an amazing job, but not dynamic enough. In that interview Pards mentioned that he thought Cabaye and Tiote could potentially become WORLD CLASS .. like the way he talks man .. buzzzzzzzzz

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  11. Once weve played the same 19 fixtures this season it should be a straight comparison if anybody is in any doubt.

    Also it’s been said (mainly on Ed’s site) about how CH & AP rose to the challange of NUFC because of the support city etc and they became enthused by the club. Too much to expect Mike Ashley to feel the same?

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  12. Batty – I’d like to hope they are all working together as that bodes well for us. If you have divisions in upper management it can be disastrous. Look at Keegan and Ashley.

    Back when I was managing, before I become only a bus driver 😛 the best results cam when everyone, from top to bottom, sang from the same hymnsheet. In fact wemanaged to save a million a year just by adopting that approach. It wouldn’t have working if one cog in the wheel was unhappy.

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  13. Premandup – Too much to ask considering that Ashley very rarely spends any prolonged stretch of time in Newcastle. If he did then who knows.

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  14. LOL toonsy enough of that bus driver thing already.

    Is it just me or is the official site releasing way more posts recently?

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  15. I don’t necessarily think it is a bad thing that MA is not always in the city looking over everyones shoulder .. he certainly dictates protocol, however, perhaps he is then letting people get on with their jobs and perhaps that allows people to be more creative and self-motivated rather than being an automaton.

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  16. Toonsy good one mate.
    I said only last week while watching the Spuds game that I dont think it will be long before we hear Pard chants from the Fans.
    When that happens I think it will make him love the job even more.
    As for them all working together I think can be a good thing, imo if Pards and MA are friends we’ll benefit from it because he will get more out of him than someone MA doesn’t really know or trust.
    From what I can gather MA looks after his mates.

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  17. things couldnt be better at Newcastle, hats of to all of them I say. I’d love to hear ‘Pardews wonderland’ some time soon, mite b a while and a brave fan to get it started.

    3-1 2day..

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  18. Pardew has surprised me this season. One of the things I was concerned about was whether he had the required tactical nouse.He’s shown he has.

    Anyway, settling in to watch the Melbourne derby with a nice bottle of 2008 Shiraz. Good vocal crowd. Must be 30000 there. They give support down in Victoria. Wish Brisbane had it.

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  19. I’m envious of you in Brisbane. My uncle lives there and it sounds ideal, lots of sun and lots to do socially and sports-wise. How is the place looking following the floods? 🙂

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  20. Shamrock: Brisbane’s a lovely place. Very much an outdoorsy sort of lifestyle – cafes spilling onto the streets, pubs open to the outside. I wish I’d come here as a young man – but when I was a young man it was run by dodgy politicians and corrupt police.

    Weather is almost perfect for 9 months of the year. The rest of the time it’s too freaking hot for me. I start sweating in December and don’t dry out until March.

    I’ve noticed recently there’s been an upsurge of live bands around the place. But whenever I go out I find that I’m usually the oldest guy in the place 😥

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  21. There’s a Kiwi who plays for Melbourne Victory that Pardew should have a look at. He’s just a young guy – 18 or so. Marco Rojas, his name is. Good player. Good close control.

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  22. I think if we get one of our thumping st james results that we got so used to seeing last year we may just hear our first Pardew chant.
    I reckon he deserves it know, his credibility with the fans was literally rock bottom when he joined, and then near rock bottom again when Carroll was sold and Kuqi came in, he’s had a good ol battle to win the fans over.

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  23. Ron …. wudnt bank on it … always get stitched up .. hoping there will be a decent link for the match on interweb … if anyone has a decent link suitable for Mac’s wud be much appreciated ..

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  24. The difference between Hughton and Pardew is ambition, Hughton always said we know were we are at, which i always knew we could of been a wee bit better but Hughton was more than happy with 1st objective, stay in the PL, without trying to stay in the cups.

    Pardew has showing ambition from is 1st interview, when he said this is a top 6 club, and just the other day he said he expect’s to win a trophy in the next 2 years. This is great ambition and think it’s time to shout his name from the rooftops, the guy a legend.

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  25. MADABOUTTOON .. thats also a fair assessment … i was rubbing my eyes in disbelief during the spurs match .. we genuinely looked solid and matched up pretty well against them ….. i know quite a few spudz and they were very much taken aback at our quality .. they all rate jonas and agreed that TIote is a MONSTEERRRR

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  26. Witters,

    Alas, we’ve lost him 😥

    We aren’t in good enough professions to be able to enjoy his company. Maybe when we get a promotion at work we will start to understand what a genius he truly was

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  27. When it was announced that Pardew was handed the job, to say I was shocked was a understatement. CH was a good coach and a really nice person, but I don’t believe he will ever become a great manager, whereas now I’ve seen Pardew in action it is clear he is both a coach and manager, whether or not he will be great time will tell, but I have to say I was wrong in my opinions when he was appointed, and having spoken to some Wet Spam fans they liked him and feel he was unfairly treated.

    We are playing good football as well as winning what’s not to like, we also have some players that get bums of seats and that’s never a bad thing.

    3 – 0 to the Toon today…..

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