Par-Don't!....Alan Pardew to leave Newcastle United for Crystal Palace
Well there it is, folks...Pardew is OUT. But not in the way I'm sure a lot of Newcastle supporters would've hoped eight or ten weeks ago when the "Sack Pardew" campaign was in full-force and Newcastle were looking pretty ineffectual. In the interim, Newcastle went on a run of about six straight wins including league wins over Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham, just to name a few, and most recently Everton. Even if they took a slight dip there a couple weeks ago, it had seemed, quite unequivocally, like they were "back."
And then...in a matter of about 48 hours, emerges the news that Alan Pardew was at first in talks with Crystal Palace and then that he was, quite confirmedly, headed there to begin coaching as of the first of the year. I've heard his NUFC assistants have already taken over.
I can understand Pardew's wanting to go; he's got history with CP and he's originally from the south of England. And...there's the whole "Sack Pardew" thing which proved pretty acrimonious at one point there. But I can't understand him being so eager to go to a club that's in 18th place right now (the relegation zone) and may very very well be playing in League Championship next year (it's the division directly below the Premier league). Who knows...maybe he wants to be in the League Championship next year?
But....maybe that's not what it's all about. By all reports, he'll have more authority at CP over things like signings, at the very least. And perhaps it's better to rule in hell than to serve in purgatory...cause let's face it...NUFC aren't exactly "heaven" at this point, being a solidly mid-table team.
Having just started supporting NUFC this season, I can't confess to feeling any great amount of emotion at learning of this move. Pardew always struck me as a kind of provincial, old-school type of coach without much personality or creativity. Or maybe that's just what he's become since managing NUFC. I don't know.
What does this mean for Newcastle...whoof...beats me. We'll have to see who takes over the helm first. Apparently John Carver, one of Pardew's assistants, has taken the helm in the meantime of finding a permanent coach. So it's not like there's a new, high-profile manager coming in to shake everything up and confuse the players...but...my sense is the Magpies' already fragile hold on upper-table significance in the EPL gets shaken by this move and they struggle to find their footing for the next month or so. Then after that...well...even I know enough about the EPL to know that there's absolutely no telling what comes after that.
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| "Relegation. YEAH!!!" |
I can understand Pardew's wanting to go; he's got history with CP and he's originally from the south of England. And...there's the whole "Sack Pardew" thing which proved pretty acrimonious at one point there. But I can't understand him being so eager to go to a club that's in 18th place right now (the relegation zone) and may very very well be playing in League Championship next year (it's the division directly below the Premier league). Who knows...maybe he wants to be in the League Championship next year?
But....maybe that's not what it's all about. By all reports, he'll have more authority at CP over things like signings, at the very least. And perhaps it's better to rule in hell than to serve in purgatory...cause let's face it...NUFC aren't exactly "heaven" at this point, being a solidly mid-table team.
Having just started supporting NUFC this season, I can't confess to feeling any great amount of emotion at learning of this move. Pardew always struck me as a kind of provincial, old-school type of coach without much personality or creativity. Or maybe that's just what he's become since managing NUFC. I don't know.
What does this mean for Newcastle...whoof...beats me. We'll have to see who takes over the helm first. Apparently John Carver, one of Pardew's assistants, has taken the helm in the meantime of finding a permanent coach. So it's not like there's a new, high-profile manager coming in to shake everything up and confuse the players...but...my sense is the Magpies' already fragile hold on upper-table significance in the EPL gets shaken by this move and they struggle to find their footing for the next month or so. Then after that...well...even I know enough about the EPL to know that there's absolutely no telling what comes after that.
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