Former Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew still feels he was a bit hard done by during his spell at St James’ Park.
Pardew came in as the successor to the highly-popular Chris Hughton in December 2010, just a few months after Hughton he had led Newcastle to promotion back out of the Championship.
A fifth-place finish in Pardew’s first full season in charge only briefly quelled the doubters, with Newcastle finishing 16th and 10th before Pardew was finally dismissed in December 2014.
« I’m convinced Mike Ashley would have given me the money to compete in the Champions League »
Pardew believes things were against him from the very beginning, reflecting to FourFourTwo: « My welcome wasn’t particularly warm.
« Rumours started that Mike Ashley had only appointed me because I’d run up huge gambling debts in his casinos.
« There wasn’t a grain of truth in the stories. Maybe I should have addressed them rather than let them run.
« On day one at training, within five minutes, Joey Barton came up to me and said how much the players had loved Chris Hughton and no-one wanted me there. Charming!
« Fortunately, we started out by beating Liverpool 3-1 and our first goal was something we’d been practising on the training ground the previous day so that helped.
« After the game, Joey piped up, thanking me for that routine I’d introduced. That was a great moment. »
However, Pardew acknowledges that he didn’t win over everybody on on Tyneside.
Pardew said: « I had a difficult relationship with some of the North East media.
« Two or three had an agenda I couldn’t quite understand and at times, it led to a toxic atmosphere.
« We came desperately close to qualifying for the Champions League only to lose our last game at Everton. We still finished fifth and I was named both LMA and Premier League Manager of the Year that season – the last British boss to win those awards.
« Had we come fourth, I’m convinced Mike would have given me the money to compete in the Champions League. »
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