Credit: Telegraph
It's all gone hay-wire in the world of Newcastle United and Mike Ashley this week.
Not only do Newcastle suffer a 3-1 away defeat to West Bromwich Albion at weekend, but sack manager Chris Hughton the next day.
I still think Hughton was wrongly dismissed after guiding the newly promoted team to 11th place in the Premier League this term and winning the Tyne- Tees derby 5-1, but Toon fans have never liked to look backwards; so on their behalf, I won't here.
Speculation amassed on Tuesday morning that Martin O'Neill might well be the favourite to succeed Hughton but, since then, former Ajax boss Martin Jol and now Alan Pardew, have emerged as further contenders.
For me, two of them would fit the bill as successful managers, and with Pardew seemingly in line to take the hot-seat, he would not be what I consider to be successful.
Credit: BBC Sport
Despite having management experience in the Premier League with both West Ham and Charlton, the former Crystal Palace midfielder had managed at Reading before he was sacked by Southampton in August.
Rumours arose on Twitter from the BBC team earlier this week that Pardew, who has managed over 500 games in all leagues, may be put off the high-profile job due to his good relationship with director Derek Llambias (below), but that seems not to have affected Pardew's decision.
Credit: nufcblog.com
The problem I have with appointing a 'more experienced' manager in the Premier League with a team like Newcastle is how much better than Chris Hughton is he?
Looking at Pardew's record at West Ham, he guided the side to sixth position in 2004/05 and then ninth in 2005/06, before leaving for The Valley.
Pardew didn't have the most successful time at the Valley.
Credit: Guardian
There, he had differing fortunes, and the Addicks were relegated in 19th place in his first season. The following season, Pardew, now 49, could only guide them to 11th spot in the Championship, before parting with the club by mutual consent.
Not only that, but Pardew has since failed to get Southampton promoted, despite being one of the better teams in League One, and has a point to prove to himself more than anyone.
The standard of football, and management, is on another planet in the Premier League and we will have to see, if he's given a chance, whether he can step up to the plate.
In my opinion, Pardew can only take Newcastle one way, and it's not up.
You do wonder, however, why Newcastle did sack Hughton.
His record speaks for itself, despite having limited Premier League managerial experience.
Toon, under Hughton, went the whole season unbeaten at home last year in the Championship and finished top of the league, despite four away losses.
This time around, the side have collected 19 points and are only four points away from a European spot, surely not bad for a team that were relegated only two seasons ago.
It was harsh on Hughton and I've heard a great deal of support for the former boss, but I don't believe that Pardew can win the fans over at St James'.
Can Pardew succeed where Sam Allardyce, Joe Kinnear and Chris Hughton failed?
Credit: Worldstadia
What better way to start your managerial career with a home tie to Liverpool; whoever takes over could have the fans on his back before he's even got used to his office.
If he can keep the fans on side, he might do ok, but is ok good enough for Mike Ashley? Obviously not.
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Surely, the pick will not be O'Neill, can you picture after the way he shock resigned from Aston Villa and why he did it, to go manage under an owner like Ashley?
ReplyDeleteAlso, O'Neill to me looks very scholarly, he played under the Master Clough at Nottingham. O'Neill does not look like the kind of manager that can just hop in there and take over the reins, I mean he is a great coach but I think O'Neill builds things and yes, Aston Villa were crazy and treated him equally shoddy, they were going to sell some players, something like that. He built a largely successful team with the majority of players from the 'home countries'.
I don't really have an opinion on Pardew, Liverpool is at Newcastle in the next match. Surely to be an interesting pairing.
Jol resigned from Ajax so was that his way of saying, come and get me?
I like Mark Hughes but Fulham are definitely having problems, Hughton I think might be a good fit there really not that I want to write Hughes off but losing to Man City at the Cottage 0-3 really is a bad result.
I'm sure Hughton can find a good job somewhere.
Who'll be the next manager sacked?? Yet, the table is so close, 2 games, 6 points by any of the bottom five would go a long way in seeing them move up the table.
Thanks for allowing the little rant.
I believe I saw 35 points was enough to see a team avoid relegation last year. Amazingly, starting at position 11 with Blackburn Rovers with 21 points leads me to believe that all of those teams are in a very good position to beat the drop, not needing that many more points. That leaves Everton, Aston Villa and all of those other teams duking this out. This year, there is no real anchor meaning a team that basically has conceded they are going down like Watford, Derby County or WBA have done in the past in the PL.
ReplyDeleteA season in the Championship League I thought had allowed Newcastle to get its house in order but I do have to concede that 2 points out of 5 games might be a tiny bit worrisome to an owner, so now, I don't believe Ashley was absolutely looney tunes, sometimes an owner waits to long to sack a coach but I think Hughton earned the right to more time without a doubt and Newcastle in all likelihood would not have prevailed against Liverpool under Hughton. Now we have an unknown factor going in.
I agree that Hughton should be given another chance somewhere, but Mark Hughes is a good manager who wasn't given time at City. Fulham are 17th and only out of the relegation zone on goal difference, but they have played some nice football. Their problem is too many draws and when they start to convert those games into three points, they'll start to climb the league, as you say. I expect Hughes and Fulham to be fine.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how Pardew will get on against Liverpool, but it's crucial he wins the fans over from the off, and there aren't that many harder games; Roy Hodgson's side are on a decent run at the moment, only losing 1 of their last 9 in all comps.
I think the timing of the Jol resignation had nothing to do with the Newcastle job, even though it looked that way! I wouldn't be surprised to see him pop up again in the Premier League though; he was fantastic at Spurs!
I'll get something up tomorrow about the relegation battle and the next prem manager to get sacked, apologies for the lack of posts today!