Pardew’s Palace dream could be coming to an end, though the absence of Mike Ashley from the equation makes things a lot more straightforward.
Under-fire Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew says he has only ever felt threatened at a football club when Newcastle United appointed Joe Kinnear as Director of Football, The Chronicle reports.
A run of six consecutive defeats, including harrowing last-minute losses to Burnley and Swansea City, have reportedly left the 55-year-old on the brink of the sack at Selhurst Park after crisis talks took place between chairman Steve Parish and the club’s American owners this week.
However, Pardew was his usual bullish self when addressing speculation over his future, claiming that he has only once been made to feel as if his job is in danger during his long managerial career.
“The pressure? I put it on myself,” Pardew said ahead of a potentially make-or-break clash with Southampton this weekend, as reported by The Chronicle.
“I have only ever sought assurances on one occasion, when Joe Kinnear came in at Newcastle. I know my responsibility. This is a high-profile job, I’m proud of having it.”
“My only focus this week is to get a result. I don’t want reassurances.”
Kinnear, a man hugely unpopular with Newcastle fans due to his disastrous reign in charge in 2008/09 and his close ties with controversial owner Mike Ashley, returned to St James’ Par five years later to take an upstairs role with Pardew struggling for results.
The appointment was viewed at the time as undermining for a manager who had won the PFA Manager of the Year award just a year previously.
Kinnear was also given control over recruitment, a decision meaning that Pardew was unable to choose his own players and instead presented with a raft of underperforming signings that hardly helped him transform the club’s fortunes.
And, although his reign at Palace have stalled alarmingly, at least he doesn’t have the runaway mouth of Kinnear to contend with.
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