Newcastle: 10 Things Pardew Should Be Applauded For

He wasn't the messiah, but the former Toon boss does deserve at least SOME credit. Doesn't he?

By Tom Astley /

So this is a tough one for even the biggest Pardew apologist to handle: what did Pardew ever do for the Toon? The suave, silver-tongued Cockney didn€™t exactly endear himself to the Geordie faithful over his atypically long tenure in charge at St. James' Park. He wasn€™t particularly wanted when he came, he wasn€™t particularly welcome when he was there, and he won€™t be particularly missed now he€™s jumped ship to Palace. Pardew took more flak that any manager in recent memory (apart from Joe Kinnear maybe, but it's questionable whether he even counts as a proper manger: most Toon fans try to think of Kinnear€™s time in charge as a particularly weird and unpleasant dream), and not all of it was down to the €œunrealistic expectations€ of the €œfickle fans€. From excuses upon excuses; signalling his discontent with Hull City€™s David Meyler by €œpushing him away with his head€; his self-admitted €œridiculous behaviour€, and, to put it modestly, questioning the age and anatomy of Man City manager Manuel Pellegrini; he spent a lot of time attempting to sabotage any glory he could have been due. But now that the dust is beginning to settle on Pardew€™s somewhat unexpected move to Crystal Palace (with three entirely unexpected wins on the bounce), it might be worth re-evaluating his tenure at the Toon. And in the harsh light of day, there€™s more than a few things that Pardew did in his time on Tyneside that might just warrant a begrudging round of applause from the Toon Army. Let the revisionist history begin.