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Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Too hasty to dismiss the progressive Pardew

I was really disappointed to see the news yesterday that Alan Pardew had been dismissed by the new Icelandic owners of West Ham. For me as a neutral it was hasty and an over-reaction to sack one of the very few promising young English managers in the Premiership.

What I liked most about Pardew - as I wrote about in a post written on 28 Oct called "Alan Pardew should not be dismissed" - was that he was dedicated to playing an attractive brand of smooth-passing, attacking football. I simply enjoyed watching his team play in the Premiership last season.

This season West Ham have struggled to find any momentum amid what I consider to have been the destabilising context of takeover talk from owners with questionable agendas. I thought Pardew did well to sail the ship during this time and with them beating my team, Arsenal, they did look to have been moving again in the right direction until a tough last week of defeats at Everton (where they played well in defeat at a tough venue), Wigan at home and then Bolton away (which again as a Gunner I know is a tough fixture).

The fact that he had gained West Ham promotion to the Premiership and that in their first season back in the top flight they had finished ninth and were seconds away from lifting the FA Cup final didn't count for anything yesterday as the new owners wielded the axe. Its a shame and I hope that it isn't long until Pardew is back in the Premiership leading a team with the vision of playing good quality attacking football.

As for Alan Curbishley coming back to West Ham: I like the match-up. But in the long-run how much better is he an option that retaining the progressive Pardew? In my opinion I think there is very little between them in terms of coaching quality.

2 Comments:

Blogger RedsMan said...

Well, what is there to benefit from dismissing a manager at this stage of the season in the running of recent results? Who knows what is around the corner? Mr Magnusson doesn't but the man has invested into the club and he is anxious for some dividends to occur from the get-go. Curbishley is someone I spoke of when the rumours were floating and I believe I mentioned Pardrew's time would be becoming if results turned to the worst, and Curbishley would be a major front ruuner as a former player and East London born.

To reiterate T, the away loss to Everton, the home defeat to Wigan and then to be hit for four at The Reebok Stadium (I believe only Man Utd, Chelsea and Wigan have won there so far) in such a way that emanated a lack of desire to fight, let alone score, let alone win. The roll call of Reo-Coker as captain, Harewood, Etherington, Benayoun, Mullins, Ferdinand, Zamora, Collins, Konchesky are those I can turn to to say 'where is the form?'

From the side that almost reached the glory of FA Cup winners again in their first season in the Premiership to the current state of relegation zone and managerless with practically the same side, notwithstanding Dean Ashton. It seems cruel to remove Pardew, the fans were behind him more and blamed the players, the board, even more so the chairman Terence Brown at the time. Yet if the board feel they can bring in someone else who will lift the side, that is their gamble. Football is like that, you can either have good funds and buy well, or you wish to economise and maybe take a gamble and look to nurture players into better players. For all the talent at Upton Park, the type on the pitch, they should not be in relegation.


RedsMan.

12/12/2006 9:59 pm

 
Blogger Abdul said...

I agree with you both on the sacking of Pardew - a good manager who has just had a terrible run of results. Having said that:

1. I think Curbishley is a proven Premiership manager - only now that he has left the Valley are we starting to realise just how successful he was there. Added to that, AC is a West Ham man so he knows the fabric and ethos of the club. So Curbishley gets the nod over Pardew for me.

2. Magnussen couldnt afford to risk his huge investment in the club. The guy is a businessman - not a billionnaire who has money to blow. Relegation is just not an option for him at this stage.

12/13/2006 9:41 pm

 

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