10 Ridiculous Arguments Against Sacking Alan Pardew

6. It's All Ashley's Fault

Mike Ashley has done a lot of things wrong in his time at Newcastle, and his latest rumoured attempt to push Pardew towards resignation rather than firing him and paying compensation is one of his riskiest - but he is not the biggest problem. In the Premier League in particular, bad ownership can be offset by good management. Sir Alex Ferguson stole his last Premier League victory despite the influence of the Glazers, Leeds United made it to the Champions League final despite Ken Bates, Arsene Wenger flourishes despite his board's occasional lunacy and Roman Abramovich is a poor owner masquerading behind money bags. In all of those cases, success has been achieved despite board influence, and it is not enough to suggest that Pardew would succeed with a less controlling, less thrifty owner in charge.