Newcastle fell to Stoke City today 1-0, and pressure on Alan Pardew increased again.
The pouring rain at kickoff and throughout the first half was a foreboding harbinger of what would come, as the thunder only intensified for his removal.
It appears that some kind of movement will be imminent, as Mike Ashley can only ignore the angry fans for so long.
“I don’t expect a serious conversation with Mike Ashley tonight, but I think we’ll have some serious conversation before Saturday because he doesn’t want to lose and nor do I,” Pardew said after the Stoke loss. “We’ll probably speak tomorrow or the next day because this team needs to win games. I have to turn it around.”
You, or someone else, Alan.
“We can’t keep getting beat. We are going to have to address that. It has been our problem for most of the season.” Ya think?
The struggles haven’t just been this season. Newcastle has taken just 19 points from a possible 82 since Christmas of 2013, a shockingly low number that saw the club sink to 10th in the league. 10th doesn’t sound too bad until you realize Newcastle, on Christmas 2013, were in sixth position, just six points off the top of the table. Also, the bottom half of the table last year was a complete mess, with teams avoiding relegation that likely in other years would never have gotten away with dropping so many points.
It’s gotten bad enough where Pardew’s been left with no choice but to concede to the media that things have gotten very precarious for the league’s second-longest tenured manager.
“There is a big question mark about me being at this football club.” Pardew said. “I’ve never really been in this situation before — it’s unique — but I’m a professional football manager. That’s what I do, and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
Pardew has been with Newcastle since 2010, and signed an unprecedented 10-year contract extension in 2012 after winning Premier League Manager of the Year.
At least he hasn’t lost the confidence of the locker room yet. Or…so he says.
