Puppet to puppet master?

toonsy

Remember this old chestnut regarding Alan Pardew? The whole talk of him being a puppet, a stooge, a stool pigeon? That kind of thing…

It’s all died down now hasn’t it, aside from some continued grumbling from an extreme minority who are seemingly not happy with the way the club is heading.

The fact is that Alan Pardew has done a stunning job as manager of Newcastle United. We’re on course for our best league finish in a long time (one win will guarantee 5th place), have some brilliant players now, and are playing some really decent football.

Of course it hasn’t all been sweetness and light and we’ve had bad results and poor performances, like all other teams. We’re no different. What has been impressive is the way we’ve bounced back from those disappointing defeats, like we did at Chelsea the other night.

You really can’t argue with the job he has done. From being viewed as a puppet to becoming a tactically astute manager who has confounded his critics, and continues to do so, all while keeping the players on side and getting the best out of them can’t be faulted.

He’s proved a lot of people wrong and long may that continue. It’s long been said that football managers are judged on results and if you’re judging Pardew on his then you really have to return a favourable verdict. We are where we are in the league based on results.

All in all it’s a remarkable turnaround for Alan Pardew. From garnering a tiny percentage of votes in a local poll prior to his arrival, to now becoming an integral part of this renaissance – a renaissance which has seen thrust into the battle for a Champions League place – you really can’t fault his success so far with United.

Or can you?

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.

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176 thoughts on “Puppet to puppet master?”

  2. Could have worded that one better… 🙂 flog the feckin gunners is what I meant..

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  4. Aussie – following on from the last article… kind of…. Coopers is a great beer, much better than the rest of the mass produced stuff. I spent a day at Coopers about a month ago with Tim Cooper and the guy who runs the place. It’s like Willy Wonka’s but beer! Unbelievable brewery and great beer. I love the fact that when they built the new brewery Tim Cooper decided to build a 3 hole golf course on the spare land he had…. LAD.

    I take it you live in Adelaide then?

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  5. No Rossco, I live in Western Oz… yep Coopers make a nice drop, their Pils is nice also… good to see you saw all the best bits of Oz mate 🙂

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  6. Ah right, I guess they get it all over the place then, you can actually get it over here in places, especially their home brew stuff. Yea they’ve got some real good beer. Had a little try of all of them. Visited Carlton United in Melbourne aswel, impressive but the beer isn’t as good. That’s where they make the Fosters. Not alot of it though.

    Think my favourite brewer of your way has to be Little Creatures in Freemantle, didn’t get over that way but tried alot of it 😉

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  7. On topic, Pardew is da man, easy the best manager we have had since Sir Bobby…he is even better than Kinnear 🙂

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  8. 1 all Norwich have pulled one back 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  9. AMF sorry queen/l the best state for me mind ive only been to 3 quees/nsw/north/t,wanted to tas but never got 🙁

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  10. As for Pardew, I really like him, I wouldn’t swap him for anyone at the moment. For the way our club is run and the direction we’re going he excellent.

    He manages the players expectations, morale, motivation and integration extremely well. I think he handles our expectations well too. He’s very honest and says when things go wrong, doesn’t blame the ref or the pitch.

    As for the puppet tag he was given, I remember Lambias saying a while back that Pardew stormed into his office and demanded to know why he hadn’t got him the striker he’d promised in the summer. I like that, he didn’t just throw the towel in like keegan. As much as I love Keegan, Pardew seems to have more of a back bone and the only time I’ve seen Pardew get wound up is in the makems match at home where he was squaring up to O’neil. (I loved that 😆 )

    I can see him staying for many years and that is one of the things this club has been screaming out for since Bobby I think – STABILITY!

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  11. The good old days eh Ice?….was it sheep rustling you got sent over for?

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  12. Ice you missed out the best state of all 🙂
    What were you doing over here?
    Rossco, Little Creatures is a small brewery doing very well for themselves… good choice..

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  17. 2 – 1 to Norwich 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 woo hoo

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  20. If Norwich do us a favour today, we better get one over City in return! !

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  22. RICHIE you got it in one,you know me owr well,those sand flys,spiders and blow flys de your heed in,cannot gan in the water for those bloody sharks and jelly fish,alreet in the shade drinking j/d like

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  24. Ice, Rich is jealous that his buggery charge didn’t get him a trip over 🙂

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  29. Ice I wouldn’t be worried about sharks or that but the spiders and general superbugs would freak me out. Like those ones that cause a load of car crashes by hiding in cars and popping out and scaring the driver when he’s driving along at 100mph. Feckers

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  30. I’m shocked the Gooners fans aren’t booing the ball, they like a good whinge

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  31. AMF richie has a canny following like,police,customs,baliffs,mafia,and ex mother-law,swift of foot is wor richie 😀

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  34. Ice….I’d have to call ghostbusters if the ex mother in law was following 😉

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  35. Anyone know what Merson was saying about Cisse this morning on Soccer Saturday?

    I caught it too late and only heard summit about not scoring tap ins…

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  37. Not sure what super bugs you are taking about Dub 🙂 I’ve been bitten by a red back spider before… once the paralysis subsided I felt fine 🙂
    Rich 🙂

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  41. Anyone upset that we missed out on Gervinho?? I’m not feeling like we missed out

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  42. Franky ,He was going on about how he doesn’t do tap ins and how he will be man marked from now on so won’t find it so easy. Thing is ,that’s o.k if they all man mark him Ba or Benny or Cabs will score 😆 :mrgreen:
    They were all impressed with THAT goal though. 😀

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  46. Benayoun lashing out similar to Cabaye at Brighton. Wonder if Benayoun will get a 3 match man? Not holding my breath.

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  53. AMF first time 6months in sidney,doing quality control on aussie army radio sets,,found problems with there battery strengh,varta fitted noo nee probs.
    then to queen/l for 2 half yrs brother lives there on boyne island just hols 6 months round barrier reef area,18months coaching under 13,won the state finals too,great times mate,except something bit my knee fk me right up back to uk

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  54. Weird–Cisse’s reputation, when he came from Frieburg, was much more that of a “right place, right time” type of striker who does not score spectacular goals.

    I have to think that these kinds of comments like Merson’s are just from ignorance–we, and I’m including myself here, just don’t know jack-**** about the German league.

    I was banging on about him long before he came, solely based on his number of goals. I’d never even seen him play, so I had no idea how good he was, but his scoring ratio was superb and I thought “this guy’s gotta have something special… or is the EPL that much better than the Bundesliga?”

    I think the answer is that the EPL is really not that much better and we’ve got a bargain because of bias against “unknown” players (outside of England).

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  55. Aussie@50 Exactly , hate this London big club bias that comes from so many refs and the fa too.

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  59. Aussie, just that every bug seems to be about twice the size of its UK counterpart 😆

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  60. FSOTC – I think when you look at the team he was in he was scoring loads of goals and they were at the bottom of the league. I’m guessing he wasn’t getting much service so a goal every 2 games, roughly, is pretty good going. I think now he’s got better service from Cabaye, Benny etc he’s scoring 1/1 games. German League do have some great teams though.

    I also thought he was going to be a poacher which I thought was what we needed, but he just seems to be EVERYTHING!

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  62. Ice ,the lads will have to make sure they give him nowt to penalise us for that’s all. It will have to be a disiplined and solid performance from everyone to get owt from Shitty ,they really will be up for this one .

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  63. That’s a great point Rossco, and one I made back in the day when I was thinking “this guy’s got to be good.” Scoring heaps of goals for a wretched team like that must mean something.

    If there were a similar striker at a relegation bound club in England, we’d be all over him.

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  65. I forgot to say that I got this wrong. It’s only anything to do with Pardew when we lose but when we win it’s the players 😳

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  67. Yeah Kim you don’t mind blowing penalties for shirt pulls but at least be consistant.. I am pretty sure will is the only one pung for one this year…

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  69. I’m guessing Merson was pissed again? Or just a selective memory? Bolton at home? West Brom away?

    The guy is an ****. Shame he didn’t smash his fucking jaw in that drunken crash he had not so long back, the weak willed cowardly wino 👿

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  70. Howard Webb might not be too bad for us on Sunday, he’s a Man U fan after all, for once he might be on our side. Know he should eb fair, but he never is, so lets hope he favous us to help his beloved Man U out

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  71. haha gervinho is valve, benayoun has to be banned for that just like cabaye was.

    If arsenal lose this its a massive chance tomorrow.

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  72. Yea Pardew never looks to take praise. He just get’s on with it and is very meticulous in his preperation methods (tactics, diet, recovery techniques etc). Spot on bloke.

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  74. AMF – That is what boils my **** more about Williamson getting a peno given against him. People were in uproar about that but every defender does it.

    Like you I don’t have a problem with awarding penalties for it, but at least be consistent about it as that is the only way it will be stamped out.

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