There's absolutely no doubting that Newcastle United fans wanted to see the back of Alan Pardew. The club's form over the two years before he eventually departed for Crystal Palace was terrible and worthy of a sacking at numerous points. So when Palace paid no less than £3.5 million of Pards' services, why didn't Newcastle reinvest the money and get the top quality manager the potential of the club could undoubtedly attract? There is no manager that Newcastle could attract that would have cost that much. Although there were plenty of outstanding candidates that were well within that price bracket. Instead, that money was shunted somewhere away from the public's conciseness and a number of failed attempts to bring in either cheap or unemployed gaffers were made. In all fairness, a modicum of credit must be sent John Carver's way as he was the man that stepped up to the plate when nobody else would. But he proved over the next five months that he had nowhere near what is required to cut it at the top level as Newcastle slumped from mid table no man's land to a Premier League relegation battle. This prompted the rest of the UK to start the whole 'be careful what you wish for' schtick. Pardew had left and was working wonders at Selhurst Park while those at St James' quite literally couldn't pick up a point. Newcastle fans didn't want John Carver. They wanted the largely basic Alan Pardew gone and replaced by a much better manager. Is that too much to ask?
