Newcastle and Pardew have their work cut out
Alan Pardew looks on prior to the game against Liverpool at St James’ Park on April 27. Playing host to Arsenal on the final day, Newcastle would look to beat West Ham and QPR to safeguard themselves from relegation. (Getty Images)
It’s astonishing how quickly the mood can swing at a football club. A year ago, Newcastle United finished fifth in the league and the football world had to come round to the thought that Mike Ashley might not be such a dreadful owner as once seemed and that Alan Pardew might actually be quite a good coach. On Saturday, as Newcastle put in perhaps the most spineless performance of any side in the Premier League era, losing 6-0 at home to Liverpool, fans were in open revolt and trying to come to terms with the realisation that they are in a relegation fight.
Fans are often criticised for being fickle; in this case, it’s football that’s been fickle. The decline has been precipitous. The threat of the drop has come upon Newcastle suddenly. At the beginning of November they were tenth and people were dismissing a couple of disappointing early-season performances as being the result of playing in the Europa League. There was a recognition that the previous season’s finish had been slightly freakish but a belief in Pardew and, particularly, in the club’s policy of scouting and shopping in the French League. The previous month, Pardew had signed an eight-year contract that prompted the club’s managing director Derek Llambias to speak of the desire for “stability” and to comment that “Alan Pardew is allowed a bad season.” We’ll soon find out how bad.
They were tenth at that stage, but a run of nine defeats in 11 games dropped them to fifteenth, but four wins in six games on the back of a handful of January signings seemed to have eased the pressure. Pardew flung himself into the crowd after Papiss Cisse’s late winner against Fulham seemed to have ensured survival. But a derby defeat can change the perspective and in the north-east the success of one side can enhance the pressure on the other.
Sunderland, under Paolo Di Canio, suddenly seem upwardly mobile even if they are level on points with Newcastle. Newcastle aren’t used to derby defeats – the one of a fortnight ago was only their fifth in 30 years. It was a 2-1 home defeat to Sunderland that cost Ruud Gullit his job in the infamous Derby in the Rain in 1999; losing 3-0 two weeks ago prompted rioting. And while Di Canio continues to orchestrate the euphoria on Wearside, Newcastle fans looked glumly on at a 6-0 defeat, their worst at home since 1925.