Pardew - Newcastle Signed Players For "Club's Purpose", Not "First XI"

Alan Pardew has taken another swing at Newcastle United's transfer policy - claiming that players were brought in for the "club's purpose" and not to make his "first XI" during his time in the North East. In a wide-ranging interview with The Telegraph, the now Crystal Palace boss does admit that he knew Newcastle's "agenda" before taking charge and that he "didn't have a problem with it" - before saying he wanted a different remit to the one he was given on Tyneside. Having left the club at the turn of the year to head back to south London, Pardew has started life as manager at Selhurst Park well, and admits he likes having full control over transfers.

Speaking about his time at St James' Park, Pardew told The Telegraph:

"The (Newcastle) agenda. I didn€™t want the agenda I had - I wanted a different one. "The one thing that is different at (Palace) is that I have full control of transfers. I€™ve not had that before and actually not many managers in the Premier League have it. The chairman and I have no-one between us and we discuss things every day. "That was something that was important to me after Newcastle because there were players who went in there who were for the club€™s purposes and not for my first XI purposes. "That€™s frustrating, especially after I had such a great start. When you have a way of playing and there€™s a player you have to take who€™s a better financial proposition than one who fits better then that€™s tough. "Some clubs have different agendas. You are the manager there but you are there to coach the team. The philosophy is set by a sporting director - you have that at Seville (Sevilla), successful clubs, and maybe Manchester City are like that with (Manuel) Pellegrini. "I don€™t have a problem with that. I didn€™t have a problem with it at Newcastle - that was the agenda and it was explained to me when I went there. But as a manager I prefer this agenda."

John Carver and Pardew have now gone from Newcastle and Steve McClaren - with his new backroom staff - have arrived in their place. But Pardew does believe he did well on Tyneside for a period, before admitting it became "very difficult" for him after both he and the board became extremely unpopular. He continued (The Telegraph):

"At Newcastle it had got to a point where it was very difficult for me. We had just beaten Everton, we were ninth in the division and were unpopular. "I had taken this team into the quarter-finals of the Europa League, OK we had a down year and some dodgy moments after we sold a couple of players, but I just thought, €˜You know this is not going anywhere now. I need a new challenge€™. "Maybe my enthusiasm was in danger of dipping and that is something I am really on my guard about. But was I really giving myself the best possible chance? Sometimes you need a new belief, a new challenge. And I thought, €˜You know what, this is what I need€™."

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