Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew is favourite for the sack already, but he is staying true to form… just ask West Ham United and Newcastle United fans.
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew
When Pardew rode into Selhurst Park on his white horse having finally escaped that mean lot at Newcastle United halfway through the 2014-15 season, it was a match made in heaven.
And he certainly enjoyed a honeymoon period befitting such a marriage, guiding the Eagles from relegation scrap to a top-10 finish in his first five months in charge.
Fast forward another year and a memorable trip to Wembley in the FA Cup final ended in a familiar defeat for the spiky 55-year-old boss.
Aside from probably Jose Mourinho, no other manager – certainly on these shores anyway – divided opinion quite like Mr Marmite Alan Pardew.
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew celebrates Let’s make no mistake – this is a manager with undoubted ability. You don’t lead teams to promotions, FA Cup finals and fifth place finishes in the Premier League if you don’t know your Dele Alli’s from your Ali Dia’s.
But his managerial record is fast becoming not so much a broken record as one stuck on repeat loop.
All of Pardew’s five previous managerial jobs so far have had a bitter ending and if the bookies are right Palace are about to be the sixth.
There is extra pressure on the former Reading, West Ham, Charlton Athletic, Southampton and Newcastle boss given the vast amount of money he has had to spend this summer.
Without a win this season and with the vultures circling, are we about to see it all end like it has before for the man once linked with the England job?
Newcastle fans gesture at Crystal Palace’s Yohan Cabaye
He has worked wonders at Palace in many ways and attracted some top players to the club. Why then, like the clubs before, has the Eagles’ form dipped so alarmingly despite a stronger squad at his disposal?
After all, isn’t his one of the best English coaches we have?
So how do you solve a problem like Pardew? Indeed where is it going wrong time and again for a man who has had his fair share of controversies in his managerial career?
Well one thing most fans will attest to with Pardew is that he – or at least the staff he builds around him – knows a player.
But it all falls down on the fact that as a coach Pardew does not improve his players. He may take his team on a run of 10 wins in 12 games before the rollercoaster dips and they lose the next seven. But his teams do not progress because the players themselves aren’t progressing.
Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha looks dejected
Just this week Pardew told the likes of Sky Sports that he felt Palace star Wilfried Zaha had the potential to play for Barcelona or Real Madrid.
A bizarre statement given that he can’t even get into Pardew’s struggling Palace side.
And therein lies the problem with Pardew. Like Hatem Ben Arfa – now of Paris Saint-Germain and France – at Newcastle before him, Zaha has stagnated under the manager.
For anyone who finds themselves disagreeing with that statement take a moment to ask yourself this: name one player managed by Pardew who developed and became a better player under his stewardship.
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish must find the answer to the Pardew problem
In fact in Newcastle they even coined a phrase ‘He’s been Pardew’d’ for players who with obvious ability who had their confidence sucked out of them by the manager’s inability to get the best out of them on the pitch.
For Palace fans, like supporters of all those clubs before them, they so desperately want it to work out with their former hero.
But it feels like groundhog day again and the deja vu is kicking in… how do you solve a problem like Pardew? It is Palace’s question to answer now.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
