So Wednesday will see us reaquainted once again with ol' Big Nose.
It is particularly difficult to look back objectively when you have a dislike for someone, But seeing 'The Superior One' go on to pick up positive recognition elsewhere makes us ask the question again, what the hell went wrong here? Was he as bad as we thought, or are we exaggerating?
With that in mind, below is the article i wrote in Novemeber 2009. Seems like a lifetime ago now, but i think (hope) when looking back with a bit of mileage that it was a relatively fair assessment at the time. Grateful for thoughts....
PARDEW'S FAILURE TO HIT THE HEADLINES
"I will be doing everything in my power to inspire what we've got here. I've always been able to operate well without big money. I am very focused, my philosophy is very complicated with what I do and I need people who are good enough to be able to go along with that. It's going to be about fighting, digging in, and winning games". - Alan Pardew, Dec 2006.
Richard Murray and his board of directors took a huge sigh of relief. A disastrous period of uncertainty had seen the reliable, well-drilled Charlton ship start to veer off course. Alan Pardew would emerge as the right appointment at the right time to lead that ship back into smoother waters. The much-heralded returning hero; the man Fergie was tipping to go on to great things, and seen by the Addickted and the wider football world as a managerial coup for little old Charlton.
If relegation from the Premiership was eventually to befall upon us, there was strong belief that we had the right man to stabilise our club and help us rebuild it correctly. Even come back stronger. None of those directors, or the 20,000 plus who continue to painfully file through The Valley turnstiles could have foreseen the mess that was to follow.
Relegation came and went. While Tottenham hammered the final nail into our Premiership coffin, there was no anger at The Valley. The supporters stood defiant as one, and proudly sang at noise levels that have not been repeated since. Pardew would rebuild. Of course, it was accepted that high earners and better players would leave, but there was equal belief that so too would under-performers and the inconsistency that had let the club down. Pardew, with his solid track record, would lead us back as a leaner, hungrier side, playing organised, offensive high-tempo football.
Funds were provided, decent funds for a relegated side. Big money was spent on players such as Luke Varney, Zheng Zhi, Izale McLeod and Paddy McCarthy. Exciting young foreign imports such as Therry Racon, Jose Semedo and Yassin Moutuouakil were brought in to complete our high-tempo, quality approach. Punts were taken on the likes of Chris Dickson and Dean Sinclair, non-league rough diamonds simply in need of a good polish and a rub of Pardew magic. He was going to become the Championship Wenger, carving out an admired team that would blitz the division with the offensive approach that Reading did in recent years.
Our huge squad and top-two budget guided us to second in the table by November, but performances were unconvincing. Promise had been shown, but the side had failed to gel, prompting frequent changes to the starting eleven. We accepted it was a new side, it would take time to reach its peak as individuals and team shape became fully acquainted. We would be a side that will grow stronger and dominant in the second half of the season as we become more organised.
In reality, the opposite occurred. Poor performances led to panic. Panic led to more team changes and questionable further arrivals, permanently or on short-term loans. The more changes made, the more erratic performances become. With our top-two budget, we whimpered into a pitiful eleventh place as the second half of the season fell apart. We ended the season not having a clue what our best formation, tactics or individuals were.
Pardew's large ego was hugely dented we were told. The mistakes would make him a stronger, better manager. Yet everywhere we turned the same mistakes were repeated. Players were chopped and changed, more non-league gambles were brought in to no effect, and questionable loan signings continued to arrive in their droves.
We fell into the bottom three of the Championship, embarrassed by a Barnsley side lacking quality but huge in endeavour and determination. The decision should have arrived then but a stay of execution was granted, though the lack of public support from the top club showed the obvious split at board level; his job was being maintained on a thin thread.
After soul-searching, changing training, tactics, and once again individuals, the slide could not be arrested and we went on to concede ten goals in the next three games. The end of Pardew's reign shows a desperate side who won just nine of their last forty one games, five of their last twenty eight. A side that did not win two games in a row for 50 weeks and counting.
So where did Pardew go wrong ?
Let’s state now that it is never easy for any manager that has to sell his best players. But Pardew was given more than adequate time and funds to get things right. Thirty five players arrived at The Valley in his time; some have left already while few have shined. More worryingly, virtually none have improved in their time here.
The over-riding feeling for me is that at no stage did he get to grips with what the Championship is about. Success in this league is based on organisation, commitment and endeavour; resolute in defence, denying space and taking chances when they occur. Pardew appeared to have too much belief in his own ability, that he could carve out a young Premiership style side who would go straight to level three before they have learnt and mastered levels one and two. When this failed, he appeared bereft of ideas to correct the situation, and failed to learn from things that went wrong. Virtually all the gambles and changes he made spectacularly failed to come off.
Pardew did not become a bad manager overnight, and is likely to go on and be a success elsewhere. But there is no hiding the fact he got things stunningly wrong here, and a change was vital for all parties. As someone calling for his dismissal for the past few weeks, the end comes with no sense of relief or satisfaction. Just pure sadness at how far we have fallen so quickly, and how disorganised as a club we currently appear.
Where now for Charlton is a debate for tomorrow. For now, the sad legacy of Pardew's reign and our decline is that his dismissal won't even make the back page of the Sunday papers.
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Comments
Paolo Monteiro, Martin Christensen, Dean Sinclair and Dorian Smith still give me nightmares.
On the note of Dorian Smith, how his transfer never got picked up on by any governing bodies baffles me.
Read this article, dodgy doesn't cut it!
http://www.charlton.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=102187
sad times
From the Croydon Advertiser:
ALAN Pardew has revealed how tough it was financially for him when he was manager of Charlton Athletic.
The Crystal Palace boss, who comes up against the Addicks in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday night at Selhurst Park, has remembered how an injury to striker Darren Bent played a big part in not being able to save Charlton from Premier League relegation in 2007.
And then at Christmas that year in the Championship, financial implications meant Pardew had no choice but to allow one of his best players to be sold.
"I went in there and I think they had around ten points or so at Christmas - it was a tough call," he said.
"We got ourselves out of the relegation area. We had a great run and there was a good attitude. But I lost Darren Bent (to injury) and it was crucial.
"When we got relegated, the impact of that relegation wasn't really made clear to me when I joined how financially damaging it was.
"Therefore we were always struggling after that.
"We sold our captain (Andy Reid) at Christmas. We had to do things like that and it made it difficult."
Remember soon after him being appointed a Q&A meeting was organised at The Valley. Big turnout, I remember one asking a question and Pardew really sarcastically answering and really belittling the fan. Can't remember what the question was, but remember thinking at the time that it was no way a manager should be addressing a fan publicly.
But that was Pardew. Same with the feng sui changes he insisted on at the training ground. Everything was always about him.
hatestrongly dislike the man.He always came across as being smug and arrogant, and as though he was doing us a favour. Constantly spoke up about his own achievements with another club (West Ham), and was never prepared to take any blame for anything bad that happened. When things went well it was all "I did this and I did that", when things were going badly it was all "we" this and "the team" that.
Even now he talks about financial implications without any admission that he wasted the more than ample funds he was given. Then he was reluctant to walk even when it was clear we were doomed under him, which meant we had to sell one of his misfits for a knock-down price so we could pay him off.
I'm still clinging onto the hope that his own ego will eventually be the downfall of Palace.
Now he's a bit like a pantomime dame villain as far as I'm concerned. Except that I still really hate him:-)
Good ol Alan.
Nothing will ever beat that.
Having met him more than a few times as a person is he is an Onanist of the first order.
He used to just lose interest in players and I think he just lost interest in Charlton. Same as at Newcastle.
something along those lines , the cocksure twat fancied himself a bit
Absolute knobber.