The strange case of Alan Pardew

He played for such giants as Epsom and Ewell, Dulwich Hamlets and Corinthian Casuals, managed in League One and briefly gave up the game as a youngster. Alan Pardew has led a colourful life in football and has been the centre of controversy on a number of occasions.  There can be many opinions on Alan Pardew but there can be no denying he is a quality manager.

I don’t actually remember his playing career, although I know he playing the Cup final against Manchester United in 1990 and even went on loan to Spurs in 1995, I expect to make up the numbers for the Inter Toto cup.

My first recollection of Alan Pardew was at Reading as manager. I must say my first impression was not good, although his ability was there for all to see as he had taken Reading to near the top of the Championship and were in a position to challenge for promotion to the Premier league. Unfortunately for Reading, West Ham came calling. His club had refused West Ham permission to speak to him but Pardew saw the money and promptly resigned.

I suppose it is the mark of the man seeing a better opportunity and taking it, but I felt he should have seen out his job with Reading. It is interesting the parallels between the two clubs recently and even today only one position separates the two.

Pardew went on and had a reasonable amount of success with West Ham taking them to the FA Cup final and the most enjoyable aspect for me was that dust up with Arsene Wenger.

After his dismissal from West Ham, Pardew went on to manage Charlton and Southampton and was unfortunate in the circumstances of both his appointment and dismissals from both clubs.

Charlton was in the post Curbishly era and had experienced a successful stint in the Premier League, but a club with such small resources could not stay there forever and as had happened with other teams before it had trouble adjusting to life in the Championship after relegation. Pardew suffered abuse from the fans and was dismissed.

His time at Southampton was brief and his dismissal was more as a result of high expectations rather than unsound management, but we see this time after time so it should not come as a surprise when a manger gets dismissed.

At Newcastle United, Chris Houghton had done a great job, winning promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. Newcastle were sitting pretty mid table the following season when Ashley in all his wisdom sacked Chris Houghton. His reasons were that he wanted a more experienced manager. This was puzzling to all concerned and the subsequent appointment of Pardew did not get the support of the football community and in particular Newcastle Fans.

Pardew’s job was not made easy with the sale of Carroll last January to Liverpool but nonetheless he carried on. In the summer Newcastle signed Demba Ba which must go down as the signing of the season.

Newcastle started the season well and were sitting in the top 4 for the first few months. Despite some heavy losses they currently sit in sixth position 11 points ahead of Liverpool and level with Champions League chasing Chelsea.

Alan Pardew must be satisfied with his time at Newcastle and he is certainly one of the English managerial stars of today. The Newcastle manager is now considered one of the front runners for the England job, which would be an amazing achievement for the former Barnet man.

Love him or loathe him, there is alot to admire about Alan Pardew.