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Soccer Premier League

Alan Pardew Not At Fault For Newcastle’s Woes

Alan Pardew

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Newcastle United used to be known as a powerhouse of English football. During the Alan Shearer years, the prolific striker took them to the height of the domestic game before a fall from grace after his retirement. Alan Pardew was brought in in 2010 to try and rekindle some of this magic, but it hasn’t worked so far.

Pardew is the second-longest serving manager in the Premier League behind Arsene Wenger, who was hired in 1996. Pardew won the Manager of the Season award in his first year at the job while uncovering good players to help his team move forward, including Demba Ba, Papisse Cisse and Yohan Cabaye.

The start of the 2014 season has been disastrous. One win in seven games for Newcastle spelled only five points out of a possible 21; but three wins in a row, including a 2-0 League Cup win versus Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, has things are looking up for the club.

Still, Pardew’s job is still being called for by fans. Looking at Newcastle’s model though, it may not be his fault.

Newcastle has a good business model of buying cheap and selling for far more than they paid. While this is a great business model, it is not a very good football model. This means that Newcastle is constantly turning over their best players, which is tough for any manager to progress. Recent examples are Ba and Cabaye, who were both sold — one to rival Chelsea and one to Paris Saint-Germain. These blows to the club, especially the sale of Cabaye, is one that Newcastle still have not recovered from.

Can Newcastle progress with their current model? No they can’t. They need to manage their bigger players better so they have a higher retention rate, and then move up the table in future seasons.

Nick Burgess is a soccer columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickBurgess92, “Like” him on Facebook and connect with him on Google.

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