Hull City’s visit to Newcastle on Saturday could constitute an ad-hoc comedy roast for Alan Pardew, if his Magpies side slump to another defeat of paralleled magnitude and embarrassment to their 4-0 thrashing by Southampton last weekend.
Pardew is a manager with nine lives, or possibly more. He’s already survived a relegation-threatening 2012/13 campaign, a seven-match touchline ban for attempting to headbutt Hull City’s David Meyler and some of the most unfortunate records in Newcastle’s history, including three successive defeats to Sunderland for the first time since 1927, four consecutive home defeats for the first time since 1977 and six consecutive league defeats for the first time in the Premier League.
Owner Mike Ashley still appears to maintain his faith in the 53 year-old, but after his assistant challenged militant protesters to a physical confrontation prior to the Saints defeat, the Sports Direct mogul will know Pardew’s position is becoming increasingly untenable.
The ‘Pardew Out’ brigade boasts significant numbers and organisation. They now have their own website, SackPardew.com, and a poll by the Newcastle Chronicle at the end of last season revealed 86% of the Toon army want Pardew sacked.
Yet overall opinion on Newcastle’s recent demise remains surprisingly divided; a recent poll on Match of the Day revealed that whilst 35% blamed Pardew, 25% blamed the players and 39% blamed Mike Ashley. The emerging consensus being that transfer policy, dominated by Ashley and often seemingly having no inclusion of Pardew whatsoever, is the ultimate root of the Magpies woes.
Yet, what has taken place at Newcastle under the Ashley regime, in regards to transfers, is nothing miraculous or untoward compared to the rest of the Premier League. Tottenham Hotspur are another club that tends to buy with later profits in mind, yet, with the exception of last season, they’ve consistently challenged for the Champions League over the last five years. In fact, you’ll find few top flight clubs that acquire players without the hope of increasing their resale value.
Likewise, in the vast majority of Premier League clubs nowadays, there is a compromise between the chairman, chief executives, Sporting Directors and the management when it comes to transfers. Pardew’s influence on Newcastle’s inward signings is clearly minimal and admittedly, Newcastle’s transfer policy is of a rather turbulent nature; they spent around £20million in January 2013 and then went without making a single permanent first team signing for the next 18 months.
But can this truly justify Newcastle’s horrendous form since the turn of 2014? A run of 17 defeats in their last 24 league fixtures?
This summer, the club spent nearly £40million, and the quality brought in is at the right level for Newcastle to consolidate their position of 10th from last season, or even exceed it. Remy Cabella for example has already become a target of criticism from the fanbase, but he’s been one of the top performers in Ligue 1 over the last two seasons outside of Monaco and PSG. It’s not long ago Manchester United and Arsenal were running the rule over him.
Likewise, Daryl Janmaat proved himself as a quality right back at the World Cup, Emmanuel Riviere and Facundo Ferreyra are both strikers with preceding highly-rated reputations and Jack Colback’s performances for Sunderland last season earned him an inaugural call-up to the latest England squad. This, although perhaps not an ideal or particularly ambitious cohort of signings, would be more than enough for the majority of Premier League managers to work with, even if the overall aim is to increase their eventual re-sale value.
The ultimate question is whether transfer policy has bore more intrinsic influence on Newcastle’s results than Alan Pardew. It’s often claimed that team performances mirror the characteristics of their manager. I abide by that theory; in my opinion, it’s no coincidence that Pardew committed one of the most unprofessional acts in Premier League history when he locked heads with David Meyler, and Newcastle’s displays over the last six months, in terms of sloppiness, negativity and a lack of commitment, have been anything but professional.
The buck stops with the manager all-too frequently in the Premier League and often unjustifiably, but in the case of Alan Pardew, exonerating him from lion’s share of blame would constitute an even bigger and more audacious crime. Clearly, his philosophy isn’t strong or effective enough. Clearly, the players are no longer receptive to his motivation.
Under those circumstances, whether Newcastle’s transfer policy included a world-record bid for Lionel Messi or loaning out all their top talents to League One, the Magpies would find themselves in the exact same position as they do now.
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