Newcastle: 10 Major Mistakes Pardew Has Made In 2014

6. Openly Criticising Young Players

As much as Paul Dummett is not good enough to play every game for Newcastle - particularly in the Premier League - there is no excuse for the manager singling him out for criticism, along with the likes of Sammy Ameobi, when he is so keen to protect his foreign players, as if they are somehow more fragile. At the minute, Newcastle's whole philosophy when it comes to youth is broken: players are signed, forgotten about, farmed out on loan and then castigated for not working hard enough in the rare cup games they are given an opportunity to shine in. They should obviously not be given hearty slaps on the back if they are not doing well, but there is something horribly disjointed in the way Pardew treats youngsters (and particularly British ones) compared to his protection of more experienced players who could probably cope with more criticism. Frankly, for a manager who prides himself on protecting players (his excuse for making excuses), the idea of public performance shaming is not really on, and you have to question how it will affect those players' confidence in the long term. In one breath he's saying Sammy Ameobi is brilliant, but then he questions why he hasn't made it in the Premier League yet (probably because he is dropped after every impressive cameo), and then calls him brilliant again. It's jarring even from the outside.