Idioms are not a writer’s best friend but ‘be careful what you wish for’ is an adequate place to start with when directing attention to Tyneside and the latest chapter in the Newcastle United roller coaster.
Following a dreadful year for the club, where they managed just 6 wins in 30 matches between December 2013 and October 2014, Toon fans were in despair.
Frustrated, infuriated and watching their side play dire and uninspiring football, they directed their anger towards the only man available – manager Alan Pardew.
‘Pardew out’ was the call rung out from St James’ Park, up until a recent purple patch that has become synonymous with Pardew’s Newcastle reign.
Now their calls have been granted, just not in the expected circumstances, and on first glance it looks like a win for everyone involved.
The fans have their wish, Pardew has escaped the cauldron of hate, owner Mike Ashley has pocketed a cool $2 million for a man not wanted, and Crystal Palace have picked up a manager astute enough to steer them to safety.
But in reality, there’s actually a distinct loser in all of this – the fans. This is a smokescreen victory, and is unlikely to solve their woes.
While Pardew wasn’t perfect, he was the best Newcastle fans could hope for under Ashley. During social media speculation on Pardew’s replacement – Michael Laudrup, Frank de Boer and Jürgen Klopp among the candidates – there was a failure to take into account the idiosyncrasies of the man in charge.
Ashley is never going to break the bank to lure someone like De Boer to Tyneside, and none of the above managers are ever going to agree to work under his controlling terms.
Which is why Pardew’s departure leaves Newcastle fans in limbo. Who will replace him that can offer anything better?
Since buying Newcastle from Sir John Hall and Freddie Shepherd in 2007, Ashley has ridden a storm of fan opposition and turned Newcastle into a profitable venture. They are no longer a football club, but a football business, a sad reality in the modern day English Premier League.
He runs the club on a shoestring budget, despite 50,000 packing out St James’ Park fortnightly, and buys promising players before selling them at an inflated profit. To help him operate smoothly, he needs a manager willing to toe the company line.
Pardew was that willing man, and he was doing an adequate job in difficult circumstances. His best players were constantly sold, replacements were a rarity and yet he got on with the job with minimum fuss.
However, the football he played was woeful, the main source of frustration for Newcastle fans. Pardew is a reactive manager, and his long-ball game was getting more and more dire to watch.
His excuses were also constant, monotonous and predictable. That was probably more infuriating than the results and his tactics. Pardew did possess good man-management skills, and the players have always appeared loyal. But the Geordie public was sick of the continuing mediocrity on show.
Newcastle fans aren’t fickle, they just have a list of simple pleasures that they expect – attacking, attractive football, a decent cup run here and there and beating some big teams along the way. Under Pardew, they’ve never experienced all three.
Yet while calls for Pardew’s head were understandable, they were also misdirected. He wasn’t the source of the problem, and never has been. Under Ashley, Newcastle fans are unlikely to see their dreams realised.
Pardew was ideal for the club under Ashley. He was a mid-range manager for a mid-level club, willing to put up with Ashley and his cronies. Getting rid of him was never the answer, and now he’s gone the fans are the only ones losing out.
Pardew’s departure just before the transfer window means the likelihood of the in-form Moussa Sissoko remaining on Tyneside has diminished, as has the potential arrival of new faces. While Pardew has had little input in transfers, he has at least had the job of prodding Ashley into sporadic bouts of action.
There is no Messiah waiting for take over, instead the tongue-in-cheek calls from some for Joe Kinnear, Graeme Souness or Temuri Ketsbaia to take charge are more likely.
The best Newcastle can hope for is current caretaker John Carver seeing out the remainder of the season. He’s a Geordie boy, knows what the club’s about and knows what the fans want.
After that, who knows, maybe Carver should just take the job full-time. He’s also better than what’s available, such as Tim Sherwood, who definitely wouldn’t bring in attractive football, and another frontrunner Steve Bruce isn’t all that popular among Newcastle supporters.
The gloom on the Toon will continue, the fog on the Tyne is not all right. Under Ashley the drama will remain, but at least with Pardew the fans had someone who was decent enough and willing to put up with the crap from above.
Now it’s uncertain what the Geordie faithful can expect, but it’s unlikely to be anything drastically better from what they had.
Follow disenchanted Newcastle supporter Janek on Twitter @JanekSpeight
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