Alan Pardew appointed by Newcastle until 2016

Newcastle have announced this morning that Alan Pardew will become their latest manager. It is a surprising selection for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that he has been handed a five and a half year contract. Does anyone involved with the club, or in football generally, expect that Pardew will see out the 2015/16 season in charge? Clearly Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias do, but this latest series of decisions has baffled and angered Newcastle fans yet again.

It is an easy cliche to insist that Newcastle fans are the most passionate or most loyal in the country as that is impossible to qualify. However, there is something special about the Toon Army. They do have a unique identity and have a particularly regional association to the club, and the successes of the club seem to reflect that. They don’t like Mike Ashley, but they didn’t like Freddie Shepherd. They don’t like Ashley and his ‘cockney mafia’. They don’t like not hearing from him, and they don’t feel he listens to them. This is not however, a viewpoint that can be held to be true over the period of Ashley’s ownership.

The ridiculous appointment of Kevin Keegan was entirely at the behest of the fans. Appointing a manager who’s previously successful period at the club had ended a decade previously was never likely to be repeated. The old football saying to; ‘never go back’ was prescient once again. Ashley also appointed Alan Shearer as was desired by the fans, and he was, as a rookie manager, flung into a relegation fight that  proved impossible to win.

Of course those two popular but ultimately unsuccessful appointments sandwiched the incredible pick of Joe Kinnear. A manager who had been out of the game for as long as Keegan, Kinnear immediately alienated the fans, and infamously the media.

Ashley’s best manager was undoubtedly Chris Hughton, and yet he had Hughton by default. He took over as a caretaker after relegation and oversaw a dominant promotion campaign. Newcastle were undefeated at home, and players bought by Allardyce and Keegan played well under him in a way they had not previously. Players such as Jose Enrique, Jonas Gutierrez  and Kevin Nolan. Hughton put Andy Carroll in the team and he scored goals. He turned Joey Barton from a pariah to Newcastle’s most influential player. A hugely successful season led to promotion but not to Hughton getting offered a contract. It seemed bizarre, and yet Hughton continued to achieve success.

The signing of Cheik Tiote in the summer from Twente for £3.5million has proved to be one of the best signings of the season so far, adding steel and class into a midfield which boasts Tiote himself, Nolan, Barton and Gutierrez and is the match of any midtable Premier League side. Results have shown that they are also the match for many ‘bigger’ clubs. Hughton oversaw the 6-0 win over Aston Villa, 1-0 away wins over Everton and Arsenal, and the incredible 5-1 victory over Sunderland at St James’. And yet, five games after the win at Arsenal, and the week after getting a draw with Chelsea, Hughton has been sacked. The question is, why?

Ashley sacked Hughton in order to appoint a higher profile manager, but one that he could get for free. As such, speculation led to Martin O’Neill and Martin Jol. Although not unrealistic targets, it was never likely that they would take on the job. O’Neill and Jol left Villa and Ajax respectively because they were not given the funds to improve and maintain their squads. Ashley has not heavily backed a manager financially, and thus made those two unlikely candidates. The appointment of Pardew therefore seems strange given the criteria that Ashley and Llambias set for themselves.

Pardew has been sacked from his last three jobs; at West Ham, Charlton and Southampton. He was sacked by West Ham after getting promotion and playing in an FA Cup final, but results turned poor, and he was replaced by Alan Curbishley. Pardew himself, took on Curbishley’s job at Charlton following the Iain Dowie experiment. Pardew left Charlton as they headed towards relegation to League 1, having overseen relegation from the Premier League. He was successful at Southampton, but was sacked after a slow start to this season. As such, Newcastle’s big name manager is one who has been sacked 3 times in a row and was last working in League One. But can he be successful?

There is no reason why Pardew can’t be successful at Newcastle as their results this season have shown that they have the talent to be a good Premier League team. It is vital though, that he immediately wins the trust and support of the players who had such faith in Hughton.  Sol Campbell has already commented that the players were disappointed by Hughton’s sacking and so Pardew needs to gain the support of senior players such as Campbell, Nolan and Barton to progress.

Andy Carroll will keep scoring goals, as will Nolan, and the defence has shown to be solid enough. Newcastle can keep their current position but it is hard to see them progressing much further. It is hard for Pardew to win in this situation. If he does well it is with Hughton’s team, and if he struggles it will be seen to be his fault.