Alan Pardew Leaving Newcastle To Become Manager At Crystal Palace
By Jimmy Lee
What a rollercoaster the first half of the Premier League season it has been for Alan Pardew. First it was “Sack Pardew” and then it was “Pardew can stay” and now it’s “Goodbye Pardew” at Newcastle and “Welcome to Crystal Palace”.
It has been reported Monday that Alan Pardew is set to leave Newcastle United and become the manager for Crystal Palace. The south London club has had their own rollercoaster season after former manager Tony Pullis, who miraculously helped the club finish in 11th last season, resigned the day before the start of the current season.
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Palace then went on to hire one of their former managers Neil Warnock. But after a poor start to the season, on December 27th, Crystal Palace decided to fire Warnock, leaving the position vacant for the second time in four months.
According to a report from the UK Daily Mail, Alan Pardew, who was still employed with Newcastle, has agreed to become the new manager at Crystal Palace. Pardew spent four seasons with the Eagles during his playing career and is now set to manage the sidelines at Selhurst Park.
In order to get Pardew to become the manager, Crystal Palace agreed to pay Newcastle his 2 million pound compensation clause.
For Pardew, this move makes sense for a man who must be getting tired of fans constantly calling for his head, but doesn’t make as much sense in terms of current EPL position. Newcastle United is coming off a 3-2 victory over Everton and now sit in 9th in the EPL table. At Palace, Pardew will be inheriting a club having a nightmare season that sits in 18th down in the relegation zone.
The challenge of helping a club survive in the Premier League must have been a challenge Pardew was excited to take. But more realistically, Pardew is probably feeling relieved to escape the constant pressure from Newcastle fans who have begged owner Mike Ashley to fire Pardew off and on for the past few seasons.
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The search is on for Newcastle United to find Pardew’s replacement. The Magpies may be in 9th, but it wasn’t too long ago they too were flirting with relegation. As much as the fans will hate to hear it, it won’t be easy to find a manager on par with Pardew.
It has been 17 years since Newcastle United finished second in the EPL in back-to-back seasons. Since then they had a run at the turn of the century finishing fourth, third and fifth in consecutive seasons but the club hit a low point and was relegated in 2009 and spent one season in the Championship.
Pardew may not have been a great manager, but he always did his job and kept the club in England’s top flight. If Pardew can do the same this season at Crystal Palace, he will be looked at by those fans as a savior – which is miles away from where the fans viewed him at Newcastle.