The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
Pardew’s promising start ended sour as fans turned after damaging defeats
MANAGING THE MAGPIES: A LOOK AT THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF FORMER BOSS’ TIMES AT ST JAMES’ PARK
THIS season is starting to have some uncanny similarities to the last time Newcastle United broke their barren run of qualifying for Europe - something Alan Pardew will be able to see from a distance.
We’ve had injuries and scheduling issues but, thankfully, no battle against relegation. As Pep Guardiola calmly underlined on Saturday night after his Man City team had beaten Newcastle, United need to “learn lessons” from a tough season something that proved to be the case for Pardew over a decade ago.
Back at the start of the 2012/13 season, all seemed well on Tyneside after Pardew had guided the team to a fifth-place finish and into the Europa League. In doing so he’d ended a run of six years of no European action but there was tension bubbling beneath the surface and it would ultimately start the narrative that led to Pardew’s exit.
Despite doing a phenomenal job in transforming Newcastle from a side that had finished 12th in the Premier League into a European outfit, Mike Ashley had discovered the difference between UEFA merit payments for the Champions League and Europa League - and wasn’t happy.
It was stressed to the former owner by his advisors that getting to Europe’s top table would require major investment and that Pardew’s boys had actually done well to make it into the Europa League.
But what happened in the next transfer window was telling for Pardew, as Ashley withheld funds leading to the manager only being presented with midfielder Vurnon Anita.
At the end of the 2011/12 season, Pardew invited all local journalists into the board room and hosted a lunch. It all seemed very cordial as Pardew raised a glass to the assembled Tyneside media and quipped: “We might not be able to do this next year.”
And in saying that, he meant that any downturn in results could have the waters a little choppy again. Nevertheless, it got better before it got worse, rapidly as it turned out, as Pardew learned on his way out of the lunch that he’d been crowned manager of the year.
But trouble was around the corner for Pardew and for Newcastle.
The mere fact that the next time local journalists would be back in the boardroom for lunch came in 2022 as Amanda Staveley swung the doors back open says it all.
Even as early as July, Pardew sat with me and a colleague on pre-season in a hotel reception in Germany discussing the start of the new season. It was instantly acknowledged by Pardew that the Europa League would bring some challenges and he vowed to make sure his squad was rotated well.
And it was something that few could see coming as the new season started in earnest but before the struggle began to unfold, Pardew and his staff had tried to come up with a plan to ensure things wouldn’t turn sour.
Pardew stated that he would be using youngsters like Shane Ferguson, Gael Bigirimana, Haris Vuckic, James Tavernier, Adam Campbell, Mehdi Abeid and Nile Ranger for the early rounds.
After starting the season with a narrow win over Tottenham Hotspur, a game in which Pardew was sent to the stands, United’s difficulties in dealing with Europe quickly came to the surface.
THE TROUBLE WITH PLAYING IN EUROPE
A Thursday night game in Athens against Atromitos in a play-off round ended in a disappointing 1-1 draw on a searing night in Greece. But the first test of deal with two games a week ended badly with a 2-0 defeat away to Chelsea despite making wholesale changes to the team.
Newcastle got through their Group D campaign unscathed by finishing second to Bordeaux and getting the better of Club Brugge and Maritimo. But it was the games in the aftermath of Thursday nights that started to damage their campaign in the Premier League.
They thumped Bordeaux 3-0 on the Thursday on a memorable night as the goals flowed like a fine bottle of French red. But a few days later Manchester United won by the same scoreline at St
James’ Park, and having already been knocked out of the League Cup by the Red Devils, Newcastle now lay in 10th spot with pressure building on Pardew.
After a trip to beautiful Brugge, Newcastle then lost 1-0 to West Ham as Kevin Nolan wheeled away to score the winner on his return to Tyneside. But Newcastle stumbled through in the group stages.
Having negotiated Europe and made it to the knockout stages, Newcastle looked to get their ailing Premier League campaign back on track.
However, by this time they’d lost key personnel to injuries and the exhausting Europa League campaign was taking its toll.
ALAN PARDEW’S INJURY HELL AS 41 DIFFERENT INJURIES PLAGUED SEASON
They suffered the worst injury crisis in the Premier League that season and had 41 significant lay-offs. Ryan Taylor suffered a serious knee injury, Yohan Cabaye kept breaking down with groin trouble and Fabricio Coloccini broke bones in his back.
By the time the hectic Christmas period arrived, Newcastle looked dead on their feet. A 7-3 hammering away to Arsenal left them checking out of 2012 in 15th place.
Trouble was brewing internally, Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse, the duo that had blasted Newcastle to Europe, were not getting on and Chelsea discovered Ba had a clause which they activated early in January. Pardew said: “The clause is there and that is that.”
After Newcastle had been knocked out of the
FA Cup by Brighton, hopes of silverware on the domestic front were now over. The head coach was the target of angry fans after he named a weakened team at Brighton, Pardew commenting afterwards: “The most important thing for us is our Premier League status now because we’ve put ourselves at risk with all the injuries and the run we’re on.”
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AT ST JAMES’ PARK
Having been denied funds in the summer, it became apparent that failure to invest would see Newcastle relegated if they weren’t careful. And so Pardew was handed four recommendations of then chief scout Graham Carr as Massadio Haidara, Yoan Gouffran, Mapou Yangambiwa and Moussa Sissoko were all signed up.
There was an instant impact as Newcastle beat Aston Villa away 2-1 in early January, then saw off Chelsea 3-2 at home as Sissoko scored twice in his St James’ Park bow.
The wheels soon started to come off again though.
And it coincided with the return of European football in springtime, Newcastle first failed to beat Metalist Kharkiv from Ukraine in a 0-0 draw in front of 30,157 fans on Tyneside.
A second leg triumph in eastern Europe secured a passage into the last 16 but only at a cost as Tim Krul left the ground on crutches.
Anji Makhachkala came next in Europe with the new French recruits helping knock the Russian side out over two legs thanks to a 94th minute winner from Papiss Cisse.
But success in Europe was papering over cracks in the league as defeats to Swansea, Wigan and Man City left Newcastle just above the relegation zone.
WHY WAS “BURNT STEAK” ON THE MENU FOR NEWCASTLE
As Newcastle’s season entered its defining period in spring 2013, Alan Pardew managed to irk Jorge Jesus when suggesting that Benfica would only finish between 8th and 10th if they played week in, week out in England.
A furious Jesus hit back in his press conference and said that Newcastle were “burnt steak” and past their best. After a 3-1 win at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon, it was hard to make a case for United. The 2012/13 season would boil down to the second leg against Benfica.
Pardew had prepared a solid game plan and managed to stay in the game before Cisse scored with 18 minutes left. That made it 2-3 on aggregate and Newcastle were able to throw everything at it.
But a breakaway goal in stoppage time from Salvio ended the European run. That night the fans appreciated the efforts of the team with a chant of: “We love you Newcastle”.
With Europe now over, all Newcastle had to play for was survival in the Premier League - and it was about to get ugly.
THE MOMENT THINGS STARTED TO CHANGE
Going out of Europe was one thing and even losing in the FA Cup after fielding a weakened team was something that fans could live with. But losing to Sunderland heavily at home is a cardinal sin.
In Pardew’s defence he’d had two days to set his team up for a Tynewear derby against newly appointed Paolo Di Canio’s side.
As Newcastle became consumed by Europe in a bid to keep the season alive, Sunderland could focus on one thing: local pride.
Di Canio’s side strolled to a 3-0 win and Newcastle players looked l i k e they’d ran a marathon. Pardew emerged afterwards to say: “This won’t leave me because it’s our home and we don’t want to get beaten by our rivals.”
But also countered: “They looked like a team who had worked all week on us and we looked like a team that had a really tough game on Thursday night.”
For many, this was the turning point and patience had ran out.
He would go on to lose three more derbies before leaving the club.
A NARROW ESCAPE FOR NEWCASTLE
The season saw Newcastle go into their penultimate game of the season threatened by the drop still. And so on to Loftus Road as the Magpies face a Queens Park Rangers side who were already down.
Only, the game was something of a struggle. Newcastle came back from behind after Loic Remy put Rangers ahead, and Hatem Ben Arfa and Yoan Gouffran goals were enough. Wigan would be relegated as the third bottom club.
It was Europe and ill preparation that put Newcastle in the position they were in.
THE AFTERMATH
Pardew kept his job and then led Newcastle to 10th place in the 2013/14 season. But after a fall out with the media, more cup exits and derby defeats, he would eventually leave just after Christmas in 2014. In fairness, he left Newcastle in ninth place but too much water had flowed down the Tyne by then. Relationships were strained and his move to Crystal Palace came at a good time.
The Englishman did a decent job overall, but the political climate and the fact he was deemed as one of Ashley’s men made it impossible for him to always succeed with the fans.