4. To Focus Pardew's Responsibilities Further
It's no secret that Pardew has had very little say in the transfers of Newcastle. The set up, especially over the last few years, has been for Graham Carr to identify a target and Lambias/Ashley to negotiate the financial packages. The type of player transferred depends largely on their resale potential more than anything else, with squad deficiencies a close second. You only need to see the sales of Demba Ba and Andy Carroll to see this is the case. Carroll was sold with the repercussions an afterthought, clearly underlining our 'cash first, team second' policy while we arguably still haven't replaced Ba. After Ba was sold in January 2013, the only attacking options brought in were
Gouffran and
Sissoko, both for around £2m each. Cheap, yes. Strikers, no. Pardew's role is man-managing the team, coaching and tactics. That's it. He's a coach. The transfers and squad building are above him, and maybe the Kinnear appointment will re-enforce this. Whatever the credentials or relevance of Kinnear there now exists someone whose sole role it is to be responsible for the transfers, both in action and accountability. This in turn makes what happens on the pitch is solely Pardew's responsibility. No more complaints to the press about not bringing in the right players at the right time. No more slight digs at Ashley for not opening his wallet. That's no longer Pardew's jurisdiction. Don't forget, Ashley has adopted this model before back when Dennis Wise was responsible for the transfers under Keegan's second reign. Maybe Ashley has always wanted the separation of manager and transfers.