5 defining moments that helped clubs turn their season around in 2014/15
Lionel Messi was responsible for turning around Barcelona’s fortunes at the start of 2015In any given football season there will always be teams that are nailed on for promotion, relegation and the various titles available. You just know from the very first 90 minutes of the campaign how that season is going to be mapped out. Others need a kicker; a spark to really ignite the ambitions of player, manager and fan.It might come in the form of a manager with new ideas, a player who takes on board extra responsibility or the entire XI putting a marker down. We take a look at five clubs who made a defining decision during the 2014/15 campaign that had a marked effect on the rest of their season.
#5 Crystal Palace - Hiring Alan Pardew
Pardew is one manager who changed the course of a team's season. Actually, two teams if you count his former employers. Newcastle barely managed to win a game once he left midway through the season, but his new employers Crystal Palace went from strength to strength under his stewardship.
The Eagles had managed only four wins prior to his arrival at the turn of the year, but Pardew managed to win all four of his first four games. An energy and buzz that characterises the manager’s way of working was immediately evident and players took to social media to tell of their delight at a better structure within the managerial set up, clearly defined lines of communication and a higher standard of training drills.
The group refocused and would only lose four out of Pardew’s first 15 games in charge. The incredible turnaround dispelled any notion of relegation and, free of the pressure of going down, Palace played some sparkling stuff. Never better than when derailing Manchester City’s title hopes at Selhurst Park or making Steven Gerrard's final game at Anfield one to forget for Liverpool fans.
Although Palace lost four of their last six, which won’t have pleased the manager, it was more to do with having nothing to play for. Pardew’s involvement had saved them well before the final whistle.