Newcastle United: Rotten to the Core

Article by e-Newcastle Correspondent Martin Black

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Whatever your opinion of Alan Pardew you’ve got to admit a certain amount of sympathy for him. Not only has his employer tied both hands behind his back but also appears to have done likewise to his legs, leaving him more trusted up than a turkey on a Christmas dinner table. I’ll leave the stuffing to your imagination.

Some may say he knew what he was getting in to when he signed on the dotted line, or maybe he too was fooled along with many others with notions of 5 five year plans?

Now not only does he have this to contend with, but after his fully justified post Spurs match rant he faces the prospect of a mutiny from some of our more surly continental types. Already in the press it’s been speculated that the likes of Santon and Ben Arfa will be dispatched come the summer, with it further implied that Ben Arfa could have played his last game in Toon colours.



Ashley: Time to go?

With the sale of Cabaye, Ben Arfa really had the perfect opportunity to come back into the fold and shine, to fill that void and illuminate the team with his own brand of magic. But he hasn’t risen to the challenge for whatever reason. Still it will be a sad day if he is to go, as you sense he really should be a player to keep. A magic spark is a rare commodity, especially at St James Park nowadays.

Sympathy aside, you really question whether Pardew along with the rest of the coaching staff it has to be said really have it in them to change the current situation. What would Ben Arfa, Sissoko and Cisse etc. be like under a more motivational management? Pardew and his staff have been given many a more chance than others that have come and gone before them. Why? Stability and long term planning are of course wise concepts to have but as we’ve all seen this has never been applied in relation to the playing staff.

Compliance to Ashley can be the only assumption but this has resulted in a stagnant stalemate. Pardew’s authority will be tested severely over the next few weeks. The players themselves must know that whether they are to stay or go has little, or nothing to do with their own manager.

Much has been made of Pardew’s limitations. I agree that Pardew doesn’t seem to be able to get the best out of certain players or even know what position to play them in. It’s tempting to look around at the options of another manager who could take us on to the next level. But whilst the current owner, an even bigger immovable object is still in place it just isn’t going to happen.

If only our problems were as easily solved as getting a new manager. But what manager of talent, ambition or principle would want to work under the shackles that Ashley would no doubt apply? At least the spectre of Kinnear being installed if Pardew is to be pushed or jump has now hopefully been removed for good.

It seems that since his dressing room rant sides have been taken. Mike Williamson said that the ‘majority’ of the players were hurting after the spineless surrender to Spurs, presumably meaning that he thought some weren’t? But it’s now becoming blatantly clear that some of them don’t care at all.

This coming to a head can only be a good thing. We need to see players on the pitch who are committed to the cause, and the ones who are not given a massive kick up the backside and/ or excluded. After all, points still need to be won before safety is assured and this freefall needs a screeching brake applied to it. But most importantly the bottom line is the fans deserve better.

So have battle lines been drawn? Who will be on which side, and who will be on that team sheet to face Aston Villa? With suspensions and injuries subsiding there should be more of a spine to our team, in more ways than one.

It has been festering for long enough, like a massive spot filling with puss just waiting to burst. After it’s popped it isn’t going to look pretty but at least it can start to heal. Let’s hope that at least in some small way that the team that runs out onto the pitch against Villa is the start of that healing process.

But ultimately it’s going to take a bloody big broom to sweep Ashley out before Newcastle United can be healthy again.

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