Depressing isn't it? Though he's also responsible for some eye-gougingly poor football, some terrible decisions and a run of defeats and minimal points won, there's no doubt that in the wider context of Newcastle's modern history of managers, Alan Pardew is the third best. He has overseen a fifth place finish in the league, has taken some serious scalps of supposedly bigger teams, and has led his team to within a few matches of a European final. And he's a very rare creature in that he won the Manager Of The Year Award outside the top four, as he will no doubt keep telling everyone. Pardew has his faults - too many to note right now - but thanks to the length of his contract and some board-level commitment that would be classed as mental illness at other clubs, he has put together a comparatively impressive win rate (it's a sorry fact that anything below 50% would be classed as such) and is the first manager since Sir Bobby Robson to qualify for Europe in the front door.
