Pardew was brutally honest when discussing the pressures of Newcastle fans.
Alan Pardew has told BeIN Sports that Newcastle United fans are “unbelievable” but also stated that the demands and expectations of the St. James’ Park faithful is difficult to manage.
The 57-year-old spent four years on Tyneside as manager, winning 71 league and cup fixtures of his 185-game tenure. At the end of the 2011-12 campaign, he was awarded the manager of the year award.
In December 2014, Pardew was approached by Crystal Palace after the sacking of Neil Warnock, and having played for Palace for four years during his playing career – he opted to move south and leave Newcastle for Selhurst Park.
Pardew reflected on his time in the north east, stating that the pressure is enormous from Newcastle fans as well as the media and although he understands the expectations of fans – he said it is hard to deal with.
“If you can’t understand the expectation levels of Newcastle fans, then don’t be the manager,” Pardew said. “But it is difficult to deal with. The emphasis of the media is purely Newcastle, so it is constant pressure.
“You wish more for them. I still wish for some sort of success because their fans are unbelievable. The only way they can achieve success, though, is through a cup run and keeping them in the Premier League.”
Pardew enjoyed a fairly average spell at Palace before taking over at West Bromwich Albion during the second half of the 2017-18 season, but was sacked with only a handful of games remaining.
He remains out of work as one of the many managers currently on the scrapheap. Newcastle, meanwhile, sit in 15th place in the Premier League after beating rock-bottom Huddersfield 2-0 thanks to goals from Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez.
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