Newcastle United: A closer look at Alan Pardew
The decision by the hierarchy at the English Premier League club, Newcastle United, to appoint Alan Pardew as their new manager, sent shockwaves throughout the St James’ faithful. Pardew’s appointment was announced on Thursday, the 9th of December,
four days after the former manager, Chris Hughton was shown the door. Chris was widely considered to be the fans favourite, having boosted his side into promotion in time for the new football season to begin. The troubled Tyneside team has experienced relegation
twice in three football seasons and Pardew has had more experience managing Championship sides, than clubs in the English Premier league. A closer look at Pardew may tell whether he is the right man to keep Newcastle afloat in the English Premier League.
Career as a football player
The former English player began his football career at ‘Whyteleafe’ and ‘Epsom and Ewell’, both teams that were not part of any League. At the time he was a Fulham fan, and went on a break for six months whilst working in the Middle East. On his return back,
he played for the Corinthian Casuals.
He went on to play for other lesser known clubs such as Dulwich Hamlet and Yeovil Town before earning a place in the English Semi-Professional team. He found favour with the club Crystal Palace in 1987. Palace proceeded to sign Pardew for seven thousand,
five hundred pounds from his former club. The football club was in the Football League’s Second Division at the time, and Alan was one of the players who helped the club hoist themselves into the First Division competition.
Blackburn were beaten by Crystal Palace in the play-offs to earn the right to play in the First Division League. Palace were victorious over Liverpool in 1988, in the semi final match of the Football Association cup competition, which was held at Villa Park.
Pardew was responsible for steering his side to victory by scoring the final goal in a match which ended 4-3. He was one of the squad members to play against Manchester United in the finals, and finals replay, but the Red Devils beat Palace to claim the title.
Palace soon achieved the third spot in the First Division table, the highest position the club had ever attained. Pardew was once again part of the team which enabled Crystal Palace to claim the third standing in 1991. In November of the same year, Pardew
proceeded to join Charlton Athletic on a free transfer. He scored ten goals for Palace, during the season of 1992-92, earning himself the position of being the club’s top scorer in that year.
He featured four times for Tottenham Hotspur on a loan, when the club was playing in the Intertoto Cup. After spending a month with the Spurs, Pardew switched to Barnet, where his coaching career commenced in 1995.
Coaching career
He assumed the position of player-coach at the club, when Terry Bullivant was the manager. Bullivant shifted loyalties to Reading in 1997, and proceeded to take Pardew along to appoint him as the manager of the side’s reserve team. The following year saw
Pardew and Bullivant dismissed, as the club discontinued the reserve team’s activities. Pardew returned to Reading later on in the year as a manager, replacing Tommy Burns in the process. Reading ended the season in the tenth spot in the Second Division League.
He managed to help Reading play against Walsall in the play off finals, but the team lost 3-2. The Royals were consolated by earning the second spot in the league, which meant promotion to First Division football. They finished in the fourth position in the
first division and suffered defeat at the hands of Wolves in the play offs semi final.
2003 saw Pardew in talks with West Ham United, after the manager was forbidden to confer with the club by the Reading chairman, Madejski. He resigned from his position and the two clubs reached an out of court settlement. The deal saw West Ham handing over
£380,000 to Reading and Pardew assumed his managerial position at West Ham on October, 18th. West Ham were beaten by Palace in the final play-offs but climbed into the Premiership the following year after winning against Preston. He managed to sign
Dean Ashton from Norwich, for the club’s transfer breaking record of £7.25million.
The April of 2006 saw West Ham playing after sixteen years in the FA Cup final and they managed to grab a spot in the UEFA Cup. May saw them end their season in seventh place in the League table, after beating Tottenham.
Pardew was responsible for signing Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano in August. The club soon found themselves in a downward spiral, after losing to Palermo in the UEFA Cup. Chesterfield managed to defeat West Ham in the Carling Cup competition and soon
the board of directors sold West Ham to business man Eggert Magnusson for £85million. Pardew was shown the door in December after a string of defeats but was appointed as the new Charlton manager on a three and a half year contract.
May of 2007 saw Pardew and his side succumb to relegation and part company with his club in November of the following year. Southampton acquired Pardew’s services in July 2009, supplying him with a contract of three years. The next year in March, Pardew’s
team acquired the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, which supplied Southampton’s trophy cabinet with silverware for the first time since 1976. He was subsequently fired from his position in August, despite winning his last game.
Pardew was then appointed as manager of Newcastle on 9th November, and faces his first match in charge of the Toons at home against Liverpool in the English Premier League.
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