TheCable

By Sunday Omeike

It is with heavy heart I write this piece, albeit with a touch of optimism because I am a Newcastle united fan.

I have been a part of the Toon Army since 1995 and became a lifelong member the day Alan Shearer returned home in a then-world record £15 million transfer from Blackburn Rovers, with the Geordies flooding both the streets and St. James’ Park to welcome their local hero. Similar honour was accorded late Sir Bobby Robson when he arrived on Tyneside to rescue his boyhood club in 1998 (and what a job he did!).

As part of this family (a weird choice everyone has always said because I am Nigerian), I have followed the heady days of challenging for the BPL title under Kevin Keegan and read with joy the 5-0 spanking of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United. I will never forget celebrating the 4-3 victory over the all-time EPL champions in 2001 with Alan Shearer scoring the winner, and me being the only Newcastle supporter among over 50 stern-looking United fans. I watched my darling club shake the UEFA Champions League with a 3-2 win over Barcelona and also consoled myself with the championship trophy when we got relegated and won promotion back into the elite league.

However, heartaches have also been plenty. Relegation in 2009 was the lowest ebb, losing the FA Cup final in 1998 and ’99 seasons, Ruud Gullit’s ill-fated time in charge, and the meltdown of 1996 which gifted Manchester United the league title (and that 4-3 loss to Liverpool in particular) which would continue to haunt the club and her supporters. All this is however currently being overshadowed by the shambolic debris being offered by Mike Ashley and served by manager Alan Pardew.

Although, the one-time Tottenham loanee had given the magpies one season of note – a 5th place finish in 2012 – I had always been convinced that season was going to be a flash-in-the-pan stuff, and that his reign would totally unravel the following season upward, and boy did it!

Curiously, the marriage was never going to work out fine and the one-season wonder would not make magpie faithful forget the injustice meted out to the manager who ensured a short stay in Football league wilderness, Chris Hughton, even though his PL record was better than some other managers and Newcastle were not in real danger of relegation at the time he was sacked in December 2010.

The 52-year old Pardew’s reported choice as the front runner to replace Hughton was met with groans on the Tyne and a survey conducted by Sky Sports prior to the appointment showed that he had only a 5.5% approval of 40,000 fans who voted.

I am not a Geordie of course, but I’m a football person with a love of the game… Chris Hughton has done a great job last season and he continued that good work this season. It is my aim to build on that now and take the club forward.

Those were few of the words he proclaimed in his ‘acceptance’ speech, and boy did he make good his promise. He took Newcastle five steps forward (5^th position in 2011/12) with 10 steps backward in 2013/14 (10th position) and he currently is building on that with a further 9 steps backward this season (19th position). It is an indictment on Pardew’s part that he has not managed a win at all this season, making Newcastle one of two clubs who survived last season still without a win this season: Sunderland being the other club but it should be noted that the Mackems were doomed for relegation until the final hour. Even promoted QPR and Leicester City have managed at least a win, while we rank alongside Burnley – a bona fide relegation candidate – in the table. This presents a worrying statistic for fans, and the man with the silver hair has not only been able to allow the doubts creep in, his overall record in the Premiership gives fans genuine fear that Geordies could well be visiting the likes of Bournemouth and Rotherham United next season.

Throughout his EPL managerial career, the former Reading manager has suffered the second-season syndrome, taking on the West Ham job and getting sacked, and his managerial reputation had been on a downward spiral since. He nearly sank a West Ham team that he guided to 9th place finish in their first season back in the Premier League. He, however, helped them to their worst run of defeats in 70 years the following season and the final straw was a 4-0 loss at Bolton. He then followed that up by getting Charlton relegated in his first season in 2006/07. Not content with sinking the Addicks, he made sure they never returned to the EPL by overseeing a continued poor run of results in the Championship before he was then yanked off in his second season. He thereafter sought redemption in League One with a Southampton side newly bailed out of bankruptcy. His first season went the usual way but he was again sacked in his second season, the club citing his inability to motivate players and staff amid fans concern.

These precedents made him a surprise choice for the Newcastle United job seen as a poisoned chalice. He delivered fifth position in his first season and followed that with 16th place (familiar enough?) the following season and then 10th place last season. Newcastle were frequently found dangling just above the relegation table with a poor run of results that could warrant Ruud Gullit laugh sarcastically and could even have the legendary Sir Bobby Robson turn in his grave.

Not only did Pards – as he is called – lose six games in a row to set a new premier league record for a Newcastle manager, we did so with a 17-1 aggregate scoreline. He also set a club record of 19 premier league defeats in one season, and delivered our worst home defeat in 87 years, making the St. James faithful watch through a 6-0 drubbing in the hands of Liverpool. This record run of form has been made worse by the inability of the coach to sign a proven goalscorer to fire the ones he has into some kind of form. Since Andy Carroll and Demba Ba got shipped out and Loic Remy returned to his parent club, the absence of a striker able to put fear in opposition defenders has been damning. Papiss Cisse has had a nightmarish dip in form and injuries have also curtailed him, but signings like Yohann Gouffran, Siem de Jong and Emmanuel Riviere have failed to make goalscoring impacts in the league.

Not only have our results and strikers been abysmal, Pards looks like a man unable to inspire his players and has also brought the odd indiscipline with him to Tyne side – attributes which got him the sack at pretty much everywhere he found himself since forcing a move away from Reading.

His indiscipline record at Newcastle is one previously-unseen from our many past managers. It not only paints the picture of a man unfit to sit in the dugout or prowl the technical area, it also shows us a manager in need of professional psychological help.

In 2012, he pushed a match official while protesting against a decision – a behavior he described as ridiculous. Previous confrontations with Arsene Wenger not enough, Pardew was caught on live camera swearing at Manuel Pellegrini during an in-game confrontation, calling the Manchester City manager “a f*****g old c**t”. Not content with this, his worst misdemeanor was the headbutting of a Hull City player, David Meyler, as he sought to retrieve the ball which rolled into the technical area and quickly resume play. That act got him a seven match ban and a combined fine of £160, 000. Not even the unpredictable Kevin Keegan or a pompous and arrogant Ruud Gullit, never mind an always cool and smiley Sir Bobby Robson, would ever stoop so low to do a thousand-part of the atrocities committed by Pardew. He has also got his technical crew fighting the fans with John Carver and Andy Woodman confronting fans at the stadium and on twitter respectively, that’s hardly a good PR for their futures.

All this happened in the time of a manager who declared war on perceived indiscipline after being appointed: “You know, a big club like Newcastle, I think it’s important that you have disciplines that carry on through the season…,” the London-born manager who was nicknamed ‘Cancer’ at West Ham said on arrival.

Following his record ban, he revealed that he suffered the ignominy of being ‘pranked’ by his players with boxing gloves left in his office. It is clear what those players think of their manager: a hooligan in the dugout who needs to be flushed out.

Injuries, bad officiating, pressure from the owner and exertions of playing in Europe: all these excuses no longer cut it with fans who pay their hard-earned money to cheer their team on and they are not asking for too much, just improvement on the field from a team that has racked up unwanted records previously unheard of among Geordies.

Rumours about sports merchandise mogul and club owner Mike Ashley being unambitious and  content with sitting lame duck in 10th position every season while collecting cool TV rights cash and making profits off player sales abound. However, if he wants to ensure that next season and beyond, he would do well to lay off a catastrophic Alan Pardew whose subconscious aim presently and in the foreseeable future is to send our darling Newcastle down the Charlton road.

PARDEW OUT!!!!!!!!