Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness has admitted he has total sympathy for underfire Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew. Pardew took Newcastle training on Monday morning and Sky Sports News HQ understands that despite reports, there was no so-called crisis meeting following Saturdays defeat at Southampton. But he has been backed into odds-on favourite to be the first Premier League managerial casualty of the season following Newcastle’s poor start to the campaign. Former Newcastle manager Souness – who left St James’ in February 2006 after two-and-a- half seasons in charge - was speaking at a Bobby Moore Charity Golf Day and says pressure is part of managing a big club. He told Sky Sports News HQ : Results are everything. It used to be you got half a season or a full season if you were not winning but now you get six matches. If you are in such a job then you know that is the case. Newcastle is a big club with very passionate supporters who can get very very frustrated at times and can be very quick to show their emotions, but thats the price on the ticket if you want to manage a club like Newcastle. You know that if it does go wrong your head will be on the block. Thats where he finds himself unfortunately. Ive had banners (demanding my sacking) like that. Thats part of the deal. Ive been fortunate to manage some very big football clubs and thats the price on the ticket. You have to be thick-skinned, have the support of the people around you and hope you have the players still with you. If thats all in place and the board is still with him then he might get through it, but its a tough time for him. Anyone whos been a manager would only have sympathy at this time. Pardews reign slumped to a new low at St Marys Stadium as fans held up a Pardew Out banner in front of the watching Newcastle owner Mike Ashley. And while the majority of Magpies fans appear to believe the end is nigh for Pardew, they also fear the worst for the clubs prospects for the remainder of the season. Mark Jensen, editor of Newcastle supporters magazine The Mag, said: Clearly most people believe things will improve if Pardew goes but it looks like we are going to be one of the six or seven teams battling relegation whether he stays or not. I cant imagine any manager with a credible reputation putting themselves in the position of working under what appears to be the constraints at Newcastle. They want someone who is willing to do as he is told and not have a say in the transfer market so what kind of person does that leave you with? It pains me to say it as a Newcastle fan, but why would Steve Bruce want to leave Hull to come here? Pardew showed no intention of throwing in the towel in the wake of the humiliation on the south coast. He told Sky Sports on Saturday: It is not easy to digest and not easy for the players either to play under those circumstances, so we have to be strong and try and tough it out this week and come back next week. We just have to put ourselves on the line, really, and be brave. Certainly, we have a bit more quality than we showed today, for sure, and we need to get that on the pitch. Pardew signed an eight-year contract with Newcastle just under two years ago, having led the Magpies to fifth place in the 2011-12 season. The clubs fortunes have waned significantly since then however, and Pardews position came under great scrutiny in March when he headbutted Hulls David Meyler. Newcastle fined him £100,000 and gave him a formal warning over that incident, while the Football Association handed down a seven- match touchline ban.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 14:47:29 +0000
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