If Pardew was unpopular with Newcastle United and Crystal Palace fans before, it seems he hasn’t helped himself.
Now, for those of you still yet to enrich your lives with 1995 classic ‘Heat’, don’t worry, we aren’t going to spoil it. But we can confirm, without any impediment to the plot, that Al Pacino’s central character does not end up being ushered out of Selhurst Park on the back of eight defeats in 10 Premier League games.
Alan Pardew, we can’t stress enough, is not living in a glamorous Hollywood soap opera. He was, until recently, the manager of Crystal Palace Football Club. Yet, in an interview with The Times, the 55-year-old was at pains to point out the perceived similarities between football management and a gritty bank-heist thriller.
“It’s a bit like us in football,” Pardew says. “Chairman, manager, you do what you gotta do. But it’s not personal. It’s the business.”
Pardew’s career is almost impossible quantify. Just a few months prior to his sacking at Selhurst Park, he lead Palace to an FA Cup final. Whether his own fault or not, that infamous ‘dad dance’ on the Wembley touchline has almost overshadowed such an achievement.
At Newcastle United, too, Pardew departed having failed to turn around a worrying slump. In the end, he was so unpopular with Magpies supporters due to poor results and his close relationship with owner Mike Ashley that many overlooked the fact he lead them to Europe in 2012 and was named LMA Manager of the Year.
And his interview with The Times appears to have only worsened his relationship with supporters of both clubs. It doesn’t help that he claimed “maybe my loyalty gets in the way a little bit. I have been loyal to a fault with some [players].” For some, that would seem like passing the buck.
And, when discussing his time at Newcastle, he stated; “My win percentage in the Premier League, when you consider the clubs I’ve been at and the budgets I’ve had, I know it’s healthy. With buying and selling, I think I was in credit at Newcastle, not that the fans want to hear that.”
They certainly don’t. Magpies supporters have made their views on Ashley running the club like a business quite clear.
And, sure enough, fans of both clubs have taken issue with their former boss.
One of my favourite all-time love stories is probably Alan Pardew with himself. He’s not even 10% of what he thinks he is. https://t.co/Zu7PrMnWfD
— Marc Jobling (@MarcJobling) March 29, 2017
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