Dean Ashton is backing Alan ‘Chocolate’ Pardew to make West Bromwich Albion an exciting team to watch again.
Alan Pardew’s appointment at West Bromwich Albion this week has seen one of the internet’s great football gifs resurface on social media – footage of the 56-year-old seductively dancing on the touchline at Wembley after his Crystal Palace side took the lead over Man United in an FA Cup final in 2016.
The new West Brom manager clearly exudes a confidence that you seldom see from other Premier League bosses and one of his former players, Dean Ashton, confirmed as much.
Pardew spent £7 million on bringing Ashton to West Ham back in 2006 and the 34-year-old reveals to talkSPORT that his former manager’s nickname is ‘Chocolate’ because “he would eat himself if he could”.
“He’s not short of confidence. His nickname, and what he’s fondly known as, is ‘chocolate’ – because he would eat himself if he could,” Ashton told talkSPORT.
“But that’s what great about him. Players feed off that confidence and he’ll make you feel special as a player.”
The Baggies have just had almost three years under Tony Pulis whose style of play was called into question by fans of The Hawthorns club, which finished 10th in the Premier League last term.
Pulis was fired last Monday and Ashton claims that Pardew – who has led Palace and West Ham to FA Cup finals over the past 12 years, losing both – is sure to have West Brom playing attacking football from here on out.
“The first thing he’ll look at is the way they attack teams because that’s his philosophy,” he added. “He likes to play attacking football. He’s got a bad reputation for some of the runs he has had at some clubs he has been at. He certainly is a streaky manager.
“But he’s got two teams to the FA Cup Final who probably had no right to get there. I think that shows that when he gets a group together, they really can get on a roll.”
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
