Newcastle Transfers: 7 Problems Andy Carroll Would Solve

3. A New Excuse For Pardew

He knows we're on to him: after a year of abject disappointment and every excuse under the sun, Pardew now takes to his post-match interviews to bemoan the fact that everyone says he's making excuses, when he claims really to be innocently protecting his players. Which is clearly why he fails to engage with any analysis of his team's performances on any level, preferring to say general things like "we tried" or "we were unlucky" and "on another day..." Those are excuses, Alan, no matter how you dress them up, and the fact that you publicly criticise the likes of Sammy Ameobi, Riviere and Paul Dummett suggests your agenda isn't really just to protect your team from criticism... If Carroll was to come in and be immediately crocked or horribly off the pace, it would give Pardew a new excuse he hasn't had yet, and even better he could claim that fans had wanted the player in and the club were now counting the cost of that.