Next Newcastle Manager: 10 Favourites To Replace Alan Pardew

3. Tony Pulis (4/1)

Status: Unemployed Tony Pulis surprisingly left Crystal Palace just days before the Premier League campaign kicked off under mysterious and mostly unexplained circumstances. He had been Premier League manager last year after guiding Palace from relegation favourites to the lofty heights of Premier League midtable, finishing just one place behind Newcastle in the end, four points behind the Magpies with a much weaker team. He managed to get the best out of unglamorous players and is particularly well known for his side's having discipline and structure. In contrast to Newcastle's crippling defence with experienced players Mike Williamson and Fabricio Coloccini looking amateurish yesterday, Pulis' sides are always solid at the back, believing that you win the game from the back rather than the front. Pulis' Palace last season only conceded one goal from a set play when he was in charge, organisation at the back that has been sorely missed ever since Pardew landed the Newcastle job. Pulis certainly ticks most of the boxes for Ashley, however his unceremonious exit from Crystal Palace just before the campaign, rumoured to be over a break down in relationship between manager and owner, will be a big red flag in his contention for the job. He is a stubborn manager who although would deliver steady campaigns season after season for Ashley, he would only do it his way and wouldn't fit in well under too much interference from a chairman.