Why Pardew’s flop is down to West Brom’s short-term thinking
BY the time the West Brom board finally made the decision to dispensewithAlan Pardew, there were any numberofreasonstogetrid— specifically 13 defeats from 19 games, and a gap of 10 points to safety — but the ill-fated mid-season trip to Barcelona is said to have been a considerable issue for many in the hierarchy.
Four players getting fined reflected what might well go down as one of the most farcical ways a team has ever gone down. It had got that bad, and this at a club that had until relatively recently been seen as a model of organisation. So much for that.
So much, too, for the stability from the Premier League knowledge that Pardew was supposed to bring.
This is where the story of West Brom’s virtually certain demise touches on a bigger theme for the competition, just as they are about to drop out of it. When Pardew was appointed in November, he was picked over candidates like Aitor Karanka because of that knowledge and history in the Premier League, but also because the hierarchy hoped he would prolong a trend of his career.
The 56-year-old’s managerial methods are such that there is usually an initial and prolonged positive effect, before a tail-off. The difference between the brilliant 2011/12 season and struggle of a 2012/13 campaign at Newcastle United was probably the clearest example of this.
West Brom were conscious off that eventual drop-off, too, but were willing to overlook it to benefit from the other side of thetrendandstayup.
Except, it never happened. There never was that initial positive impact. Having been the subject of some triumphalist discussion from some quarters about how Pardew’s appointment was a further illustration of the revival of his generation of British coaches like David Moyes and Sam Allardyce, the former Crystal Palace player found his methods were getting no reaction at all.
Pardew himself had one curious reaction to this. To add to the farce of this campaign, former West Brom manager Gary Megson made the following claim when discussing Pardew succeeding him after a brief stint as caretaker this season.
“Alan Pardew rang me up, he said, ‘Just ringing you up to thank you for what you’ve done the last 10, 11 days but you’ve stolen my thunder a little bit because usually when you go in as a new manager you’re picking it up from something that’s gone on and you can give it that lift but the lift had already started.”
Except, Pardew couldn’t continue it. He instead continued other trends, that the club did not want.
He has become the 10th manager sacked this season, meaning the 2017/18 campaign has matched the record set by 2013/14. He has joined Aston Villa’s Remi Garde, Fulham’s Rene Meulensteen and Newcastle ’s Joe Kinnear as one of those managers brought in to save a club but then not allowed to go down with the ship.
It’s difficult not to see how that trend will continue, especially since the Premier League’s broadcasting money has now created something of a contradiction for the division.
The competition has become so sensationally successful at selling itself as “a show” that the riches are so great, but then ironically mean the need to stay in the show is all the greater, and that panics clubs into decisions at the first sign of trouble.
This was one big reason why so many of that older generation of managers were given mid-season jobs, because their old know-how was seen as more valuable. The bottom line is that a competition where the long-term financial outlook is sohealthyhasledtoaround half of its clubs constantly thinking in the short-term.
The bottom line for West Bromisthatthiswaswhatthey were guilty of, among other things.
For their part, the club are now willing to show a more patient approach than in November. West Brom want a progressive new manager, but are aware they may be better off waiting until the summer because of how relegation could colour things for the future. Michael Appleton is the favourite, but he may have to wait.
The entire Pardew episode, however, shows that is something that half the Premier League can no longer afford to do.