If someone told me before the season started that Newcastle would be unbeaten after 11 games and third place in the Barclays Premier League, I would have thought they were mad….Or really really drunk.
But I am glad that Magpies boss Alan Pardew is performing well with the club, I believe he has his reputation back after two mediocre spells with Charlton Athletic and Southampton.
Pardew was West Ham manager from October 2003 until December 2006. Pardew may only have been manager for less than three years, but for the majority of his tenure I thought Pardew did a good job with the Hammers.
He made the team play with a great style of football which for the most part got results. In his first year in charge he nearly got West Ham promoted, only to lose in the play-off final to Crystal Palace. The Hammers were in the play-off final again the next season, but this time prevailed thanks to a Bobby Zamora winner.
As a former season ticket holder at West Ham, I have to say the 2005/06 season back in the Premier League was one of my favourites as a fan. We played fantastic that season and deserved to finish in the top half of the table, eventually finishing 9th.
Pardew made some astute signings in Yossi Benayoun, Danny Gabbidon and Roy Carroll and got the best out of players like Nigel Reo-Coker and Hayden Mullins. West Ham played a brand of football not seen since Harry Redknapp was in charge.
There were some memorable results during that season. There was the 4-0 win over Aston Villa, the 3-2 win against Arsenal at Highbury, and who can forget the 2-1 win over arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur on the last day of the season. But one thing that season was defined for was the FA Cup run. Pardew inspired the team to the final against Liverpool and was minutes away from clinching a deserved win.
The bubble burst for Pardew the next season thought and was sacked as West Ham manager in December 2006 with the club in the relegation zone.
Pardew’s spells at Charlton and Southampton didn’t go well so I, like many, was very surprised when he was appointed new Newcastle manager in place of Chris Hughton. But, to be fair to Pardew, Newcastle have been on the rise and for that Pardew should be applauded.
Alan Pardew wasn’t West Ham manager for long, but I enjoyed his time as manager so as long as Newcastle are going well, I am glad for Pardew.
I wouldn’t really say Pardew was mediocre at Southampton; they finished 7th despite a 10 point deduction for financial mismanagement. Apparently this wasn’t, for some reason deemed to be good enough and he was sacked. Soton’s record since then has been terrible
I agree with wishing pardew well, always liked him when he was our manager. He was much better than some of our other recent managers eg roeder grant etc. Where have you been though chris? southampton got promoted from league 1 and are now top of the championship above us numb nuts!
I take it back, shows how much attention I paid (I’m an NUFC fan not a WHU fan so I’ve not been watching the Championship since we came back up). Second half of my post is obviously rubbish, but I still wouldn’t say that Pardew was poor at Southampton.