5. Internal Strife
Newcastle have self-imploded in part this season. Obvious, on-the-field issues aside, in the background, all has not been well at St James' Park either. Club captain and integral defender Fabricio Coloccini dropped a bombshell on the side back in January when he
demanded to leave in order to return to his native Argentina, citing "personal reasons". Though Pardew has since convinced the centre back to remain on Tyneside (for now), his future is still far from resolved. Newcastle were going through a rough patch back in January having won just the one league game and what they needed the most back then was for everyone to pull together as a cohesive unit, and that was particularly true of their captain, of all people. Instead, what they got was division and strife, and a very worrying month in which one of their most reliable players almost quit. Such unrest and uncertainty couldn't have helped at the time, and with Coloccini's future still in doubt, this is but one reason why the Magpies have struggled since the turn of the year.